How much does a skylight cost to fit?

Different skylights are different jobs. A roof window is set into the slope of a pitched roof. Flat glass and lanterns both need an upstand built above a flat roof. A sun tunnel runs a tube down through the loft to a ceiling diffuser. Walk-on glass and conservation rooflights are made for particular situations and are priced as such.

Within each type, these move the figure:

• Size. A bigger unit costs more to make, and it usually needs a bigger opening, with more structure to alter around it.
• Glazing. Double or triple glazing, laminated inner panes and easy-clean or self-cleaning coatings each change the unit.
• Operation. A manual window is the simplest. Electric opening adds a motor and a power supply; solar adds a motor and a panel.
• Blinds. A blackout blind belongs in the price for a bedroom, a loft room or a nursery from the start, rather than being added later.

Product by product, what shapes a price in Newport takes each type in turn.

The biggest single question is whether there is already a hole in the roof. Replacing a unit in a sound opening of the right size avoids most of the structural work, the new lining and much of the making good, which is why our separate answer on the cost of replacing a rooflight reads differently.

A new opening is the larger job. Rafters or joists are usually cut and trimmed, and the load they carried is taken to new timbers either side. On a flat roof the upstand is built, insulated and covered. Inside, the opening is lined, insulated and plastered, and the ceiling around it is made good ready for decorating.

Sun tunnels sit a little apart from this. The opening in the roof is small, and the work is mostly in the route through the loft and the hole for the diffuser in the ceiling, so the loft decides the effort.

Every roof covering is worked differently around a frame. Slate is cut and dressed, plain and concrete tiles are lifted and refitted, and a flat roof covering has to be re-formed and sealed up an upstand. An old or fragile covering can mean more of it needs attention around the opening than a sound one would.

Access is the other half. A low single-storey roof can often be reached from ladders and a platform. A high gable, a steep slope over a conservatory or a terrace with no rear access can call for scaffolding or other equipment, and that is priced from what the survey finds. Getting a large lantern or a walk-on panel to the back of a house matters too, whether through the house or over it.

Paperwork can add time and cost to a job. In Wales, a new rooflight will generally need Building Regulations approval, and we handle the notification where the work is notifiable, with local authority building control or a registered building control approver.

Planning is case by case. A rooflight on a house in Wales is often permitted development, but a house inside a conservation area, a National Park, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or a World Heritage Site needs a planning application for one, and a listed house needs listed building consent where the work would affect its character. Our planning guide and our page on Building Regulations in Wales explain both, and we tell you at the survey which applies to your house.

A photo shows the room. It cannot show the rafter spacing, the state of the timbers, the condition of the covering or the route to the roof, and those are the things that decide most of the work. So we come out, look at the room and the roof together, measure, and then put the price in writing as a fixed written quote.

Photos sent beforehand on WhatsApp to 07880 284133 are still useful. They help us bring the right questions to the visit, and the survey form is the quickest way to book it.