How we chose
We started from the eighteen gutter cleaners Google Maps shows across Telford. Industry qualifications were sourced from the registers, each firm's own website and platforms such as Checkatrade [1] [5]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Eleven firms met all three. We looked first at what customers say, since beyond a small handful of reviews volume adds nothing, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
Match the firm to the job first. A gutter cleaner clears and flushes gutters and downpipes; add windows, fascias or roofs and you want an exterior firm that lists them, while slipped tiles and leaking joints past a seal belong to a roofer. Say how many storeys you have, whether the rear is reachable, which downpipes overflow and what you have seen: plants in the channel, water over the lip or damp on the wall. Photos taken from the ground help every quote.
Gutter cleaning carries no mandatory registration, so the checks shift to identity and paperwork. If the quote carries a limited-company name, type it into the Companies House register and confirm the status reads active [1]. Ask for the public liability certificate and read what it covers: cover is not required by law for this trade, so a firm that shows its papers earns a plus. Where the firm carries waste away, ask for its waste carrier number and look it up on the public register [3].
Telford and Wrekin adds a heritage wrinkle. The council lists eight conservation areas across the borough, including the Severn Gorge and Wellington [6], so name your street when you enquire if you live in the gorge villages or the older Wellington terraces. A straightforward clear-and-flush is maintenance, while replacement lengths or changed brackets in those streets deserve a mention before anyone quotes. Firms that work the gorge regularly will know which cottages need extra care around older guttering.
Access kit can trigger paperwork of its own. Where a tower or scaffold must stand on the pavement rather than your drive, the firm needs a council licence granted before anything goes up, applied for in advance with a fee attached [7]. Ask whose job the application is and whose insurance covers the pavement while it stands. Ground-based vacuum poles dodge the question entirely on most two-storey homes.
Talk through access before you agree a date. Ground-based vacuum poles with a camera suit most two-storey homes and leave photos of the result. Ladders still serve short runs and repairs when footed and tied, in line with Health and Safety Executive guidance on working at height [2]. Tall, steep or awkward roofs may need a tower or scaffold, which changes the price. Ask which method your quote assumes and what happens if the cleaner finds damage up there. Terraced streets in Wellington, Dawley and Madeley often mean narrow side passages, Lawley closes can mean shared drives to negotiate, and Ironbridge lanes leave little room for a van.
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same description, separating labour, access kit, extras and VAT so you compare like with like [4]. Each quote should name which elevations are cleaned, whether downpipes are flushed, whether before-and-after photos are included, who removes the waste and when the work happens. A deposit for booked kit is normal, while full payment before completion is not. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question, not a bargain.
Read what customers say alongside the paperwork. Every firm in this table carries a public Google record you can read today, and several publish customer photos or testimonials on their own sites. Favour recent Telford reviews describing your kind of job over old praise from far away. If a firm is new to you, ask for one nearby reference you could verify.
A typical job runs the same course from first message to sign-off. You send photos of each elevation with the storeys, the access and what you have seen, and the firm replies with a dated fixed figure. On the day the cleaner walks every run at ground level first, then clears each length in turn, tests every downpipe and photographs the results. You look at the photos together at the door, the waste leaves by prior agreement, and the balance follows the invoice. The photos stay your proof if a downpipe misbehaves in the weeks after.
On the day, expect the cleaner to walk the runs, clear and flush each length, check every downpipe runs free and photograph the result. Afterwards, keep the invoice showing VAT, the photos and any written terms for repairs or repeat visits with your house papers. If a downpipe blocks again within weeks, that file proves what was cleaned and found. Pay the balance when the job matches the written scope. If the quote promised a guarantee on repairs or a free return visit for blockages, that promise should appear in the same written terms.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, the national guides agree on rough bands: a small terraced house £50–£120, a medium semi £100–£150, a detached four-bed £130–£165 and a three-storey townhouse cleaned by vacuum £165–£300, each plus VAT [5]. Hourly rates sit around £20–£30 and a full day around £150–£250, while scaffold or cherry-picker jobs go by individual quote [5]. Telford quotes should land inside these bands; treat an outlier in either direction as a question.
The most-booked job is the standard clear-and-flush on a terrace or semi. A trade-platform guide for 2026 puts a standard clean at £50–£150, with larger or harder-to-reach work at £150–£425 and per-metre pricing at £4–£12 where firms quote by length [8]. Semis sit in the middle of that standard band. Use the per-metre figure to sense-check a fixed quote against your own guttering length.
Detached houses and three-storey townhouses cost more because height slows everything down. The national bands put a detached four-bed at £130–£165 and a three-storey vacuum clean at £165–£300, each plus VAT [5]. Towers or scaffold for awkward runs go by individual quote [5]. If your quote assumes poles from the ground, check the price when the top run needs more.
Extras price as their own lines. A fascia and soffit wash booked with the clean adds to the bill without doubling it, a blocked downpipe cleared alone prices as a small extra, and minor seal or bracket repairs price by time on the hourly rates above [5]. Price each extra separately so the bundle saving shows.
Height and access move the price most: long-reach poles, towers and scaffold all add cost, as does a stepped terrace with no rear access. The length of guttering, the depth of leaf and moss build-up, the number of blocked downpipes and extras such as fascia and soffit washing or minor seal repairs all shift the figure. Autumn is peak season, so a packed diary can firm prices up.
Ask whether VAT sits on top of the quoted figure, since the published bands exclude it [5]. Most Telford firms price each job by quote after photos or a visit, with only the gutter-only specialist publishing instant fixed prices online. Agree whether the figure is fixed or an estimate before anyone arrives.
Get the scope in writing first: which elevations, whether downpipes are flushed, whether photos are included, who removes the waste and what happens if damage turns up. Agree payment stages and keep every quote, invoice and photo together [4].
Red flags
Quotes without asking how many storeys you have or seeing a photo of the gutters and access.
Leans a ladder on the gutter itself with nobody footing it and no stand-off in sight [2].
Cannot say where the cleared moss and silt goes or show a waste carrier number you can look up [3].
Gives no trading name, address or working phone you could call back.
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms [4].
Folds repairs such as seals, brackets or new lengths into the cleaning price with no separate line.
Refuses before-and-after photos of the gutters and downpipes once done.
Turns up with no camera or other way to show you the cleared runs and running downpipes.
Names a fixed price for a tall or awkward block without asking about storeys, access or photos.
The bottom line
For most Telford homes, start with Severn Valley Exterior Cleaning: vacuum gutter emptying with windows, roofs and driveways cleared on the same visit, plus stated training and cover behind the name. Its prices come by quote only, so ask for an itemised figure first. If fixed online prices and timed booking matter more to you, GutterPRO Shropshire is the tidier fit.
Match the firm to the job: Spitfire for render and roof work done together, Aquaswift for an established Wellington hand, Vortex for commercial buildings, and Pure Clean or Sanis for round-based cleans with free quotes. Then get two itemised quotes on the same written scope and keep the photos, invoice and any guarantee terms together.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.