What does gutter replacement cost?
New gutters in Maryland cost $17.50 per linear foot installed for 6-inch seamless aluminum, with stainless micro-mesh guard at $13.50 per foot and 3x4 downspout at $16.00 per foot. On a 180-foot eave with guards and 60 feet of downspout that is about $6,540 fitted. Complete-job rate: $32.50 to $46.50 per linear foot including guards and downspouts.
What we charge, line by line
Gutter pricing is quoted per linear foot of eave, and the eave is measured, not estimated from the house footprint. These are the rates in our published price book — the same book the instant quote tool reads, so the number here and the number an estimator gives you come from one place.
| Line item | Our published rate | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 6-inch seamless aluminum gutter, installed | $17.50 per linear foot | Oversized profile, rolled on site so there are no seams to fail between corners. A 5-inch gutter is the builder standard and overflows in a DMV downpour. |
| Stainless micro-mesh leaf guard | $13.50 per linear foot | Guards and micro-mesh screen, not foam inserts. Foam holds seed and grows what it was meant to keep out. |
| 3x4 oversized downspout | $16.00 per linear foot | Downspout at 3x4 rather than 2x3 moves roughly twice the water. Undersized downspouts are why a correctly sized gutter still overflows. |
| Rotted fascia board, replaced | $16 per foot | Billed only where it is found. The gutter hangs off the fascia, so rotten fascia means the new gutter has nothing sound to fasten to. |
| Complete job, everything in | $32.50 to $46.50 per linear foot | Gutter, guards and downspouts together with mobilization, disposal of the old run and the warranty. This is what the quote tools return. |
A worked example, because a per-foot rate is hard to picture. A common Maryland colonial has about 180 feet of eave and needs five downspouts, call it 60 feet of vertical run. Gutter at $17.50, guards at $13.50 and downspout at $16.00 comes to roughly $6,540 fitted. Without guards it is about $4,110.
Two honest notes about those numbers. The first is that they sit above the aggregate Maryland market — published 2026 cost guides put aluminum gutter in the single digits per foot, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What is in ours that is not in theirs is the oversized profile, the stainless mesh rather than plastic screen, the 3x4 downspout, and a crew that is on your roof anyway rather than a two-person gutter truck. The second is that we do not quote a gutter job below these rates and then find the difference later.
What actually moves a gutter price up or down
- Measured eave length. Not the perimeter of the house. A cut-up roofline with dormers and returns has far more eave than its footprint suggests, and it is the single biggest driver.
- Number of corners. Every inside and outside corner is a hand-made mitre, sealed and riveted. A simple rectangle is cheap per foot; a house with eight corners is not.
- Height and access. A two-storey rear elevation over a deck or a slope takes staging that a ranch does not.
- Downspout count and where the water goes. Adding a downspout is cheap. Extending it underground away from the foundation is a different job, and it is the one that actually stops a wet basement.
- Fascia condition. Soft fascia is found when the old gutter comes off, never before. It is priced per foot and photographed before anything is replaced.
- Guards or no guards. Guards are roughly the same order of cost as the gutter itself. They are worth it under mature trees and close to pointless on an open lot.
A gutter that is the right size and pitched correctly on a rotten fascia board is a gutter that will be on the ground in three winters. The fascia is not an upsell.
What a gutter quote should say before you sign it
Eight things a gutter quote should name
If a quote is one line and one number, you cannot compare it with anything. These are the items that decide whether the job is the same job.
- Measured linear feet of gutter, stated as a number.
- Profile and gauge: 6-inch K-style, and the aluminum thickness. Thin coil dents when a ladder leans on it.
- Hanger type and spacing. Hidden hangers screwed into the fascia every 24 inches, not spikes and ferrules.
- Downspout size, count and outlet locations, plus where each one discharges.
- Guard product by name, if guards are included, and whether the guard voids or keeps the gutter warranty.
- Whether the old gutter is removed and hauled away, and whether that is in the price.
- Fascia and soffit repair rate per foot, so a discovered condition has a published number rather than a negotiation.
- Colour, and whether the downspout matches the trim or the gutter.
A flat price with no measured footage is not a price, it is a guess that gets corrected on the day. Ask what linear footage it assumes. If the answer is not a number, the quote will change once the tape comes out.
Ask instead: How many linear feet did you measure, and what is your rate per foot?Standard means 5-inch with 2x3 downspouts, which is the builder-grade combination that overflows at the corners in a heavy Maryland summer storm. It is not wrong on every house, but it should be a choice you made rather than a default you were not told about.
Ask instead: Is that 5-inch or 6-inch, and 2x3 or 3x4 downspouts?No guard is maintenance-free. Micro-mesh keeps out leaves and needles and still collects grit and shingle granules on top of the mesh, which needs rinsing. A guard that promises never is a guard whose warranty you should read before the sale, not after.
Ask instead: What does the guard warranty actually cover, and who honours it if you stop trading?Gutter cost questions we get asked
How much does gutter installation cost per foot?
Our published rate is $17.50 per linear foot installed for 6-inch seamless aluminum gutter, $13.50 per foot for stainless micro-mesh guard, and $16.00 per foot for 3x4 oversized downspout. Taken as a complete job with mobilization, removal of the old run and the warranty, the rate the quote tools return is $32.50 to $46.50 per linear foot of eave for gutter, guards and downspouts together. Those are retail list rates from our published price book, not a quote; the real number comes off a measurement of your own eave.
Is gutter replacement covered by insurance?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on cause. Gutters torn off or dented by a covered event such as hail or high wind are usually part of the same claim as the roof, and dented gutters are one of the strongest pieces of corroborating evidence an adjuster looks for when assessing hail. Gutters that have simply sagged, separated or rusted with age are maintenance and no carrier pays for them. Coverage is your carrier decision, never a contractor promise.
How long does gutter installation take?
A typical single-family house is one day for the gutter and downspouts, and a second day only if fascia has to be replaced or the run is unusually long. Guards add a few hours. The job is weather-dependent in the sense that nobody should be on a ladder in wind, but it is not weather-dependent the way a roof tear-off is.
How long should new gutters last?
Seamless aluminum hung on hidden hangers should last twenty to thirty years, and the failure is nearly always at a joint, an end cap or the fastening rather than in the middle of a run. What shortens that dramatically is spike-and-ferrule fastening, which works loose, and a gutter fixed to fascia that was already soft. Steel rusts sooner, copper lasts longer and costs several times more.
Can you install gutters yourself?
A competent DIYer can hang a short straight run on a single-storey elevation. Two things make it harder than it looks. Seamless gutter is rolled on site from a machine, so anything you buy at a store comes in sections with joints, and every joint is a future leak. And the pitch has to be right — roughly a quarter inch of fall for every ten feet, consistently, or the water stands and the gutter sags under the weight. Two-storey work over hard landscaping is not a ladder job.
Should gutters be replaced before or after a new roof?
With the roof, and by the same crew, in one visit. Drip edge, gutter apron and the starter course have to lap in a specific order for water to leave the roof and land in the gutter rather than behind it. If the gutter goes on first, it usually comes off again for the roof. If it goes on much later, the roofer had to guess where it would sit.
Where to go next
Gutters are one part of the water path off a roof. These are the pages that cover the rest of it.
Gutters and leaf guards
Oversized 6-inch seamless aluminum, 3x4 downspouts and stainless micro-mesh, sized to a Maryland downpour.
See the service →Edge metalDrip edge, gutter apron and fascia rot
Why lap order reverses at eaves and rakes, and how reused edge metal rots fascia behind a new roof.
Read the standard →StandardsHow gutters are installed properly
Slope, hanger spacing, downspout sizing and the details that decide whether a gutter works.
Read the guide →EstimateHow to read a roofing estimate
What the price is made of, the seven places a cheap bid gets cheap, and how to compare two quotes line by line.
Read the standard →