Hiring a gutter company: the questions that separate a real crew from a guess

Seven questions that do most of the work

Before you hire anyone to install or replace gutters, ask whether gutters are their main trade, whether the runs are seamless and formed on site, how they decide gutter size and downspout placement, what they do about rotted fascia, whether the crew is insured, exactly what the written estimate covers, and whether you can see all of their reviews. A good company answers each of those without hesitation and puts the important parts in writing. If the answers are vague, keep looking.

At The Brothers that just do Gutters, I sit across the kitchen table from homeowners who have already collected two or three quotes and cannot tell them apart. The prices differ, the descriptions are a line or two, and nobody explained why. The questions below are the ones I would ask if I were on your side of the table.

• Are gutters your main trade?
• Are the runs seamless and formed on site?
• How do you choose the size and place the downspouts?
• What happens if the fascia is rotten?
• Who does the work, and are they insured?
• What exactly is in the written estimate?
• Can I read all of your reviews, not just the best ones?

Is gutter work what you do all day?

Plenty of roofers, painters and handymen add gutters to a job. Some do it well. But a crew that installs gutters every day has the forming machine on the truck, carries every size and color of coil, and has seen every way a roofline can fight a gutter. Gutters are the only trade our company works in, which is where the name comes from.

Ask how many gutter installs the crew does in a typical week, and whether the same people will be on your house or whether the work is handed to someone else. A company that subcontracts is not automatically a bad choice, but you should know who is actually climbing your ladder.

How will you size the gutters and place the downspouts?

This is the question that reveals the most. A careful answer mentions your roof area, the pitch, the overhang, and the valleys where two roof planes meet and pour water into one spot. Those are the things our Solutionists look at on every visit, because they decide how much water each run has to carry. We install 5-inch, 6-inch and 7-inch seamless gutters, and many houses need more than one size.

A weak answer is that everyone gets 5-inch, or that the downspouts go where the old ones were. The old downspouts may be exactly why water is pooling at your slab. If you want to understand the sizing logic before the visit, read how to tell which gutter size your roof needs.

What do you do when the wood behind the gutter is bad?

The fascia board is what holds a gutter to the house. When an old gutter has leaked behind itself, the wood goes soft, paint peels, and the hangers lose their grip. A new gutter screwed into rotten fascia will sag and pull away, sometimes within a season.

Ask every company how it checks the fascia and what it does if it finds rot. The right answer is that the bad sections are replaced before the new gutter goes up, and that the possibility is explained in the estimate rather than discovered on install day. We offer fascia board replacement alongside installation for exactly this reason. A company that says it will just hang the gutter and see is leaving you the repair bill for later.

Who will be on the roof, and are they covered?

The Federal Trade Commission's home improvement advice is blunt: consider only contractors who are licensed and insured, and ask for proof of insurance. Gutter work happens on ladders and rooflines, so this is not paperwork for its own sake. If an uninsured worker is hurt on your property, you do not want to be the one sorting it out.

Ask for a certificate of insurance, ask whether the people on site are employees or subcontractors, and ask who the point of contact is on the day. Our field team is trained, licensed and insured, and we schedule the crew through our office so you know who is coming and when.

What should the written estimate spell out?

The FTC says a written estimate should include a description of the work, the materials, the completion date and the price, and that you should never sign a contract with blank spaces. For gutters, I would add a few specifics that make two quotes comparable.

If one estimate is far lower than the others, these lines usually show why. I walk through the price drivers in more detail in what new seamless gutters cost in Dallas.

• Gutter size and profile on each side of the house
• Material, color, and whether runs are seamless
• Number and placement of downspouts and extensions
• Fascia repair, priced or explained as a possible addition
• Guards, if any, and the written terms of any warranty
• Removal and haul-off of the old system
• Deposit amount, payment schedule and estimated timeline

If you want guards, what are they and what is the warranty?

Gutter guards range from plastic screens that drop into the gutter to rigid frames with fine metal mesh that are fastened to the gutter itself. They behave very differently in a hard rain and under a tree that sheds seeds and catkins for weeks. Ask what the guard is made of, how it attaches, whether it can come off for an occasional check, and whether the company fits guards on every side by default or only where trees make them worthwhile.

Then ask for the warranty in writing. Our BroGuard guard has a heavy-gauge aluminum frame with a stainless steel micro-mesh insert that is mechanically secured rather than glued, and it carries a limited lifetime warranty. Whatever guard you choose, read the actual terms: what is covered, for how long, and what you have to do to keep the coverage. A verbal promise of a lifetime warranty is worth exactly what is written down.

Red flags that should end the conversation

After a big storm, crews from out of town knock on doors across Dallas offering gutter and roof work because they are in the area. The FTC lists that exact behavior as a warning sign, along with pressure for an immediate decision and demands to pay everything up front or in cash. The Texas Department of Insurance adds another: avoid any contractor who offers to waive your homeowners deductible, because waiving it is illegal under state law.

If your gutters were damaged in the same storm that damaged the roof, the insurance side matters too. A roofer's guide to hail damage and how the roof claim works is worth reading before you sign anything with a storm crew.

• Unsolicited door knocking right after a storm
• Pressure to sign today for a special price
• Full payment up front, or cash only
• An offer to cover or waive your deductible
• No written estimate, or a contract with blank spaces
• One size and one downspout plan for every house

How to read a gutter company's reviews

Star ratings help, but the pattern inside the reviews tells you more. Look for mentions of crews showing up when promised, cleaning up afterward, explaining options without pushing extras, and handling the occasional problem well. A company with only perfect reviews and no detail may be filtering what you see.

We publish every review a homeowner leaves on our independent review services, good or bad. That was a deliberate choice: a contractor that shows only its best moments is not telling you much. Read the negative reviews of any company you are considering and look at how it responded. That response is a preview of how it will treat you if something goes wrong.

What a good first visit and schedule look like

A proper estimate visit is not a five-minute measurement from the driveway. Someone should walk the whole house with you, look at the roofline from several angles, check the fascia, point out where water is landing now, and explain what they would change and why. You should leave with a written recommendation and room to think, not a deadline.

Timing questions are practical, not fussy. Ask how soon the company can come out for the estimate, how long after approval the install usually happens, and what can delay it. For us, most homeowners get the estimate visit within a few days, and once the estimate is approved and a deposit is placed, most projects are completed within one to two weeks depending on scope and material availability.

If a roof replacement, exterior painting or fascia work is planned, ask how the gutter crew coordinates with those trades. New gutters usually go up after the roof is finished and after any fascia repair, and painting the fascia first is often easier than painting around a new gutter. A company that asks about your other projects before scheduling is thinking about your house, not just its calendar.

That is how we run it. You call, text, email or book online, our office schedules the visit, and a Solutionist comes out at no charge and leaves a written recommendation. If you are curious how the job itself unfolds, I describe it step by step in what happens from first call to install day. We serve Dallas and the surrounding cities, and we are glad to be one of the quotes you compare.

Questions people ask me