Twenty plus years in the business is a long time. We’re proud of our legacy and what we’ve accomplished so far, and we’re excited about our recent growth too—new people, new locations, new ideas. And we have big plans for the future.
It began with trees. Robert Craig Lenney, founder of Gutterglove, ran a successful tree care company in Northern California. He and his team soon noticed that the trees they maintained often caused issues for clients’ gutters. To better serve their clients, they quickly expanded their services to include gutter cleaning.
Over the next few years, the team cleaned millions of feet of gutters and, in 2000, incorporated the business. They served large clients, including Stanford University and San Francisco skyscrapers, and expanded to gutter installation and repair. However, they consistently encountered poorly made gutter guards. Having removed countless failed guards and unable to recommend any product to clients, they decided to invent their own.
Gutterglove developed a gutter guard that performed as promised, using lessons learned from existing failures. Unlike anything on the market, Gutterglove introduced a stainless-steel micro-mesh permanently fastened into an anodized aluminum frame. This design prevented rusting, cracking, or warping, common issues with inferior products. By securing the mesh permanently rather than using adhesive on a plastic frame, Gutterglove ensured their micro-mesh would never peel or blow away, providing a reliable solution.
Over the next several years, Gutterglove products were built without the luxury of a warehouse. Initially assembled in Robert’s garage and using a friend’s backyard shed for machinery, the process was laborious but worthwhile. Their goal was to provide homeowners with a durable, effective gutter guard—a product previously unavailable.
Word spread quickly about these innovative guards, garnering rave reviews and prompting Gutterglove to expand nationally. Contractors in the gutter industry were enthusiastic, finally having a reliable product to recommend. This success mirrored Robert’s earlier venture in gutter cleaning, but this time, Gutterglove’s invention meant homeowners could avoid regular gutter maintenance altogether.
Robert and his team believed Gutterglove Pro was the top gutter guard available, but they were pleasantly surprised when Consumer Reports agreed in 2010, ranking it #1 out of nineteen tested guards.
With business already thriving, the demand for innovation grew. They recognized the need for a product that not only matched the performance of Gutterglove Pro but also appealed to DIY customers—convenient to purchase, affordable, and easy to install. Once again, Robert and the Gutterglove team embarked on creating this new solution.
Gutterglove Pro had earned a strong reputation for its professional-grade stability, but the team sought a cost-effective way to replicate these qualities for a DIY product. They found the solution in Gutterglove’s V-Bend technology, which provided enduring stability and rigidity while keeping manufacturing costs low enough to create an affordable product suitable for DIY installation.
In 2011, Costco Canada became the first major retailer to partner with Gutterglove, followed by Costco US a year later. Initially branded as LeafBlaster and later renamed EasyOn, these products were successfully marketed through Costco and other retail partnerships in the years that followed, expanding both the DIY and professional product lines.
As our product line expanded, the Gutterglove team observed a prevalent advertising trend among competitors claiming to offer “maintenance-free” solutions, which Gutterglove recognized as misleading. In response, we pioneered honesty in the industry by inventing the Gutter Guard Brush by Gutterglove®. This innovative cleaning tool features bristles encircling its core, designed for easy attachment to an extension pole, enabling debris clearance from any angle on the ground level. The Gutter Guard Brush is available for free with any product registration (shipping and handling not included).
During this period, Home Depot became our third major retail partner, exclusively branding Gutter Guard by Gutterglove for their stores. In early 2017, Gutterglove relocated to our current facility in Roseville, CA, marking a significant company move. Our expansion continued with partnerships with Sam’s Club (Stainless Steel Gutter Guard) and Menards (Viking Gutter Guard), alongside the introduction of Z-bend technology in our professional products lineup, including LeafBlaster Pro. Additionally, we launched a contractor loyalty platform to support professional installers.
In 2020, Gutterglove had ambitious plans with our top ten retailers and professional program gaining momentum. However, the global COVID-19 pandemic brought unforeseen challenges and opportunities to our journey.
Despite the pandemic’s disruptions, particularly in the second and third quarters, we experienced significant growth and struggled to keep up with a surge in demand. Introducing automation into our operations proved crucial as new machines enabled us to ramp up production swiftly. Our team worked tirelessly, sometimes around the clock, to fulfill orders promptly.
A notable highlight was the establishment of our new manufacturing facility in Middle Tennessee, near Nashville in LaVergne. This facility, launched in winter 2020, reinforces our commitment to providing two-day shipping across North America and supports our ongoing growth initiatives.
Following the 2020 opening of our second manufacturing facility in LaVergne, TN, the beauty, culture, and business benefits of Nashville, TN led to the relocation of Gutterglove corporate headquarters from Roseville, CA to Franklin, TN, a bustling suburb 15 miles south of downtown Nashville. The modern office space welcomed new and relocating team members in December of 2021 and now serves as home base for Gutterglove’s sales leadership, corporate shared services, people operations, marketing, customer success, and executive leadership teams.
Robert Craig Lenney, the founder and owner of Gutterglove, harbored a dream and passion for making movies that address important social causes and bring about meaningful, positive change in people’s lives. In 2019, he established Robert Craig Films with the mission to develop, create, and produce films that inspire audiences to engage with greater empathy, compassion, and generosity within their communities.
Coming soon to theatres nationwide, “No Address” is a major motion picture that offers hope, humanity, and resilience as its characters navigate the challenges of life without a physical address. Inspired by true events, the film is a testament to the enduring human spirit and the transformative power of community. Watch the trailer here.
Whether you’re a DIY enthusiast looking for an accessible material to guard your gutters, or you want to leave the ladders, tools and installation details to the professionals, let us help guide you to find the right solution.
