One-time cleanings or a twice-a-year plan, two ways to fill next year's calendar
Selling one-off gutter cleanings and selling a spring and fall plan both fill the schedule. Here is when each one wins and how to offer the plan this fall.
Every fall the phone rings with the same request: "Can you clean my gutters before the leaves are all down?" You do the job, the customer pays, and next fall you start from zero and buy that same customer back with another ad or door hanger.
There are two ways to run a gutter cleaning business. One sells single cleanings to whoever calls. The other sells a plan, usually spring and fall, and fills a good part of next year's calendar before the year starts. Both work. They suit different companies at different stages.
Option one: sell one-time cleanings
This is how most gutter companies start, and it is how most of the calls arrive. Someone has an overflow, a clog, or a leaf pile, and they want it gone.
Where it wins:
- You are new and need cash flow now.
- Your market has a lot of rentals, flips, or move-ins, where nobody owns the house for long.
- You use cleanings mainly to open the door for guard installs or repairs.
- You do not have the systems yet to track and schedule a recurring list.
What it costs you:
- Every job has to be found again. If a door hanger campaign or ads cost you, say, $40 to $80 to land a cleaning customer, you pay that every single year for the same house.
- The calendar is lumpy. October is slammed and February is empty.
- Price shopping is constant, because a one-time buyer is comparing three numbers.
Option two: sell a twice-a-year plan
A plan is a spring and a fall cleaning, sold once, renewed each year. Some companies add a short downspout and roof check. Many charge a little less per visit than a one-time cleaning in exchange for the commitment.
Where it wins:
- Your area has heavy tree cover, so homeowners really do need two visits.
- Your customers are long-term owners, not renters.
- You want steadier spring work and fewer empty weeks.
- You want each marketing dollar to pay off for more than one visit.
What it costs you:
- A small discount per visit, and some admin: reminders, scheduling, and a way to bill.
- Some customers cancel after a year. That is normal. Ask why when they do.
A hypothetical comparison
Say a one-time cleaning in your area runs $180, and a plan is two visits at $160 each, or $320 a year.
Company A sells 200 one-time cleanings in a fall. That is $36,000. Next fall it starts at zero.
Company B sells the same 200 cleanings, and offers the plan to each customer at the end of the job. If 1 in 4 signs up, that is 50 plan customers. Next spring, those 50 houses are already on the calendar, worth $8,000 before a single ad runs. Next fall, another $8,000. If most of them renew, the base grows every year.
Your numbers will differ. The pricing guide covers how to set plan pricing so the discount does not eat your margin. Run your own close rate and ticket through the calculator too.
How to offer the plan this fall
The best moment to sell a plan is at the end of a cleaning, while the customer is standing in the driveway looking at clean gutters. Keep it short:
Your gutters were pretty full, especially on the back side with the oaks. Most people with that many trees do a spring and a fall cleaning. If you want, I can put you on our plan: $160 a visit, twice a year, and we call you to schedule so you do not have to remember. Want me to sign you up?
If they say they want to think about it, send it by text the same day:
Thanks again for today. Here is the twice-a-year plan I mentioned: spring and fall cleaning, $160 a visit, and we handle the scheduling. Reply YES and you are on the list for April.
Do both, but lead with one
Most companies end up doing both. The calls for single cleanings will always come. The question is what you lead with in your ads, on your website and in your follow-up.
If you lead with one-time cleanings, add the plan as the upsell at the end of each job. If you lead with the plan, put it on your website as the main option and the one-time cleaning as the alternative. The website guide covers how to lay out service pages so either works.
Reviews help either way
Whichever way you go, finished jobs should turn into reviews. In our data on 7,807 gutter companies, the median has 6 reviews and 20% have none at all. A plan customer you see twice a year gives you two chances to ask. The reviews guide has scripts, and the benchmark report shows where you stand.
If you want help adding a twice-a-year plan to your site and follow-up texts, there is a free 14-day trial of any service, no card, text or call (801) 509-9725.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, gutter companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor