I have a customer that has LeafGuard. They were destroyed by hail. The gutter guy the owner wants to use was the original installer. The price to replace these gutters is $100 per LF. So, as you can imagine, the carrier is telling him to pound sand. This job is in San Antonio. The carrier is responsible for replacing the system as it's branded, but I need to see if the that's what these cost on average. I need to know if I need to talk to the vendor about pricing or tape up my knuckles to fight the carrier. I want to make sure I'm on the right side of it.

My folks have them on their home outside Magnolia. Just recently had to bring their installer or rep out as they had finally, in a few spots, become plugged with pine straw. It only took 20 years for them to become clogged. For context the home is on a lot that is pretty heavily covered with pine and hardwoods. They get a lot of leaves and pine straw.

They're expensive as hell these days. Dad said they were costly in '04 bout not what they are today. But the cleanout was free.

Can't help ya in SA... But that cost for LF doesn't sound out of line for these

$100 lf ?

As in 20,000 to 40,000 for a gutter system ?

I installed 80-90 ft of the leaf guards from Costco. They work very well.

100 ft is $189.

I paid $3.50 per three feet for gutter covers that slide under the shingles and hook to the gutter. Put them on myself on the problem areas and they work great

LeafGuard is owned by a company named Great Day Improvements.
They owned a lot of different companies that all pretty much follow the same blueprint.
They spend a ton on money advertising, have highly trained HIGH pressure sales reps, offer a quality product, but not an anything special type product and sell it for 2X to 3X to 4X what it's actually worth.

I recently bid a job where one of the line items was Leaf Guard gutters (the customer demanded that Brand). I thought I was pricing pretty aggressively the overall project @ $200K and believed I was leaving money on the table. Well the customer went with another bid at $160K - I believe that guy likely priced the gutters out at normal pricing and is about to be screwed. We tried to get the customer let us bid the project without the leaf Guard and he wasn't having it.

If you can, I would tell your customer that LeafGuard is wholly owned by a direct to homeowner company and doesn't distribute through normal channels and let the customer, LeafGuard and the insurance duke it out.

Yeah, the rub is that he has LeafGuard and that's what's insured. So, the carrier can be mad but they will eventually have to cover that at today's rates since they approved replacement. I'll see how the customer wants to proceed. I work for him, not the insurance company. If that's what he decides to go with then I'll invoke my other options to make it happen. I just need to give him the options. I was just surprised by the costs and wanted to triple check that before going down any particular road.

Man, people can be flat out stupid with their money.

Bonfire97 said:

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Man, people can be flat out stupid with their money.

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I see some crazy stuff.

I've dealt with LeafGuard a couple of times, and those prices don't shock me as much as I wish they did. When I was helping a neighbor after a storm, we also found that certified installers tend to charge a premium because of the proprietary system. A lot of the LeafGuard reviews mention the same thinggreat product, but you definitely pay for it.

If the original installer is quoting $100/LF, I'd at least push back and ask for a breakdown or check with LeafGuard directly to confirm current pricing. Might save you a fight with the carrier, or at least give you ammo if you need it.

I finally finished the house that had Leafguard installed. Insurance ended up paying for it after a huge fight on my end, but I had to handle the vendor side because the gutter sales guy said "I don't like working with customers and I'm not good with dealing with their issues."

So, I agreed to handle it all, they contracted with me, they first insisted I pay 100% to them prior to starting. That's a no go for me to the tune of 20,000 dollars. I negotiated their initial price down, and got them to half up front. I paid it. Then they took the gutters off and reinstalled, but Leafguard sent a crew out and they then requested money from my homeowner who paid the second half direct. They took money from someone who was not contracted to pay. So, not only did they completely get involved after insisting I handle everything from management to payment, they screwed up everyone's books. I'm now stuck in a circular wreck of trying to get the customers money refunded so I can pay the invoice and have the money released from the carrier. The leaf guard salesman said it's a problem for his manager and his manager says it's a problem for corporate. So, that's the kind of thing you have to deal with. Personally, I cannot recommend them due to the incompetence and complete lack of knowledge in legal/accounting/cooperative trade practices.

All of this to say, make sure you pay attention and also their prices are completely negotiable if you are willing to walk away.

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Jason_Roofer said:

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...because the gutter sales guy said "I don't like working with customers and I'm not good with dealing with their issues."...

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Ummm... How the hell does that work?

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HAHA...except I'm Smykowski!!!!!!

He wanted to walk in, get a contract, and walk out with a check. He didn't want to have to wait for everything to pay out to get paid or explain things to the customer. His way, he has to wait for weeks or months to get paid. If I make him my sub, he gets paid Friday. I might not personally get paid for any given install for months.

If anyone is looking for gutter guards, I would recommend WindowHero. They install gutter guards at a reasonable price with excellent customer service.

Window Hero College Station

What has been done in past in Aggieland

• finish removing all the gutters IF on a slab-on-grade foundation that can benefit from roof runoff (Not piers); use bullrock in garden bed erosion zone as req'd
• report to BBB and stay with it, they are La-Z but less often than in history DO get some results
• last report: hire a new gutter system and BILL Leafguard, then get a lawyer when they balk
• always check with home insurance (haha) just in case and buy a lottery ticket

Please post on Google a jerks review so others don't allow them to steal more