Gutters are one of those jobs where a price can feel hard to judge. The product looks the same from the pavement, whether it is thin plastic or heavy aluminium, and the work happens out of sight at roof height. Owners are left asking whether a quote is high, low or reasonable without much to go on.
A national cost guide gives a useful anchor. MyJobQuote puts the typical cost of replacing guttering at around £1,000 to £1,600 (Oct 2026). That is a spread of several hundred pounds on a single job, and most of it comes from a handful of choices: what the gutters are made of, which shape they are, how long and tall the house is, how many downpipes it needs and whether scaffold goes up.
This guide takes each of those in turn, so you can see why a quote lands where it does and what to ask of the person who gives it. That figure is a typical UK range, which makes it a yardstick rather than a quotation, and it is not our price. Our guttering, soffits and fascias hub explains the work around it.
The published range, and what it covers
A published range is only as useful as your understanding of what sits inside it.
The MyJobQuote figure
MyJobQuote gives gutter replacement as around £1,000 to £1,600 (Oct 2026). The guide describes it as a typical cost for replacing the guttering on a house. Its page breaks costs down by material, so the range comes from several rows, and which row applies to you depends on what you choose.
What the range assumes
Think of the range as a conventional job: removing the old gutters and downpipes, fitting new ones of a standard profile, and reaching them from a manageable height. A tall house, a long roofline, difficult access or repairs to the fascia behind can take a job above it. A modest run on a low building can land below it.
Related figures
For context, the same site gives around £800 for new boards over old fascias and soffits of a 3-bed semi (Sep 2026), and Which? gives £75 to £350, ex VAT, to clear every gutter on a house (Nov 2025). Those are separate jobs, and often done in the same visit. Our fascias and soffits cost guide explains how the roofline figures relate.
A repair is different
If the gutters are sound apart from a few joints or a sagging section, a repair will cost far less than renewal. The smaller jobs have their own pricing.
None of these figures is a price list. They show the order of magnitude, and the number for your roof comes from the survey.
Material: plastic, aluminium and cast iron
The material is the single biggest choice, and it affects the price, the weight, the life and the look.
uPVC
Plastic is the usual choice for houses. It is light, easy to cut and fit, does not rust and comes in white, black, brown and grey. It is the lowest-priced material, and it can become brittle and fade with age and sun. Joints are push-fit with rubber seals, which can fail.
Aluminium
Aluminium is stronger and holds its shape and finish well. It can be painted, comes in a wide range of colours and can be formed in long lengths with no joints along the run. It costs more than plastic, and it is the next step up when the budget allows. Our answer on aluminium vs uPVC guttering compares the two in detail.
Cast iron and cast aluminium
Cast iron is heavy, traditional and long-lived when maintained. It is the choice for period houses, listed buildings and conservation areas where a plastic gutter would look wrong. It costs the most to buy, to fit and to keep painted. Cast aluminium copies the look in a lighter metal.
How the choice moves the price
The step from plastic to aluminium, and from there to cast metal, each adds to the figure, and the written quote shows which is priced. A low-looking quote may be for plastic when you assumed metal, so check what is being fitted, and ask to see a sample of the profile and the finish. That is a fair request, and one any trader should be glad to meet.
Profile and size
After the material, the shape and the size of the gutter set the cost and the performance.
The four common shapes
The four shapes all come in plastic, and several in metal. Half-round is the most widely stocked and generally the lowest-priced. Square and ogee cost a little more. Deep-flow, made for larger roofs, costs more again because the sections are bigger. Our guide to gutter profiles sets out how each carries water and where it fits.
Size for the roof
The bigger the roof draining into a gutter, the more capacity it needs. A porch and a barn do not take the same product. Undersized gutters overflow in heavy rain and cause the damage the replacement was meant to cure. Getting the size right the first time is cheaper than doing it twice, and a roof that has been extended since the gutters were fitted is a case that can be caught out.
Matching what is there
Changing profile can need new brackets or a different fixing, which adds to the price. In a conservation area or on a listed building, matching the existing look may be a requirement, and the council decides. On a protected property, ask Test Valley Borough Council's planning team before altering a visible profile.
Length and corners
The amount of gutter is the basic multiplier. A detached house with several corners, a bay and an extension has more gutter and more fittings than a plain terrace. Every internal and external corner, stop end and outlet is a separate component that has to be matched and fitted, and a cut-down corner piece is never as good as the right one. Colour batches can differ slightly, so the whole lot should come from one supplier.
Downpipes, outlets and drainage
Gutters are only half the system, and the downpipes are often where an apparently modest quote grows.
How many
Every outlet needs a downpipe, and a long roof may need more than one. A house with a rear extension can have three or four. Each downpipe has its own clips, joints and shoe, so the number of them changes the cost.
Replacing or keeping
Sound downpipes in a matching style can be kept and refitted, which lowers the price. Old, cracked or mismatched pipes are better replaced, because new gutters on tired pipes leak at the joint between them. Plastic that has gone brittle can crack the first time it is disturbed, and a repaired pipe that fails in a year undoes the benefit of the new run above it. Our guide to downpipe replacement explains what to check.
The ground connection
If the pipe discharges into a gully or soakaway that is blocked, new pipes will not cure the problem. Clearing and checking the drain belongs in the job. If the drains need more than clearing, that is a separate matter with its own price.
Hoppers and offsets
Hopper heads, offsets round a bay or over a projecting course of brick, and special fittings for awkward junctions all raise the price. A quote should say which are included.
Asking the right question
Ask how many downpipes the quote includes, whether they are new, and where each one discharges. A quote that is silent on downpipes may be gutters only. It is reasonable to ask for a second look if the number of pipes does not match the number of outlets you can count on the house.
Scaffold, access and the roofline behind
The cost of reaching the gutters, and of dealing with what is behind them, is often what separates one quote from another.
Access
A bungalow or an extension can be done from a ladder or a low tower. A two-storey house usually needs scaffold, or at least a tower, for safe work along a long run. Scaffold costs money to erect, hire and take down, and it is a large variable on a taller property. Where scaffold stands on a public footway, Hampshire County Council is the licensing authority for Andover addresses. Scaffold, and any licence it needs, is part of the written price whenever the job calls for it.
The fascia behind
New gutters are fixed to the fascia or the rafter ends. If the board is rotten, the brackets will not hold, and it has to be repaired or replaced. Leaking gutters so often rot the board behind them. Doing the fascia at the same time as the gutters saves a second scaffold hire.
Old materials and asbestos
Old gutters may be asbestos cement, which changes how they are removed and disposed of. Under the HSE's rules the way the material is handled decides which category applies, and on older houses the question comes up at the survey, before the price.
Waste
Old gutters and pipes have to be taken away. The quote should say who does so.
Reading the quote, and how we price
A clear quote answers the questions that a published range cannot.
What it should say
The material and colour, the profile and size, the number of downpipes and where they discharge, whether the old ones are removed, whether scaffold is included, what happens to the fascia, and who takes the waste away. It should state one total.
VAT
The standard VAT rate is 20 per cent. MyJobQuote gives no VAT basis for its figures, so ask whether yours includes it.
Comparing
Citizens Advice suggests getting at least 3 written quotes before you pick a trader. Give them the same information and the same photos. When prices differ, ask what each has priced, because the cause is usually the material, the downpipes or the scaffold, not the labour.
Our approach
We survey the roofline and the gutters, check the fall, probe the fascia, look at the downpipes and the drain, and take photos. You get an explanation of what we found and what we would fit, then one written total. If the fascia behind turns out worse than it looked, you hear before any extra work starts.
A gutter quote with no mention of downpipes, scaffold or the fascia behind it is incomplete. Ask for each to be named.
When the job is done, the old gutters are gone with the waste, and the ground is clear.
