Cost Analysis for Gutter Protection
Have you priced the cost of gutter covers on your house? They are very expensive, especially if you pay to have them installed. I have priced gutter screens in my area. They seem to run anywhere from $6 to $7.50 per lineal foot installed. An average house may have 200 feet of gutter. Some houses have even more. Let's do a series of calculations to see if gutter guards make economic sense for you.
Gutter Guards, CD's or Stock.......
Let's say it is going to cost $1,500 (200 feet at +/- $7 per foot) to have the gutter guards installed. Based upon my experimentation we already know that we will have to clean out the gutters at least once every 2 years. This is important for the sake of our calculations.
What do you think a roofer will charge to clean your gutters? I would think that - on average - a roofer could clean 200 feet in about an hour or so. My guess is that you could get this done for $75. Odds are you will have this done two times a year. This means that the annual cost to clean gutters without gutter guards is $150.
If you have gutter covers that can be easily removed, you will probably spend $100 to have your gutter rinsed every 2 years. This represents an annual cost of $50.
What happens if you don't get gutter screens and invest your $1,500 in a Certificate of Deposit or in the stock market? Right now you can easily get 5 percent on your money. At the end of the first year, you will have earned $75 in interest. If you invest in a decent stock mutual fund, you might easily get a 10 percent return. This means you would be ahead $150 at the end of a year. For sake of our discussion we will forget about taxes and inflation.
The Numbers Don't Lie
If you purchase gutter protection, you have to spend $1,500 plus another $500 over ten years ($50 x 10). This means at the end of ten years you are out of pocket $2,000.
If you don't buy gutter covers and have a roofer come to clean your gutters twice a year, the worst that will happen is that at the end of 10 years you will still have $750! This assumes that you just kept your original $1,500 in the 5% CD. Each year, you got $75. You had to then fund the other gutter cleaning with $75 each year. This means you spent $750 over ten years. Deduct this $750 from the $1,500 in the bank to get the balance I mentioned.
If you are lucky in the stock market, you will either break even or possibly be ahead! Our stock mutual fund was supposed to spin off $150 per year. This would pay for the gutter cleaning cost per year. If you make more than 10% on your investment you will actually make money.
This principle is what makes leasing a car a better investment as well. Why not leave your cash in an investment? The interest spinning from your investment will help to make the lease payments.
I think you should call and get gutter cleaning estimates before you buy gutter protection. Run the numbers and see if it doesn't make better sense to hold onto your money....
