Gutters run $6 to $15 per linear foot installed for seamless aluminum — the material more than 80% of homeowners pick — and a typical house needs 150 to 200 linear feet plus 4 to 6 downspouts, which lands most full installs between $1,000 and $3,600. Vinyl is cheaper, copper is a different tax bracket, and guards can quietly double the bill. Here's how the pieces price out and how to count what your roof actually needs.
Installed per-foot pricing by material, from current cost-tracker data:
| Material | Installed per LF | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl | $6-$11 | Cheapest; materials alone $2-$5; brittle in hard freezes |
| Seamless aluminum | $6-$15 | The default choice; basic runs $6.29-$10.45 (Homewyse, May 2026) |
| Seamless steel | $12-$25 | Heavy-duty; hail and ladder-bump resistant |
| Zinc | $15-$25+ | Premium, self-healing patina, decades of life |
| Copper | $15-$40 | Premium look; 16-oz copper material alone runs $9-$19 |
Aluminum dominates for boring reasons: it doesn't rust, it's light enough for one-person installation, and it takes paint. Steel earns its premium where hail or ladders will hit it. Copper is a 50-plus-year statement — you're buying curb appeal for a $2,200 to $6,000 bill on a 150-foot house, not better rain capture.
Apply those rates to real footprints. A gable roof carries gutter on the two eave sides; a hip roof drains on all four, so it needs roughly 75% more footage on the same footprint. Using the calculator's own math on a 40×30 house:
| Job | Gable (84 LF + 3 ds) | Hip (147 LF + 3 ds) |
|---|---|---|
| Seamless aluminum @ $9/LF + $90/ds | $1,026 | $1,593 |
| Vinyl @ $7/LF + $60/ds | $768 | $1,209 |
| Steel @ $18/LF + $120/ds | $1,872 | $3,006 |
| Copper @ $28/LF + $200/ds | $2,952 | $4,716 |
Those single-house numbers sit inside the market band: most 150-200 LF homes pay $1,000-$3,600 for standard installs, and some national trackers put the average near $3,000 once higher-cost markets and add-ons are mixed in. The gutter calculator computes your exact footage from the footprint — gable and hip both — then prices it at your local rates.
Sectional gutters — 10-foot lengths joined with connectors — are the DIY route and the cheap route: a determined homeowner can hang vinyl sections from a ladder for a few hundred dollars in materials. Seamless gutters are roll-formed on a truck to your exact run lengths, so a 60-foot eave is one piece with joints only at corners and downspouts. Fewer joints mean fewer leaks, which is why seamless is what installers sell and why it costs more. The linear footage the calculator spits out is exactly what a seamless crew will quote from, waste factor included.
Guards are their own line item, and the spread is wide:
| Guard type | Installed per LF | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl / mesh screens | $1-$4 | DIY-friendly; catches leaves, passes small debris |
| Basic professional covers | $7-$10 | Homewyse basic-cover band runs $8.24-$10.09 |
| Full professional systems | $7-$14 | Installed on new or existing gutters (HomeAdvisor band) |
| Micro-mesh | ~$15 | Fine stainless mesh; blocks pine needles and shingle grit |
Run the arithmetic before saying yes at the quote table: a 180-foot house at $18 per foot for gutters ($3,240) plus micro-mesh at $15 ($2,700) is a $5,940 project — the guards cost more than half the gutters. Guards also don't eliminate maintenance; they stretch it. Fine debris still silts through, and someone still has to get up there eventually.
Two rules of thumb cover it. Downspouts: one standard 2×3 or 3×4 unit per 600 square feet of roof area, measured on the sloped surface, not the footprint — a steeper roof has more actual area than the flat rectangle below it. Oversized 3×4 downspouts handle 800-1,000 square feet each and clog less, which makes them the standard upgrade. Hangers: every 24 to 36 inches per manufacturer standards, tightened to 24 inches in snow country where ice loads the run.
Downspouts are also where the water story ends or doesn't. Discharge should land 4 to 6 feet from the foundation — splash blocks minimum, buried drain pipe better — or the gutters you just paid for dump their load straight against the basement wall. That's a $30 fix at install time and an excavation problem later.
Height and access mostly. A third story, steep lawns that need stabilizers, or a house boxed by landscaping adds labor time, and labor is half to two-thirds of an install quote. Complexity charges too: inside corners, wrap-around porches, and short runs on hips and valleys multiply the joints that slow a crew down. If your roof work is part of a bigger project — full re-roof, new siding — bundle the gutter bid into it; crews on site already are cheaper than crews mobilized.
Gutter LF, downspouts, hangers, and cost from your roof footprint and pitch.
Gutter Calculator →Budget $6-$15 per linear foot installed for seamless aluminum and $1,000-$3,600 for a typical 150-200 foot house; vinyl shaves a little, steel and copper multiply it, and guards add $1-$15 per foot on top. Count your footage before you take quotes — the gutter calculator does the gable/hip math and the downspout count from your footprint — and sanity-check any bid against your own linear-footage number. For the roof above the gutters, the roofing calculator prices the full replacement, and the roof pitch calculator pins down the multiplier that drives your true roof area.
Most homes need 150-200 linear feet of gutter plus 4-6 downspouts, and standard aluminum or vinyl installs land between $1,000 and $3,600 total. Premium materials push higher — a 150-foot copper job runs roughly $2,200-$6,000.
Vinyl, at $6-$11 per linear foot installed ($2-$5 in materials). Aluminum — $6-$15 installed — costs only slightly more, resists rust, and is what over 80% of homeowners choose, so the savings on vinyl are real but thin.
Basic vinyl mesh screens run $1-$4 per linear foot, while professional systems run $7-$15 installed and micro-mesh tops $15 per foot. On a 180-foot house, guards can double a basic seamless-aluminum bill, so price them as their own line item, not an afterthought.
The industry rule of thumb is one standard 2x3 or 3x4 downspout per 600 square feet of roof area. Oversized 3x4 downspouts can serve 800-1,000 square feet each and clog less, which is why they are the usual upgrade on new installs.
Sectional vinyl or aluminum gutters are a realistic DIY job — materials at $2-$5 per foot mean a 150-foot run costs a few hundred dollars. Seamless gutters cannot be DIY'd; the stock is roll-formed on a truck to your exact lengths, and that equipment is why seamless installs cost more but leak less.