Skylight and rooflight costs in Birmingham

In brief

Why rooflight prices vary so much

Two quotes for a rooflight can look far apart and still both be fair, because they are often pricing different jobs. One may cover a stock-size fixed unit dropped into an existing kerb on a flat roof that is easy to reach. Another may cover a made-to-measure triple-glazed opening unit, a new kerb, a fresh roof covering around it, scaffold at the front of the house and a fully plastered reveal inside. The word on both quotes is "rooflight", and the work behind each one is very different.

We publish no price list, because a fixed figure on a web page would be wrong for nearly every roof it met. What we can do is explain each thing that moves the price, so a quote from us, or from anyone else, makes sense when it lands. After a free survey you get the fitted price for each suitable option in writing, with the parts that drive it set out underneath.

Each option on our quote carries its own fitted price, with the roof work and the inside finish included.

What you pay for

The parts of a fitted price

A fitted rooflight price is built from a handful of parts. Some belong to the unit and change with the option you choose; others belong to the roof and the house and stay much the same whichever unit you pick. Seeing the two groups apart is the quickest way to understand where a saving is possible and where it is not.

The unit

Size and product type

Size is the plainest driver. A larger pane needs thicker glass and a stiffer frame, weighs more and takes more work to lift into place, so the unit price rises with it, and a wider opening in the roof can mean more structural work below. Standard sizes cost less than made-to-measure ones because the maker builds them in quantity, which is why we often show a stock size beside a bespoke one when both would fit.

The type of product matters as much as its size. A small fixed flat rooflight is usually the most modest job on a flat roof; a roof lantern of the same footprint uses more glass and more frame, and usually costs more. On a pitched roof, a standard roof window into tiles is a familiar, well-understood job, while a conservation rooflight with a slim profile and a glazing bar tends to sit higher. Walk-on glass is built to carry people and costs more again, while a sun tunnel is a small unit and often the least expensive way to bring daylight into a room with no window.

Glass and frame

The specification you choose

Glass is where two units of the same size part company on price. A third pane holds more warmth in the room than two and usually costs more; it also adds weight, which can matter on a large lantern. Solar control coatings cut the heat that builds up under south-facing glass, self-cleaning coatings help rain wash the outer pane, and a laminated inner pane holds together if the glass is ever broken. Each of these adds to the unit price, and each is worth having in some rooms and not in others.

The frame follows the same pattern. A uPVC lantern frame usually costs less than an aluminium one, while aluminium gives slimmer sightlines and a wider choice of colours. Pine and white-painted timber roof windows sit at different points in a maker's range, and a polyurethane-coated frame for a bathroom usually costs a little more than plain pine. The two lantern frames are set against each other in our aluminium or uPVC guide.

Opening

Fixed, manual or electric

A fixed rooflight lets in the same light as an opening one of the same size for less money; what you give up is fresh air through the roof. A manual opener adds hinges, a stay and a seal, and a rod or handle to reach it. An electric unit adds a motor, a control and usually a rain sensor that closes it when the weather turns, plus a power supply that an electrician has to bring to the opening. Each step up usually costs more than the one before.

The electric rooflight cost answer covers the motor and wiring in more depth, and the guide to manual and electric opening rooflights helps decide whether the extra is worth it for your room.

The roof

New opening or replacement, flat or pitched

A replacement into an existing opening is usually simpler than a new one. Where the old unit comes out and a new one of the same size goes in, the structure is already there and the roof work is limited to the flashings and covering around the frame. A new opening means cutting the covering, trimming the joists or rafters to carry the load around the hole, and weathering the new unit into the roof. If you want a bigger rooflight than the old one, the job moves part of the way towards a new opening.

On a flat roof the kerb or upstand is a real part of the cost. Many flat rooflights need a raised kerb so the glass sheds water and sits clear of the covering; that kerb can be built from timber on site or bought from the maker as an insulated upstand, and the two cost different amounts. Our guide to flat rooflight upstands and kerbs compares them. The covering matters too: EPDM, GRP and felt each finish around a kerb in their own way, explained in our answer on rooflights for EPDM, GRP and felt roofs.

If the flat roof is tired and due for renewal soon, it can make more sense to put the rooflight in as part of a new covering than to cut into a tired one. We say so on the quote when we see it, and our answer on adding a lantern to an existing flat roof explains where that line falls.

On a pitched roof the covering decides the flashing kit. Roof windows come with flashings made for profiled tiles, flat tiles or slate, and a recessed fit sits lower in the roof and uses a different kit again. Our answer on matching a flashing kit to your roof runs through the choices. Slate and clay tile take more care to strip and relay around the frame than concrete tiles, and that time shows up in the price.

Access

How we reach the roof

Access is the cost homeowners least expect. A single-storey extension at the back of a house with a clear garden can often be worked from ladders and a small tower with edge protection. A roof window on the front slope of a two-storey house, a lantern on an extension that can only be reached through the house, or a rooflight above a conservatory all need more, and sometimes that means scaffold. Scaffold is priced by the scaffolder for the height, the length of run and how long it stands, so it can move a quote noticeably.

Some roof windows can be fitted from inside the loft, which may reduce the outside access needed. It depends on the size, the roof covering and how safely the flashing can be dressed from the opening, and the limits are in our answer on fitting from inside the loft. Where two access methods would both be safe we price the simpler one and tell you why.

• Height of the roof and which slope
• A clear route to the back of the house
• Room for a tower or scaffold

Inside

Making good around the opening

Once the unit is in, the opening inside needs finishing. On a new rooflight that means lining the shaft or reveal, insulating behind it, boarding and plastering so the room is ready for paint. On a like-for-like replacement the existing reveal can often stay, with only the edges made good where the old frame came away. A bigger unit in an old opening, or a lantern over a newly formed ceiling, needs more of this work, and the quote shows it.

Blinds are a smaller extra but easier to plan at the start. Roof window blinds made for a particular model fit neatly in the frame, and blackout or heat-reducing fabrics are priced differently. Our answer on fitting blinds with a VELUX window compares the main types.

Regulations and planning

Building Control and permission

Some rooflight work is notifiable under the Building Regulations. Replacing a whole rooflight, frame and glass together, is notifiable as a controlled fitting, while replacing only the sealed glass unit is not. A new opening in a roof is building work. Where the job is notifiable we handle the Building Control notification, and any fee for it is shown on the quote so it is never a surprise later. Our answer on rooflights and Building Regulations explains the rules in full.

Planning often adds nothing to the bill, because many rooflights fall under permitted development, subject to the conditions in our rooflight planning guide. A listed building, an Article 4 direction or a planning condition on the house changes that, and a conservation area can change which products suit the roof. We check the position for your address and tell you what we find; the council decides. Where an application or listed building consent is needed, the quote says so, and our answer on listed building rooflight consent covers that route.

Replacement

Glass only, like for like, or an upgrade

If your rooflight has misted between the panes, the most economical fix that lasts depends on what has failed. A failed sealed unit in a sound frame can sometimes be swapped on its own. A tired frame, a perished seal or a unit that no longer meets current standards usually points to a whole new rooflight, and that opens the door to a better specification.

Our guide to new glass or a new unit for a misted rooflight helps you tell which one your roof needs, and our answer on what skylight replacement costs goes through the drivers for each route.

Our quote

How the written quote lays out the cost

Our quote puts the suitable options in columns and the five measures in rows: glass, frame, opening, lead time and price. Below the options sit the parts of the job that stay the same whichever you choose, such as access, roof work and the inside finish, so you can see that a change of unit moves one figure and leaves the rest alone.

Each option shows the maker's name as a fact about the product, and a roof that takes several makes gets units from at least two of them. Our recommendation sits at the foot with a short reason, and the decision stays with you. See how we compare your options side by side for the full format.

Spending well

Where a saving makes sense

• Pick a standard size where it fits the room. A stock unit usually costs less and often arrives sooner than a made-to-measure one.
• Go fixed where you have other ventilation. A fixed unit gives the same light for less, and a window or door nearby may already give you the air.
• Fit with the roof. If the flat roof is due a new covering, putting the rooflight in at the same time shares the access and the roof work.
• Group the work. Two roof windows on the same slope share the scaffold or tower, so they cost less together than on separate visits.
• Spend where you live. Triple glazing or solar control earns its place over a kitchen table that gets the afternoon sun, and less so over a hallway.

Some extras are worth paying for even on a tight budget. A rain sensor on an electric unit in a room you often leave open, a laminated inner pane over a space where people sit, and a properly insulated kerb on a flat roof all earn their cost over the life of the rooflight. We point them out on the quote and leave the call with you.

Cost by product

Cost answers for each type of rooflight

Each product has its own answer page that goes further into the drivers above. None of them carries a price list; each explains what moves the cost for that product and how we set the options out.

• How much a roof lantern costs, on new and existing flat roofs.
• How much a flat roof rooflight costs, from single panes to paired units.
• What a roof window costs to fit, for new openings and swaps.
• What VELUX installation costs, set beside comparable units from other makers.
• What an electric rooflight costs, with the motor and wiring.
• What a walk-on rooflight costs, for terraces and light wells.
• What a conservation rooflight costs on older roofs.
• What a sun tunnel costs for dark hallways and bathrooms.
• What skylight replacement costs, like for like or upgraded.

When you are ready for figures that fit your own roof, book a free survey and we will come back with the options side by side.