Gutter guards in Southfield
Guards are the one item on a gutter quote with no settled price. Two contractors in this metro publish figures five times apart for the same work, so the page shows you both.
A referral service for Southfield homeowners. An automated assistant answers; calls are recorded.
Typical cost: $1 – $3 per foot (a Metro Detroit contractor) against $8 – $15 per foot as an upcharge on new gutters (another Metro Detroit contractor)
- Cost to call
- Nothing
- Answered by
- Automated assistant
- Hours
- Any hour
Both numbers, side by side
Same metro, same work, five times apart.
- Gutter guards, as an upcharge on new gutters
- $8 – $15 per foot
- a Metro Detroit contractor, February 2026
- Seamless aluminum gutter, installed, for comparison
- $6 – $12 per foot
- a Metro Detroit contractor, July 2026
Ask for the product name and the price per foot.
On a house with 160 feet of gutter that is $160 to $480 at the first figure and $1,280 to $2,400 at the second — the difference between a small extra and a second gutter job. Neither page names the product behind its figure, so ask for the product name and the price per foot in writing.
The leaves filling your gutters are coming off your own trees.
Southfield looks after the trees in the right-of-way — roughly thirty feet from the center of the street, the ones between sidewalk and curb. Everything behind that line is the homeowner’s. the forestry division · the city’s own FAQ
Before you buy guards, look at what is actually over the roof — that is the tree you are paying for, and it is yours to prune.
What guards do not do
- They do not stop ice dams. The state’s extension service says the underlying problem is attic heat — too little insulation or too little ventilation (the article). That article never uses the word gutter. Guards will not stop one.
- They do not replace cleaning. The state’s own rehabilitation standard says only that leaf guards may be installed (the standard (PDF)) — it sets no performance requirement for them. Fall gutter and leaf cleanup
- They do not fix a run that is already sagging. A gutter pulling away from the fascia is a hanger and wood problem; guards add weight to it. Repair ranges.
What the city does require
Southfield adopted a property maintenance code that requires roof drains, gutters and downspouts to be kept in good repair and free from obstructions, and says roof water must not be discharged so that it creates a public nuisance (the adopting ordinance (PDF) · the code’s own wording (PDF)). “Free from obstructions” is a duty to keep them clear — it does not say how, and nothing in it requires guards.
Questions
Checked October 10, 2026
Are guards worth it on a Southfield house?
- No published figure answers that for your house. What you can check is the price spread above and who owns the trees over your roof — start there.
Do guards need a permit?
- No city page says whether gutter work of any kind needs a building permit on its own; gutters appear in the permit paperwork with a $50 bond and no plan review, and nowhere in a sentence (the bond sheet). The building department takes that question.
Will I be charged for the visit?
- Calling us costs nothing. Some contractors charge to come out or to get up on the roof. Ask before they come, and get the price in writing.