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First jobs booked in!

Danny91

Member
Messages
71
Location
Nottingham
Hi all, put a add on my local Facebook page today and picked up 4 gutter cleans for tomorrow, over the moon to say the least. I’ve stated prices start from £45 and all seem happy with this, I’ve done a quick drive by on all the properties this afternoon (all on my estate). My question is how much gutter should I be clearing for £45? As in if the house has a gutter on the front and back that should be £45 but then if the house is a semi detached and has a gutter down the side too making it 3 sides what should I charge for that? Don’t get me wrong I’m quite happy to do a 3 sided gutter for £45 as long as I’m away in the van within say 45 minutes but I don’t want to be undercutting everyone and ruining the market for anyone else. Also anything to watch out for or tips and tricks ? Thankyou 

 
Hi all, put a add on my local Facebook page today and picked up 4 gutter cleans for tomorrow, over the moon to say the least. I’ve stated prices start from £45 and all seem happy with this, I’ve done a quick drive by on all the properties this afternoon (all on my estate). My question is how much gutter should I be clearing for £45? As in if the house has a gutter on the front and back that should be £45 but then if the house is a semi detached and has a gutter down the side too making it 3 sides what should I charge for that? Don’t get me wrong I’m quite happy to do a 3 sided gutter for £45 as long as I’m away in the van within say 45 minutes but I don’t want to be undercutting everyone and ruining the market for anyone else. Also anything to watch out for or tips and tricks ? Thankyou 
We have a minimum charge of £65 that’s just going up to £75 that’s for a modern 3 bed house 15 meters guttering on the front   10 meters on the back . That’s using a gutter vac most jobs like this take 20-30 muinits to do , we book in a days work at a time , to make it more efficient, when just starting out it will take you longer but like all things speed comes with practice and experience, just be careful when quoting jobs that the roof tiles arnt to tight to the gutter so you cannot get the vac end in or your fingers if using a ladder , good luck with the new venture 

 
Said it before, will keep saying it. Gutters are different to windows 10 metres can take you a few minutes or a few hours.

You will have jobs where you'll be embarrassed in charging what you do, Don't worry about this as you'll grow out of it. The very next job, for less money, you'll be cursing and asking why you're doing the stupid job.

Try and work out how long it will take, preferably by using a camera. If you haven't got one have a look for tell tale signs, marks near or on downpipes are the most important as this will show they are blocked. Can you see the tiles close to the near gutter edge, are there wires in the gutters etc. Go round tapping downpipes, if they feel solid then the problem could be at the bottom, potential time consuming nightmare.

The more you do the more you'll know what to charge and the less mistakes you'll make. Do not quote without looking first. Try and arrange to quote and do them.

 
My GV pricesstart at £40 but thats a bulk standard terrace house 8/10 mtrs front and back.

If i can give you one GVing its this.

With out fail i ALWAYS offer

'If you book now for same time next year i will do a price freeze for you and gaurantee the job will cost the same'

Id say 70/80% of peoplesnap my hand off and 9/10 times the jobs alot quicker the following year.

 
Thanks for the replies! So today was the first day of my business, I’m still working full time in the week and just want to try and start off weekends to make sure I’ve got the bills covered.
Ended up getting 2 walk ups while we was working and only 2 of the 6 I did for the lowest price of £45, the highest I charged was £70 and they didn’t even bat an eye lid at that. It’s filled me with confidence moving forward And I’m well chuffed to say the least. Might not be mega money to some of you guys but we took £430 in 7 hours which I thought was really good to say I just put a small Facebook post up on my local selling page at 12 o’clock yesterday afternoon! I’ve made the Facebook page and shared it today and we are up to 130 followers already! Well impressed. What do you find better for advertising ? Facebook or leaflets ? Cheers 

 
Thanks for the replies! So today was the first day of my business, I’m still working full time in the week and just want to try and start off weekends to make sure I’ve got the bills covered.
Ended up getting 2 walk ups while we was working and only 2 of the 6 I did for the lowest price of £45, the highest I charged was £70 and they didn’t even bat an eye lid at that. It’s filled me with confidence moving forward And I’m well chuffed to say the least. Might not be mega money to some of you guys but we took £430 in 7 hours which I thought was really good to say I just put a small Facebook post up on my local selling page at 12 o’clock yesterday afternoon! I’ve made the Facebook page and shared it today and we are up to 130 followers already! Well impressed. What do you find better for advertising ? Facebook or leaflets ? Cheers 
Well done. Sounds like you have a great start. If you have had good success with Facebook I would give that another try as less investment than putting a leaflet together and distributing.

 
Some gutters will be a lot more full then other gutters , a 3 bed average house takes about 30-40 mins - it takes more time setting up then actually doing the job 9/10 times if there dirty then thats what your getting paid to do ,,, if they arent so bad then its a bonus for u, Gutter clearance is a really good seller for me... infact its my best selling add on service , only been doing it since November and i can tell u its a very good earner ? 

 
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Some gutters will be a lot more full then other gutters , a 3 bed average house takes about 30-40 mins - it takes more time setting up then actually doing the job 9/10 times if there dirty then thats what your getting paid to do ,,, if they arent so bad then its a bonus for u, Gutter clearance is a really good seller for me... infact its my best selling add on service , only been doing it since November and i can tell u its a very good earner ? 
I booked today each with a 1 hour  slot and after the 3rd I was slightly behind but the 4th was so easy and quick I managed to get the time back, luckily I didn’t get any major hold ups they was all on the same estate and within a 3 miles radius, how long do you normally leave between each booking? I don’t want to be turning up early to my jobs and the customer be out or not ready for me but at the same time I don’t want to be Leaving to long in between and sat waiting in my van not earning 

 
Last 2 of the day were neighbours but not joined on, had solar panels on the front and both thick with pigeon **** so that’ll be something for me to remember when quoting, do you find most houses with solar panels are like that?
We get a lot of licken growing on solar panels and seagull poo 

 
Get a generator, and a quality extension lead, incase you're early and they're not in.

Whilst not nice bird ? isn't that bad to clear out, unless caked.

Your biggest problems will come from downpipes not the actual gutters.

 
Your biggest problems will come from downpipes not the actual gutters.
I don't know anything about clearing gutters and it's not something I want to get into.  But do people expect their downpipes to be cleared too?  Or is this a job that you'll only do if there's a blockage in the downpipes?  I can imagine some major work being necessary if there are blockages below the ground!

 
I don't know anything about clearing gutters and it's not something I want to get into.  But do people expect their downpipes to be cleared too?  Or is this a job that you'll only do if there's a blockage in the downpipes?  I can imagine some major work being necessary if there are blockages below the ground!
The bad ones are when the downpipe goes into the ground. If the ground is concrete there isn't much you can do. We will take the gutter  apart and pull it out if it's in mud. If anyone does do this then stand back as the water gush goes everywhere and usually stinks.

Usually the blockage is in the gooseneck and the gutter vac gets it. A gutter with a blocked downpipe isn't a gutter and 99% of water damage is due to blocked downpipes.

 
I booked today each with a 1 hour  slot and after the 3rd I was slightly behind but the 4th was so easy and quick I managed to get the time back, luckily I didn’t get any major hold ups they was all on the same estate and within a 3 miles radius, how long do you normally leave between each booking? I don’t want to be turning up early to my jobs and the customer be out or not ready for me but at the same time I don’t want to be Leaving to long in between and sat waiting in my van not earning 
I just go out and crack on with the work , i dont worry about turning up etc , i just go there and do the job that they requested , once im done i drive over to my next job

 
The bad ones are when the downpipe goes into the ground. If the ground is concrete there isn't much you can do. We will take the gutter  apart and pull it out if it's in mud. If anyone does do this then stand back as the water gush goes everywhere and usually stinks.

Usually the blockage is in the gooseneck and the gutter vac gets it. A gutter with a blocked downpipe isn't a gutter and 99% of water damage is due to blocked downpipes.
So could someone clear the gutters and if the problem transpires to be in a difficult section of the downpipes, they had every right to say "Not my problem guv?"!  As you say, the downpipes are not the gutters.  Two separate jobs.

 
So could someone clear the gutters and if the problem transpires to be in a difficult section of the downpipes, they had every right to say "Not my problem guv?"!  As you say, the downpipes are not the gutters.  Two separate jobs.
Not in my book, without a clear downpipe the water won't run so therefore they're not clear. This is why I advise using a camera to price up and checking downpipes by tapping them.

 
Okay, cheers guys. Just as I thought. I can see that gutter clearing can appear straight forward but there's scope for difficulties with downpipes and to be an effective provider in gutter clearing, you need to have an understanding of clearing downpipes too, some which could involve cutting downpipes and so forth. 

Definitely not something for me! 

 
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