“How do I price a gutter job?” Homeowners expect a price per linear foot, and HomeAdvisor’s cost guide says most local gutter contractors charge that way. The trouble is that a single per-foot number has to carry everything else on the job: the downspouts, the second story, the rotten fascia nobody saw from the driveway, the old gutters coming down, the guards the customer adds at the last minute. Those are where a gutter job makes or loses its money. This article covers what homeowners have already read, sizing from the roof and the rain, and a quote built from separate lines.
What homeowners have already read
HomeAdvisor’s gutter replacement cost guide, updated June 20, 2026, says homeowners typically spend $629 to $1,736, about $1,182 on average, which it works out to $4 to $40 per linear foot. It lists aluminum at $3 to $15 per linear foot and copper at $15 to $40, removal of old gutters at $1 to $2 per linear foot, and gutter guards at about $1,500 on average. It says labor runs 10 to 50 percent of the bill and that homeowners in rainier regions could pay as much as 50 percent more than those in drier climates. HomeAdvisor says its figures come from surveying more than 30,000 customers about their project costs.
Those are national figures from a consumer guide, not your costs. A tenfold spread per foot tells you mostly that the jobs differ. But that range is in the homeowner’s head before you arrive, and a quote that shows what each part costs is easier to defend than one number that is far above the low end.
Size it from the roof and the rain
A gutter that is too small overflows in exactly the storms it was bought for. A widely used sizing method is in Chapter 1 of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association’s Architectural Sheet Metal Manual, and SMACNA offers an online downspout and gutter sizing calculator based on the manual’s 7th edition. The calculator’s notes are worth knowing even if you never open the manual:
For your own area’s rainfall intensity, NOAA’s Precipitation Frequency Data Server gives estimates by location and storm duration. To see why size matters, use the U.S. Geological Survey’s figure that one inch of rain on one acre is 27,154 gallons. An acre is 43,560 square feet, so that is about 620 gallons for every 1,000 square feet of roof per inch of rain. Say one side of a house drains 1,200 square feet of roof into one run, and a storm drops two inches in an hour: roughly 1,500 gallons has to pass through that gutter and its downspouts in that hour, about 25 gallons a minute. A valley that empties into one corner puts more of that water in one place.
Sizing is also where a gutter quote can honestly differ from a competitor’s. If you put in a larger gutter or an extra downspout because of the roof area, say so on the quote, and say why.
The lines of a gutter quote
Price each of these as its own line, at your own rates:
- Gutter, per linear foot, by profile, size and material: 5-inch K-style, 6-inch K-style, half-round, aluminum or copper. Measure every run along the eave and count the corners and end caps, which take time no matter how short the run.
- Height. A second story or a walkout side means longer ladders or a lift, more setup and slower work. Price it as a per-foot adder or a separate line, not as a surprise.
- Downspouts, each or per foot, by size and height. A two-story downspout is roughly twice the material of a one-story one, hung from a longer ladder.
- Buried downspout runs, per foot, with what happens at the outlet (a pop-up emitter, daylight at a slope, a dry well). Digging may need a utility locate first; see Call 811 Before You Dig.
- Guards, per foot, by type. Offer them as an option the customer chooses, not folded into the gutter price.
- Fascia repair, as a unit price per foot of board replaced, with an allowance for the amount you expect. Rot often only shows once the old gutter is off, and a unit price agreed in advance avoids the argument.
- Tear-off and haul-away of the old gutters, per foot.
- Travel and a minimum, so a short repair or a detached garage still pays for the truck; Minimum Charges and Trip Fees covers how.
A worked example
The rates here are invented for the illustration, not market prices; use your own. Say a one-story ranch has 140 feet of eave, four downspouts at 10 feet each, old gutters to remove, and 12 feet of soft fascia found at the walk-through. The customer wants to know what a buried run on the wet side and guards would add.
| Line | Quantity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 6-inch K-style aluminum gutter at $9 a foot | 140 ft | $1,260 |
| 3-by-4 downspouts at $8 a foot | 40 ft | $320 |
| Tear-off and haul-away at $1.50 a foot | 140 ft | $210 |
| Fascia replacement at $14 a foot (allowance) | 12 ft | $168 |
| Base price | $1,958 | |
| Option: buried downspout run at $18 a foot | 20 ft | $360 |
| Option: guards at $7 a foot | 140 ft | $980 |
| With both options | $3,298 |
Folded into one number, that is about $14 a foot for the base job and about $24 a foot with both options, and neither figure tells the customer anything. Broken out, she can see that the gutter itself is $9 a foot and decide for herself whether guards are worth $980. The same structure makes a natural good, better, best: the base job, the base job with the buried run, and everything.
Set the rates from your own costs
Each rate above should come from material at today’s price, crew hours at a loaded labor rate, the truck, and your margin. For the labor piece, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage of sheet metal workers, an occupation whose work it describes as including rain gutters, at $29.71 an hour in May 2025. That is wage only; payroll taxes, workers’ compensation and unbilled hours come on top, as Your Real Hourly Cost shows. Then set the price for the margin you want, not a markup on cost; Markup vs. Margin explains the difference.
The BLS also notes that sheet metal workers’ common injuries include falls from ladders or scaffolding. Gutter work is ladder and roof-edge work all day, and the safe setup takes time that belongs in the price; Ladder Safety and Fall Protection cover the rules. If you also do roofs, keep the two prices separate; Pricing a Roof by the Square covers the other one.
A range first, the number after the walk-through
On the phone or on your website, a homeowner can tell you enough for a fair range: roughly how many feet, one story or two, how many downspouts, guards or not, old gutters coming off or not. The written price comes after you have walked the eave and pushed a screwdriver into the fascia. If you want that first range on your own website, NapkinPrice™ asks the homeowner those questions and shows a range built from your own rates; the gutters page shows how a gutter shop sets it up.