Guttering looks like the simplest part of a house to price, and it is often the hardest to compare. One quote is for a run of plastic channel clipped to the existing fascia. Another includes new fascia boards, new soffits, fresh downpipes and the scaffold to reach them. Both are called "new guttering", and the totals can sit a long way apart for sound reasons. This guide gives the typical UK ranges published in third-party cost guides, explains what each figure covers, and sets out how repairs and clearing are priced when no national figure exists. Because the ranges are national, they help you judge a quote but cannot replace one. A price for your house follows a visit, once we have seen the roofline and photographed it.
What guttering, fascias and soffits cost per metre
Roofline work is priced by the metre of run, with access added on top. The numbers here are typical UK ranges reported by MyBuilder's gutter, fascia and soffit replacement guide (2026), which was updated in August 2026.
| Item | Typical UK range |
|---|---|
| Guttering, supplied and fitted | £30 to £70 per metre |
| Fascia board | £80 to £150 per metre |
| Soffit | £100 to £180 per metre |
| Fascia plus soffit, average | About £150 per metre |
| Scaffold, where needed | £20 to £40 per m² |
A fixed price in writing comes after the survey, and these rows only show the scale of the work. Notice how little of the bill is the gutter itself. The channel is the cheapest line in the table, and the boards it hangs from cost more per metre than the gutter does. A house with rotten fascias therefore costs far more to put right than one where only the gutter has failed.
Run length is the first multiplier. A semi-detached house has a front and a back eaves line, and a detached house with a side extension has several more. Every change of direction adds corners, stop ends and outlets, which are fittings with their own cost and their own joints. A plain rectangle of roof is cheaper per metre than a house with a bay, a porch roof and a two-storey rear wing.
Height is the second. Work from a ladder at ground-floor level is quick. Work at the eaves of a three-storey house is slower and needs the scaffold that appears in the last row of the table.
Replacing guttering: how material changes the total
The cost guide gives one range for guttering because the three common materials overlap in price more than people expect. What differs is how long each lasts and what it asks of you afterwards. One trade blog, Pureseal Services (December 2025), gives typical lives of 10 to 20 years for uPVC guttering, 20 to 30 for aluminium and 40 to 70 for cast iron, with copper at 50 to 100 or more. It is a single source from a cleaning firm, so treat the numbers as a rough order and not as a promise. Exposure, fixing and upkeep move them in either direction.
That is why the cheapest line on the quote is not always the cheapest choice. A plastic system that needs renewing sooner costs less today than cast iron, but the cast iron may still be in place when the plastic has been replaced twice. On a listed or period house, there is often no real choice at all, because the profile and the material are part of the building's character. Our guide to gutter materials compared sets out looks, life and suitability side by side.
What sits inside a replacement price
A proper replacement includes taking down and disposing of the old channel, checking the fascia or rafter ends it was fixed to, fitting new brackets, setting the channel to a fall towards the outlet, and connecting downpipes. One manufacturer of a small shed range recommends about 1:350 for a fall, which gives a feel for how slight the slope should be. Ask a roofer to name the brackets, the fall and the downpipe connections on the quote, because those are the details that separate a system that drains from one that holds water.
Repairs and cleaning: why there is no single national figure
The published guides we use cover full replacement but carry no dependable range for repairing or clearing gutters. Rather than invent one, here is how each job is priced.
Repairs
A repair is priced on what is wrong and how far you have to reach to fix it. Resealing a leaking joint, refitting a sagging section on new brackets, replacing a cracked length or an outlet, and re-hanging a run that has dropped off its fixings are all small jobs in themselves. The cost climbs when they are done at height, because the access then matters more than the labour. Our answer on a leaking gutter joint explains when a reseal is enough and when the joint has failed for good.
We repair where repair works. If the channel is sound and a bracket has let go, replacing the whole run would waste your money, and the survey will show that.
Cleaning
Clearing is priced by the length of gutter, the number of storeys and how easily the eaves can be reached. A bungalow with open access takes far less time than a terrace where the back eaves can only be reached from a neighbour's side or a roof. Trees overhanging the roofline mean more debris and a quicker return of the problem. How often the job is needed depends on the house, and our answer on how often to clean gutters covers that.
Fascia and soffit work inside the gutter bill
Gutters hang from the fascia, the board that runs along the foot of the roof slope, and the soffit is the panel fixed beneath the overhang, hiding the rafter ends. When one is rotten, the other is usually close behind, since water that escapes a failing gutter runs straight onto them. That is why a quote for new guttering often turns into a quote for the whole roofline once someone has looked properly.
MyBuilder's guide says uPVC fascias and soffits typically need replacing every 10 to 20 years depending on the material, and it advises an inspection every five years. A uPVC retailer, The Plastic Centre (March 2026), puts high-quality uPVC at 20 to 40 years. The two sources disagree, and the truth depends on the board, the sun on it and whether the gutter above it has been leaking.
Timber fascias are different again. They can often be repaired in sections, with the sound timber kept and rotten ends cut out, and that is cheaper than renewing them. Where the original timber boards are part of the look of an older house, repair and repainting is also the more faithful route. Plastic cladding over a rotten board hides the problem and lets it continue unseen, which is a poor use of money. If the board behind is sound, a good paint system and a few new sections will keep it going for years.
Soffits carry another job. In many roofs they hold the vents that let air into the loft, and a blanked-off soffit can leave moisture trapped under the roof. Our guide to soffit vents explains how to keep the airflow when boards are replaced.
On an older house, soffit boards may contain asbestos cement. That needs handling under the HSE's guidance, and it is a reason to have the boards identified before anyone cuts into them.
Scaffold, access and the cost nobody mentions first
Scaffold is where a roofline quote most often surprises people. MyBuilder gives a typical UK range of £20 to £40 per m² for it. For a three-storey Bath terrace, the access question can be harder than the gutter itself, since a terrace may have a basement area at the front, a narrow lane at the back and neighbours' property in between.
A gutter at ground-floor height can be done from ladders and a tower. Above that, scaffold is the safer way to work and the only practical way to replace fascias and soffits properly. It also protects your garden and your windows, and it lets the roofer see the rafter ends and the top of the wall behind the gutter, which is where the hidden problems are.
If you are planning other roof work, ask whether the scaffold can serve both jobs. A re-roof, new lead, a chimney repair and a gutter replacement may all need access to the same elevation. Doing them together means paying for scaffold once. Doing them in separate years means paying for it each time, and that is a saving worth working out before you commit.
On a terrace that shares a roofline, access can also depend on a neighbour. The gutter may be continuous across both houses, or the downpipe may be shared. We cover the practical side in our answer on a shared gutter on a terrace.
Period houses, consent and what the survey settles
A national guide cannot price what Bath adds. World Heritage status applies across the city, while the conservation area reaches across about a half of the built-up city, and around 5,000 buildings are listed. On a listed house, swapping cast iron guttering for another material alters how the building looks, so consent from B&NES Council comes first. Speak to the council before ordering anything; the consent for a listed building runs on its own track, apart from planning permission. If your unlisted house sits within the conservation area, ask B&NES about any change of material or profile.
Matching costs more. A half-round cast iron profile or a particular hopper head may have to be sourced or fabricated, and that shows in the price of a period house far more than the per-metre figures suggest.
A survey turns all of this into one price. We go along the roofline, look at the channel, the brackets, the fascia, the soffit and the rafter ends, and photograph your own house. The price we give you is fixed and in writing, and it lists what is being repaired, what is being replaced, the material and profile, the access, and who deals with any consent. Where a repair is enough, the repair is what we price. The work carries our 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
For an overview of the work itself, read our main page on gutters, soffits and fascias in Bath.