Start with conditions, not a product
Roof area, valleys, tree debris, fascia condition, downspout placement, and the final discharge point matter more to long-term performance than gutter color -- especially where a poorly discharged downspout can feed straight into a crawl space or karst-prone soil.
Build a complete scope
- Roof area and valley layout, and the capacity those actually require
- Fascia, rafter tail and cornice condition, checked before anything is hung
- Downspout count and placement, not just the gutter profile and color
- Where each downspout discharges, given how unpredictably karst ground drains
- How leaf load is managed, whether runs can be reached, and the warranty
Lexington context
Roof water has to end up somewhere, and in Fayette County that destination deserves more thought than usual. The Inner Bluegrass sits on karst limestone, soluble bedrock that drains through irregular solution channels rather than evenly through soil, so water discharged repeatedly into the same spot beside a foundation does not necessarily disperse the way intuition suggests -- and the region's sinkholes and springs are the visible evidence of that. The second local fact is what sits under most Lexington houses: the 1958 urban growth boundary concentrated construction from the 1960s through the 1990s inside the urban service area, and that housing was built over crawl spaces rather than basements, so a short or broken downspout does not merely wet a foundation wall -- it feeds a ventilated void directly under the floor. The older in-town neighborhoods add a third variable in mature tree canopy, which fills gutters faster than the subdivision ring and makes debris handling a maintenance question rather than an accessory choice.