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The number a homeowner wants is a published “$4.50 a foot installed” gutter special, or a price they saw for a ranch hang on a coupon site. That number is not a takeoff. A 140-foot one-story 5-inch aluminum hang with two included downspouts is not the same job as a 220-foot two-story 6-inch hang with extra drops, inside miters, forty feet of fascia, and tear-off of the old system. The trip is the same. The hours are not.
Open the free bid calculatorGutter-cleaning calculators price stories and downspouts for a wash. Gutter-guard calculators price mesh on an existing trough. A new hang is a different job: the trough, the miters, the drops past the included first two, the stories, and the fascia that is not in the coupon. Quoting all of that from a published per-foot special is how the first inside miter eats the field margin.
Each extra drop past the included first two is time that never appears on the coupon. A second story is billed as its own hours. Inside miters, fascia, tear-off, and hidden hangers are adders that get forgotten on a brochure special. On the sample rates a 220-foot 6-inch aluminum colonial with two inside miters, four downspouts, 40 feet of fascia, tear-off, and hidden hangers prices about $6,782.18 ($30.83 per foot of gutter, 32.3 crew-hours). The same shop’s 140-foot 5-inch ranch prices about $1,749.03 ($12.49 per foot, 8.1 hours, walk-away $1,189.34). Matching the brochure job’s $4.50 special on the two-story house is how that job becomes a loss — the walk-away on the heavy job is already $4,611.88, and the $4.50 special ($630 on the ranch) loses $559.34 even on the brochure hang.
A 160-foot two-story copper hang with steep access and tear-off is not the 140-foot ranch plus 15%. On the sample rates that copper job prices about $7,396.97 ($46.23 per foot, 21.6 crew-hours) — more than the brochure hang, not because copper is slower to hang but because story hours, steep access, and an $18-per-foot trough do not live in a published ranch special. An 180-foot one-story 5-inch hang with tear-off and a third downspout prices about $2,851.79 (14.0 hours). Treating either as a blended add-on is how the special that looked fine turns into a loss after the first inside miter.
A $38/h installer loaded at 32% payroll burden is $50.16. Margin is a share of the price you send, not a markup on cost. The walk-away price is total cost — below that the job makes nothing before you take a dollar home. Replace every rate with your invoices before you send either number.
This is not a gutter design, a water-management plan, a building-code determination, a permit, an engineering stamp, or a recommended market price. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type. Footage, profile, stories, miters, downspouts, fascia, and tear-off are yours to confirm. It does not price a cleaning route or a gutter-guard install.
Charge from the trip, the hang, inside and outside miters, extra downspouts past the included first two, extra downspout footage past ten feet per drop, second-story hours, fascia, tear-off, loaded labor, overhead, and a margin that is a share of price. A default 140-foot one-story 5-inch aluminum ranch with four outside miters and two included downspouts, at the sample rates in this calculator, prices around $1,749 — about $12.49 per foot of gutter.
Homeowners count linear feet. Corners, extra drops, extra downspout footage, a second story, fascia rot, and tear-off do not scale with that number. Matching a cheaper special written for a one-story ranch is how a two-story colonial with fascia becomes a two-day loss. On the sample rates the $4.50 special is $630 on the ranch and already $559 under the walk-away cost.
A two-story six-inch hang with extra drops and fascia is not a ranch-only special. On the sample rates a 220-foot 6-inch aluminum colonial with two inside miters, four downspouts, 40 feet of fascia, tear-off, and hidden hangers prices around $6,782 ($30.83 per foot, 32.3 crew-hours), while a 140-foot 5-inch ranch prices around $1,749 ($12.49 per foot, 8.1 hours).