Eavestrough is one of the easier exterior items to compare between quotes, because eavestrough is measured per linear foot of run plus per downspout.
We don’t publish a per-foot price for it. Our eavestrough work is priced by hand, off the runs and downspouts measured on your house, and written up as an itemized scope under one price you approve before we start. It’s handled like a repair: usually no deposit, invoiced when the work is done, with a 1-year workmanship warranty on what we installed. The things below are what move that price, and they’re the same things to check when you compare two quotes.
What moves it
- Linear feet of run: the base number, and the one thing every quote should agree on.
- Trough size. Standard 5-inch handles most Calgary houses; 6-inch is worth it on large or steep roofs feeding a lot of water into a short run.
- Downspout count and placement. Undersizing here is a common design failure. A big roof through too few downspouts overflows in exactly the storm you needed it for.
- Height and access. Two-storey and three-storey runs take more time and equipment for the same product.
- Fascia condition. If the fascia won’t hold a fastener, it gets dealt with first. That goes on the quote as its own line.
- Gutter guards, if you want them. On an open lot with few trees you may not need them.
Seamless versus sectional
Seamless is formed on site from a coil so the only joints are corners and outlets. Sectional comes in pre-cut lengths joined every few feet. Seams are where gutters leak, and Calgary’s freeze-thaw works on every one of them, so seamless is the default for good reason. If a quote is unusually cheap, check which one you’re being offered.
Why it’s worth doing with the roof
Eavestrough hangs off the fascia and tucks under the roof’s drip edge, so the roofer and the gutter installer are working on the same eight inches of building. Sequenced badly, or split between two companies who never spoke, you get drip edge sitting outside the trough and water running behind it into the fascia. Doing both together avoids a second setup and removes the argument about whose fault the leak is.
Are gutter guards worth it in Calgary?
On a treed lot, often yes. On an open prairie lot in Airdrie or Chestermere, usually not, because there’s little to catch. They also aren’t maintenance-free whatever the marketing says; fine debris and spruce needles defeat most designs.
5-inch or 6-inch?
5-inch handles most Calgary houses. 6-inch earns its cost on large roof areas, steep pitches, and any run where a lot of roof drains through a short length of trough. It’s a capacity calculation.
My gutters are dented from hail. Claim or replace?
Possibly both. Either way, photograph them. IBHS lists dents on gutters and downspouts among the signs of hail, and they corroborate roof damage that’s much harder to see. Get them into the claim scope.
How long should eavestrough last?
InterNACHI’s life-expectancy guideline puts aluminum gutters and downspouts at 20 to 40 years or more with normal maintenance. Early failures usually trace back to ice load on fascia that was already going, or to fasteners driven into rotten wood.
Where the facts on this page come from. If a source has changed since we last checked, tell us and we'll fix the page.
- Is it hail damage? · Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
- InterNACHI's estimated life expectancy chart for homes · InterNACHI
- Hiring a contractor · Government of Alberta
- Tips for hiring a contractor · City of Calgary