What actually happens during a professional gutter cleaning

A professional gutter cleaning has four parts: casing the job and setting ladders safely, hand-clearing every run, flushing and flow-testing every downspout, and documenting the work with before-and-after photos. Takes one to three hours depending on the house. If a company skips the flush or the proof, you bought half a job.

Step 1: casing the job

The crew walks the roofline before anyone climbs: which runs are heaviest, where the tricky sections are, where ladders can sit on stable ground. Ladders get standoffs so they lean on the roof structure, never on the eavestrough itself — a gutter is not a load-bearing component, and crews that lean on them create the sags they should be fixing. Tight side yards, like Audley's newer builds in Ajax, are a setup problem we solve daily.

Step 2: hand-clearing, not blowing

Every run gets cleared by hand into bags. Blowers have their place on the roof surface, but inside a trough they turn wet debris into a mess on your siding and leave the compacted layer behind. Hand-clearing gets the packed material at the bottom — the layer that actually blocks water — and keeps your garden from wearing the evidence.

Step 3: the downspout flush

Each downspout gets water run through it until flow is confirmed end to end. This is the step that separates a real cleaning from a cosmetic one: a clear trough draining into a blocked spout still overflows, just slightly later. Blockages get worked loose from the top or the elbow on the same visit, and we check the discharge actually leaves the foundation behind.

Step 4: payment, then proof

• Before-and-after photos of your actual gutters land in your inbox
• Debris is bagged and hauled away, not left at the curb
• Anything spotted — a loose hanger, a seam starting to weep — gets flagged with a price, never fixed without your approval
• Payment is due at the halfway point, by e-Transfer or cash to the crew — $0 on booking day, and no card, ever

How long does it take and what does it cost?

Getting ready for your cleaning covers the few minutes of prep that make the visit faster, reading your photo report explains what the photos prove, and gutter cleaning in Ajax runs exactly this way.

Most homes run one to three hours: a bungalow is quick, a three-storey with guards takes the long end. At 2026 prices the range is $299 to $499 by home type and storeys. Taking guards off and putting them back adds $40. You will know your exact number before we come: the quote flow prices it from your address in under a minute.