Gutter Cleaning Cost in Los Angeles

Single-story 1500 sqft home: $120–$180

The baseline LA gutter cleaning job is a single-story house, roughly 1500 square feet of footprint with maybe 120–160 linear feet of gutter, no leaf guards, accessible from a standard 24-foot extension ladder. That's $120–$180 in most neighborhoods — Mar Vista, Eagle Rock, North Hollywood, El Sereno, Inglewood, the bulk of the LA basin's flat residential blocks. The work is a full hand-scoop of debris from every gutter run, flush of the downspouts with a hose, and a bagged haul-off of what came out.

The lower end ($120) is a once-a-year clean on a stucco home with a low-pitch roof and a yard the pro can stage the ladder in without moving cars or pots. The higher end ($180) is a home that hasn't been cleaned in 18+ months, where the gutters are packed and a couple of sections have started to sag from the weight, or where the downspouts need a hose snake to clear a clog rather than just a flush.

What's not in scope at this price: gutter resealing where the seams have started to leak, fascia repair where water has rotted the wood behind the gutter, or guard removal if you have leaf guards installed. Each of those is a separate add-on the pro will quote on arrival.

Two-story home: $200–$340

Two-story LA homes — think Spanish-revival in Hancock Park, Craftsman in West Adams, mid-century in Studio City, or any of the contemporary builds in the Hollywood Hills — run $200–$340 for the same scope. The price difference isn't doubled because the gutter footprint isn't doubled; it's the ladder height and the time spent setting up safely on each side of the house. A 32-foot extension ladder with proper standoffs and someone footing the ladder for the pro is non-negotiable on a two-story, and the OSHA fall-protection guidelines that any insured pro follows mean slower setup at each new corner of the house.

Hillside and split-level homes (Silver Lake, Echo Park, parts of Glendale) sit at the top of that range or slightly above ($280–$380) because the ladder often has to be set up on a slope, sometimes on a deck, sometimes from inside a window of the upper floor. Mention the access situation when you book — the pro will bring the right ladder and possibly a second person rather than discovering the problem on arrival.

Under no circumstances should an uninsured cash-only crew be on a two-story roof. A fall from a Studio City rooftop is a homeowner-liability event if the worker doesn't carry their own coverage. Every Shatun Brothers pro on the platform shows an Insurance Verified badge on their profile — this is the category where it actually matters.

Homes with leaf guards: $160–$260

Leaf guards (LeafFilter, GutterGlove, Gutter Helmet, all the big retrofitted brands) reduce how often gutters need cleaning, but they do not eliminate it. What guards do is move the debris from inside the gutter to on top of the gutter — pine needles, oak catkins, jacaranda blossoms, and Italian cypress shedding accumulate on the mesh and have to be brushed off, or eventually water sheets right over the top of the guard rather than into the gutter.

A guard-clean visit in LA runs $160–$260: brushing or air-blowing the tops, lifting selected sections to flush any debris that did make it through, and checking that the downspouts are still flowing. The price is higher than a no-guard cleaning because the work is slower — every section of guard has to be cleared, and any sections that have come unclipped from settling get re-secured.

Honest pro advice you should hear: most homes in dry parts of LA (West LA, Westwood, the South Bay) don't actually need leaf guards. The dust and occasional palm-frond debris they catch can be hand-cleaned twice a year for less than the guards cost. Guards are worth it in Pasadena, Hancock Park, La Crescenta, Altadena, and other neighborhoods with mature jacaranda, oak, and sycamore — places where a single fall sheds enough debris to clog a gutter every few weeks.

Drainage diagnosis add-on: $60–$100

Sometimes the problem isn't the gutters themselves — it's where the water goes after the downspout. If you've got water pooling near the foundation, a downspout that backs up immediately during the first winter rain, or a flowerbed that turns into a swamp every time it drizzles, the issue is usually a clogged underground drain line, a missing downspout extension, or a buried French drain that's silted in.

A drainage diagnosis add-on runs $60–$100 on top of the gutter clean. The pro snakes the underground line where accessible, identifies whether the blockage is at the gutter end or further down, and either clears it on the spot (if it's a simple clog within reach) or quotes the larger job (excavation, line replacement, French drain rebuild) that's beyond same-visit scope.

Fire-zone foothill homes: stricter requirements

Homes in LA's Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones — La Cañada Flintridge, Brentwood, parts of Pacific Palisades, the Hollywood Hills above Mulholland, Topanga, much of the Verdugo foothills — have stricter gutter maintenance expectations under California's defensible space rules (Public Resources Code 4291 and the local fire code overlay). Dry leaves and pine needles in a gutter are a known ember-ignition source during Santa Ana wind events, which is why most foothill insurance policies now ask about gutter maintenance at renewal.

Practically, this means foothill gutter cleaning runs at the higher end of the typical range and should be done at least twice a year — once in late spring after jacaranda and oak shed, and again in October before Santa Ana season. Some foothill HOAs require documented annual cleaning. Pros who work these neighborhoods regularly know to provide a dated photo log of the cleaned gutters, which you can submit to your insurance carrier or HOA without follow-up. Mention you need photo documentation when you book and most pros include it at no additional cost.

How often LA homes actually need it

The honest answer depends almost entirely on what's growing within 30 feet of your roof:

• No mature trees overhanging the roof: once a year is plenty, usually January after the first rains have washed dust into the system.
• Jacaranda within reach (most of Hancock Park, parts of South LA, Beverly Hills): twice a year — once in June after the purple-flower drop and once in November.
• Oak or sycamore overhang (Pasadena, La Cañada, Brentwood foothills): three times — late spring, mid-fall, and after the first major rain.
• Pine or eucalyptus within 30 feet (Hollywood Hills, Topanga, parts of the Verdugos): three to four times, including a pre-Santa Ana clean in October.
• Palm trees nearby: surprisingly, palms shed less into gutters than people think — fronds fall whole rather than fragmenting. A standard once or twice a year is fine.

What separates a good gutter clean from a bad one

The difference between a $120 gutter clean that lasts a year and a $120 gutter clean that's already overflowing in three months comes down to four specific things the pro does — or skips. None of them are visible from the ground after the visit, which is part of why this category attracts low-quality cash crews.

First: the downspout flush. A pro who just hand-scoops the gutters and leaves is half-doing the job. The actual blockage in most LA homes is at the elbow where the downspout exits the gutter or at the underground tie-in at the base. A proper visit includes running a hose down each downspout and confirming the water exits cleanly at the bottom. Second: the bag-out. Debris should leave with the pro, not be left on your roof or in your yard. Third: a written note on what was found — sagging sections, cracked seams, missing end caps — so you have a record of what's coming up next. Fourth: a quick visual on the fascia and soffit while up there. Soft fascia from chronic gutter overflow is a much bigger fix than a gutter clean, and catching it early matters.