Should you install your own gutters?
Honestly: usually not, and not for the reason you would expect. The obstacle is seamless gutter being formed on site from a machine that costs more than the job.
- Doing it yourself
- $400–$1,200
- Typical contractor price
- $1,200–$4,000
This job puts you on a ladder
- Set the base one foot out for every four feet of height. Steeper than that and it slides out from under you; shallower and it tips backwards.
- Extend the ladder at least three rungs above the gutter and tie it off, or have someone foot it. Never rest a ladder on the gutter itself — aluminium will fold.
- Keep your hips between the rails. Reaching sideways past the rails is what puts people on the ground; move the ladder instead, however tedious that gets.
- Stay off it in wind, rain, or on wet grass. A ladder on soft ground sinks unevenly as you climb.
- Standing on the top two rungs is how most ladder falls happen. If you cannot reach from the third rung down, the ladder is too short.
This one also involves working at the roof edge. If you are not confident there, that is the right instinct — stop and get a quote.
Tools
- •Extension ladder and stand-off
- •Tin snips, crimper, rivet gun
- •Chalk line and a long level
- •Cordless drill
Materials
- •Sectional gutter, hangers, end caps, outlets, elbows and downspout
- •Gutter sealant
Step by step
Understand what you are giving up
Contractors roll seamless gutter on site, so a forty-foot run has no joints at all. Sectional gutter from a hardware store has a joint every ten feet, and every joint is a future leak. That difference is most of why professional gutters last longer.
Check the fascia along the whole run
Old gutters hide rot. Probe the board everywhere before ordering anything — discovering soft fascia halfway through is what turns a weekend into a fortnight.
Snap a chalk line for the fall
A quarter-inch of drop per ten feet toward each outlet. Snap the line first and hang to it; adjusting the pitch after the gutter is up means taking it down again.
Hang, join, and seal as you go
Hangers every 16 to 24 inches, joints riveted and sealed from the inside. Sealing after the whole run is up means working overhead from a ladder, which is how joints get missed.
Test the whole run with water before you tidy up
Flush from the high end. Any standing water or any drip is far easier to fix now than after the ladder has been put away.
Stop and call someone if
- Anything above a single storey.
- You want seamless gutter — that genuinely requires the on-site forming machine.
- The fascia needs work, or the roof edge has no drip edge.
- You are replacing gutters because of ice damming; the gutters are the symptom, not the cause.
Or read more about gutter installation.
Common questions
- How much would I actually save?
- Materials for a typical house run a few hundred dollars against one to four thousand installed. But you are fitting sectional gutter in place of seamless, so you are buying a shorter-lived result for the saving, not the same result cheaper.
- Is a single-storey garage a reasonable first attempt?
- Yes. A short, low, straight run with one downspout is the sensible place to learn, and the consequences of getting the pitch slightly wrong are small.
Last reviewed September 19, 2026. General guidance only — your house, your roof and your local building code are what actually govern the work.