The aspirations and dreams that consume a youngster as they grow up are often variable and are rarely realised. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing of course. My best friend in year 2 often voiced his hope to one day be a traffic warden. This was based on his admiration for the uniform. He also hoped to drive a red Ford Fiesta XR2 like his speed loving older cousin. By year 3 he had deviated to wanting to be a rubbish collector.
On asking if he still wanted to be behind the wheel of a Fiesta, he would shrug and state the massive bonus of his career choice would be receiving one of those cool trucks that crushes the trash of the general public. Incorrectly believing that he could take the machine home for personal use, his notion was that another means of transportation would be unnecessary. He went on to become a chartered accountant. I have no idea what car he drives.
My hopes for a future career varied from being a pilot, a ghostbuster, an actor, a cartoonist and to work in the Bank of England, (role non-specific) but I ended up being a somewhat disillusioned gas engineer. In a real-life game of career snakes and ladders, fate has led me to starting up and running a gutter cleaning business in Sydney and Canberra. As much as climbing a ladder in the actual game is a perk, so it is in the cleaning of gutters.
I have landed on a ladder both literally and figuratively. I would never have imagined that I would find so much joy in gutter cleaning. If you separate the two words, ‘gutter’ and ‘cleaning’, neither stir the soul nor inspire. Put them together and they still don’t. It’s the job title equivalent of the British dish, ‘Toad in the Hole’. ‘Toad’? ‘Hole’? To appreciate this odd sounding sausage and batter combination, like so many things, it needs to be tried*. Similarly, to appreciate gutter cleaning, it too needs to be tried.
I will caveat this recommendation by saying one of the main perks of the job for me specifically is the locations in which I work. Positioned atop a roof and looking out over the iconic Sydney Harbour, watching the yachts bob up and down on Old Mangrove Bay at Newport or admiring the surrounding hills that stand guard over the city of Canberra. You can’t beat those office views. If you weren’t located in a naturally beautiful area, you could argue that the benefit of inspiring views was not available.
However, I recall carrying out work on a roof in the centre of Camberwell in South London. Not the most aesthetically pleasing part of the world, however looking down on the scurrying people and crawling traffic from my unique vantage point, removed from the chaos without being isolated, gave me a sense of calm. Yes, Working at Height Can Be Pretty Exhilarating. Carried out safely of course. Another plus in our specific approach to gutter cleaning, is the gratification of watching all the collected debris being sucked up by our industrial vacuum. This may sound odd, but if you watch one of our Instagram or Tik-Tok videos you’ll see how satisfying it is to watch thick mulch being sucked into apparent oblivion, leaving a clean gutter surface sparkling in the daylight. It also partially fulfils my childhood ghostbuster ambitions.
Just rather than sucking up paranormal troublemakers, I’m siphoning up decomposing gum leaves. Close Enough The overriding benefit of going from house to house across the Sydney and the ACT ridding gutters of their dross and blockages, is the opportunity of meeting the good people who own said houses. The ones who call on us to rid them of their rainwater restrictions, jacaranda leaf jams and tennis balls in their downpipes. Our Customers Getting to know the lovely people who require our services is honestly one of the main perks and we always have time for a chat once the job is done. It doesn’t have to just be about roofs and gutters either. The price of the family dog’s claw clipping to the latest victory in a toddlers potty training, we’ll chin-wag about anything. We love it! All in all, I didn’t see this career path on any of my horizons but I’m glad I’m walking it. It means I get to meet and help good people. Also, the partial comparisons to the ghostbusting aspirations keep my inner child content. On that note – “Who ya gona call?” URBAN GUTTERS! **If you would like to know how to make toad in the hole, be sure to ask me when we visit. It’s my mum’s recipe and it’s delicious!
Alex
“A South Londoner who now calls Australia home, Alex brings over 20 years of trade experience to Urban Gutters. Before relocating to Australia, he spent more than a decade running his own gas installation and repair company in London, working across residential and commercial properties. Gutter and roof maintenance was a natural extension of that plumbing background, since water systems, drainage, and building envelope integrity all sit in the same trade family.
Alex co-founded Urban Gutters in Sydney in 2022 alongside his wife Kayla, after years of working for trade companies that consistently fell short on customer service. The brief was simple: build a gutter cleaning business where client satisfaction was the priority, not an afterthought. Urban Gutters now services both Sydney and Canberra, holding a 5-star Google rating and growing rapidly.
When he’s not on the tools, Alex is usually talking football or charming customers with the dry South London humour that earned him the nickname “Guvna” within the team.”
