I have a ‘thing’ against trying to save money on guttering materials.
I am referring to the practice of specifying zincalume gutters instead of colorbond guttering. Sure there will be a price savings between the two – but at what cost?
There is no question that colorbond gutters last longer than zincalume ones. How much longer, I can’t tell you…. But what I can say is that I have pulled out far more rusted zincalume gutters than rusted colorbond guttering over the past decade or so.
And the cost to replace guttering is not cheap.
Typically, a suburban residential roof will have about 50 to 60 metres of guttering and cost around $3000 to replace properly. The material component of the price for replacement guttering to a typical house is quite small. It is the labour that is expensive.
With a price difference of about $1.50 between colorbond and zincalume guttering – you pay only $85.00 extra for choosing colorbond guttering.
With the additional cost of colorbond fittings, the total price difference to the gutter installer is only about $150.00.
So, if the choice is between $3000 for new zincalume guttering and $3150 for new colorbond guttering… I know which one I will be choosing!
…It is what is called a “NO-brainer”. The small extra price that you pay for choosing colorbond guttering will repay itself year after year because of the extra durability of colorbond guttering.
And I have not even mentioned the “free” gutter paint job that you receive if you choose colorbond guttering!
I recently had a look at some rusty guttering in an Inner Western Suburbs home in Sydney and the video below shows what I mean by wasting your money on zincalume guttering…
