Three numbers for one job
| What | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full replacement | $1,700 to $3,100 | This Old House |
| Full replacement | $2,582 to $4,699 | Fixr |
| New installation | $2,320 to $4,222, average $3,223 | Fixr |
The two replacement ranges barely overlap. Fixr's bottom is $882 above This Old House's bottom, and its top is $1,599 higher.
Why the ranges differ
Our reading, marked as ours. Neither source explains the gap, so this is our reconstruction from what they each publish.
A replacement is an installation plus a demolition. Fixr prices the demolition separately on its installation guide: $1.31 to $2.38 per linear foot to remove old gutters. On a 200-foot house that is $262 to $476.
Add that to Fixr's own installation band of $2,320 to $4,222 and you get $2,582 to $4,698, which is within one dollar of their stated replacement range of $2,582 to $4,699. So Fixr's replacement figure is demonstrably installation plus removal, and the arithmetic closes.
This Old House's $1,700 to $3,100 appears on their repair page rather than their installation page, and sits below their own installation average of $3,200. Our inference: it describes replacing the gutter runs on a typical house, most likely in the cheaper materials, rather than a full system in any material. We cannot prove that, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What to do with that: budget against the Fixr band if you want a number that is unlikely to be exceeded, and treat the This Old House figure as what a straightforward job in aluminum or vinyl can cost.
Taking a replacement quote apart
A replacement quote should contain four things. From Fixr unless noted:
| Line | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Removing the old system | $1.31 to $2.38 per linear foot |
| New gutters, material | $3 to $29 per linear foot (This Old House) |
| Downspouts | $7.43 to $13.51 per linear foot |
| Labor | the rest |
Our advice, marked as ours: ask for the removal line separately. It is the one item that distinguishes a replacement quote from an installation quote, and a contractor who cannot name it is quoting from a rule of thumb rather than from your house. Neither source suggests this; it follows from the fact that the removal line is exactly what reconciles the two ranges above.
When to replace instead of repair
Our repair page puts an average repair at $307 to $385.
Our arithmetic, marked as ours. Against the lower replacement figure of $1,700, that is four to six repairs. Against Fixr's $2,582 it is seven to eight. Gutters age uniformly, so a system that has needed two separate repairs in a year is telling you something about the other runs. Neither source draws this line.
The physical signs that favour replacement over repair are the ones This Old House lists as consequences of leaving gutters damaged: foundation damage, roof leaks, siding stains and soil erosion. Once you are seeing those, the gutter is no longer the expensive part of the problem.
Every published figure for the benchmark 2,000 square foot house, across all four sources, is collected on our 2,000 square foot house page.
Choosing the material this time
Replacement is the moment the material decision reopens, and it is the single biggest lever on the total. This Old House's installed totals run from $571 in vinyl to $5,749 in copper, with aluminum at $1,535. The full table, the lifespans from InterNACHI and our cost-per-year arithmetic are on the installation page.
One consequence worth carrying across: premium materials cost more to repair as well, from $85 to $200 for aluminum up to $150 to $325 for zinc, so the choice follows you for the system's whole life.
If copper is on the table, note that its published prices vary more than any other material's: six figures from two publishers, lined up on the copper gutters page rather than blended into a range here.
Replacement is also the moment to revisit the size. Our sizing page covers when 6-inch gutters are worth it and why the downspouts have to be sized to match, and our zinc page covers the material that reaches copper's kind of lifespan for considerably less.
Our gutter cost calculator puts the removal line in automatically when you tell it this is a replacement.
While the gutters are off
If you are considering gutter guards, this is the cheapest moment to fit them, and This Old House notes that installers typically want new gutters in place before adding guards anyway. Be ready for the published guard figures to differ by a factor of fifteen between sources, for reasons that page explains.
Sources
- This Old House, How Much Do Gutter Repairs Cost in 2026?, updated June 12, 2026 (full replacement figure, repair comparison)
- Fixr, Gutter Repair Cost, updated January 31, 2025 (whole-system replacement figure)
- This Old House, Gutter Installation Cost in 2026, updated October 9, 2026 (the $3,200 average and the figures by material from $571 in vinyl to $5,749 in copper)
- Fixr, Gutter Installation Cost, updated January 31, 2025 (removal cost per linear foot, downspouts, material spread)
Price figures are national US ranges from the sources above as of the date shown. Your local price depends on labor rates, permits and site conditions. Read how we get our numbers.