Quote for cleaning roof, clearing gutter.

Phil4432

Hello all, wondering if someone could tell what they think of this quote.

To clean the roof of my four bed detached house, plus gutters; £700.  Just gutters, around £180.

I'm in London.

Thank you.

Belenus

We paid about £130 for gutter cleaning for a 4 bed detached in West Sussex about 8 years ago so £180 in London seems reasonable to me.

Why do you want or need the roof cleaned? Is there a build up of moss or other debris?

In over 40 years of property ownership I have never had a roof cleaned. Rain appears to do the job for me regularly.

Ebe_Scrooge

Why would you want to clean the roof?  Gutters - sounds reasonable I guess, for London.  It's the sort of thing you can do yourself if you're OK with a ladder, but admittedly it's not everyone's idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon :-)

Ant555

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Why would you want to clean the roof?

Last time I cleaned the gutters, it was full of moss that had probably come off the roof.

Also, my block paving regularly has loose bits off moss on it and presumably this has also fallen off the roof.

I personally wouldnt trust some random person on my roof with a powerful jet wash not to do any damage but I know there is a company round here that regularly puts flyers through the doors.  A house across the road was having it done last year and the owner was shouting at the 'washers' and made them stop for some reason - I dont know him well enough to ask why though.

anonymous112433

Honestly seems like a fair price. Hiring a ladder would set you back in the reigion of £30-£50 depending on size and equipment. You'd never have the skills to do it as efficiently and effectively as a professional anyway.

Phil4432

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Why would you want to clean the roof?  Gutters - sounds reasonable I guess, for London.  It's the sort of thing you can do yourself if you're OK with a ladder, but admittedly it's not everyone's idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon :-)

Re the gutters, I would like to get on the roof and just scoop them out.  Never got on the roof before though.  I'm relatively young(ish) and fit; any tips?

Phil4432

Belenus said:

We paid about £130 for gutter cleaning for a 4 bed detached in West Sussex about 8 years ago so £180 in London seems reasonable to me.

Why do you want or need the roof cleaned? Is there a build up of moss or other debris?

In over 40 years of property ownership I have never had a roof cleaned. Rain appears to do the job for me regularly.

The moss builds up round here, gets in between the tiles and causes mischief. 

TELLIT01

Phil4432 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Why would you want to clean the roof?  Gutters - sounds reasonable I guess, for London.  It's the sort of thing you can do yourself if you're OK with a ladder, but admittedly it's not everyone's idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon :-)

Re the gutters, I would like to get on the roof and just scoop them out.  Never got on the roof before though.  I'm relatively young(ish) and fit; any tips?

You don't need, or want, to get onto the roof to clear out the gutters, unless it's a flat roof.  A ladder with a stand off  https://www.screwfix.com/p/ladder-stand-off/3571p and a gutter cleaning tool similar to this https://www.screwfix.com/p/square-gutter-clearing-tool/4622p  will do the job.

Our neighbours had information about roof cleaning but were told it would need to be re-done every couple of years so really is pointless and/or expensive.  Maybe we've been fortunate but we've never had the gutters blocked by moss despite there being a lot on our roof. 

Grenage

Phil4432 said:

Belenus said:

We paid about £130 for gutter cleaning for a 4 bed detached in West Sussex about 8 years ago so £180 in London seems reasonable to me.

Why do you want or need the roof cleaned? Is there a build up of moss or other debris?

In over 40 years of property ownership I have never had a roof cleaned. Rain appears to do the job for me regularly.

The moss builds up round here, gets in between the tiles and causes mischief. 

Moss builds up everywhere, but there's no mischief!  My roof is full of it; only the magpies are interested.

I did however put a plastic grid in my guttering when it got replaced.  Stops the big bits getting into the gutter.

[Deleted User]

Depends if you can do this or not.
I bought a suitable length decorators pole. Used the end of a cheap paint roller on it and taped it on. The metal part of the roller bent into a U shape and taped the hose nozzle pointing down to that bent U, and along the pole. Then used that to flush out the gutters. Though I was expecting debris and disconnected the down pipes and put a bucket under that pipe to catch the debris so as not to block any drains and there was a lot of debris.

Worked a charm but a bit of effort. Left the roof to the birds and rain.

Ebe_Scrooge

TELLIT01 said:

Phil4432 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Why would you want to clean the roof?  Gutters - sounds reasonable I guess, for London.  It's the sort of thing you can do yourself if you're OK with a ladder, but admittedly it's not everyone's idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon :-)

Re the gutters, I would like to get on the roof and just scoop them out.  Never got on the roof before though.  I'm relatively young(ish) and fit; any tips?

You don't need, or want, to get onto the roof to clear out the gutters, unless it's a flat roof.  A ladder with a stand off  https://www.screwfix.com/p/ladder-stand-off/3571p and a gutter cleaning tool similar to this https://www.screwfix.com/p/square-gutter-clearing-tool/4622p  will do the job.

Our neighbours had information about roof cleaning but were told it would need to be re-done every couple of years so really is pointless and/or expensive.  Maybe we've been fortunate but we've never had the gutters blocked by moss despite there being a lot on our roof. 

This ^^^^.  Really, I wouldn't advise going onto the roof unless you've got a proper roof ladder.  Myself, I will admit I do.  But, I climb as a hobby, and it's pretty simple to set up a static rope, attached to a safe anchor, wear my harness and clip on to that.  Scrambling around on a roof without being damned sure you're safely attached to something somehow is asking for trouble.

But for just doing the gutters, a ladder and stand-off is all you need.  I invested in a decent set of ladders donkeys years ago, on the basis that I'd use them enough to make it worthwhile.  I do my gutters about once a year, never had any problems.  Yes, there's moss on the roof, yes, some of it goes into the gutters.  But it's never caused a problem - mostly the birds tend to peck at it searching for insects, and throw most of it onto the ground where it's easily swept up.  Several neighbours have had their roofs cleaned, but as the previous poster said, it'll only grow back in a year or two.  Waste of money, and no need for it really.