How to get a cheap eavestrough job (and guarantee sub-standard work)!

Here is an interesting ad I came across on Kijiji:

Looking for someone to do the eavestrough at my house as cheap as possible. Sides of house are 38 in length 25 at rear and 10 in front. 1 downspout on each side of house. Need a rough estimate on what this will cost me. Thanks 

Here's my two cents. Cheap is cheap! It's the old adage, "You get what you pay for." The guy (or girl)  who posted this ad on Kijiji seems to be more focused on wanting a cheap job rather than wanting a quality job. I see cheap work all the time and it's usually done by a new upstart company or roofing company that wants to secure the job. More often than not, they don't know how to do the job or they cut corners (no pun intended) to reduce their cost.

Recently we replaced an entire house of eavestrough for an elderly couple in Dundas who got hosed 6 years ago by a company posing as eavestroughers. The eaves all had the premade corners and were not mitred, they were slopped the wrong direction, the downpipe outlets were all on backwards and they leaked every where. The customer got fed up trying to get their "company" back and called me. Upon evaluation, I explained that it was better for them to rip them all off and start all over again.

If you pay cheap, you usually get cheap! There are all sorts of ways for contractors to decrease their expenses to pass the "savings" onto the customer. The customer saves money but gets substandard work in return. Here are some of the ways that an eavestrough company can save money and pass on substandard work to you, the customer.

1. Hire a company that does not carry Liability Insurance or WSIB on its workers. I pay $1000 liability insurance every year and thousands in WSIB. Companies who don't can pass on savings, but are also working illegally. Remember, if your workers aren't insured and they damage your property or worse, they fall and get hurt....THEY ARE YOUR PROBLEM!

2. Use thinner gauge aluminium. I use Boncor, Gentek or Kaycan Aluminum. It is all .024 gauge. However, there is a new company called ALB, that has only .016 gauge. It is so thin you could wrap a sandwich in it! Because it's thinner, it is way cheaper to buy. You, the customer, will never know unless you put a micrometre on it. I saw one company using ALB aluminium who told the customer it was Boncor Aluminium. The customer was clueless. Shame on that company! :(

3. Space your brackets far apart (which will save about .20 per foot). However, remember, most of the strength in the eavestroughs is directly proportion to how many brackets you use. I did a large repair job last week for a religious organisation. They own a couple large low income housing complexes and help the poor. Their eavestroughs were done by their roofers 4 or 5 years ago and some eavestroughs were falling off the building! They couldn't get their company back to repair so they called us in. Here is what we found:

The brackets (hangers) are 4 feet apart in the entire complex! This is WAY to far apart.

It's no wonder the eavestroughs are falling off the building! They have little support.

Here is one of our eavestroughs as it was being made off the truck:

That's my partner, Dusko with the white shirt and baseball cap. I'll give a little endorsement for him here. He is one of THE BEST eavestroughers in the entire region! Now, look at the bracket spacing on this eavestrough! They are spaced every 16-18" AND we are using .024 gauge aluminum!

4. Use cheaper caulking. This will save money but your eavestroughs are guaranteed to leak with in a few years.

5. Use fewer downpipes. This will save money but you should have a downpipe every 50 to 60 feet on a 6" fascia board. I did a job in Burlington, Ontario last year that was 189' of eavestrough and they had ONLY ONE downpipe which emptied into another eavestrough right over their front door! The home owner said that in a rain, it was like Niagara Falls, with the water pouring over the eavestroughs! LOL No wonder! We ended up putting 4 downpipes on that house and did not route one into the eavestrough near the front door!

There are several other ways guaranteed to save you money now but will cost you in the long run! DON'T BE FOOLED! Don't look for cheap. Look for quality. Hire an eavestrougher who knows his trade and settles on nothing less than giving a perfect job to his customer!

The Eavestrough Company specializes in eavestrough, fascia, and soffit. It's all we do! For a job done right the first time contact us at www.theeavestroughcompany.com or phone us at 905-966-2564.