What rooflights and skylights cost in Crawley, and why

A rooflight price is the sum of a dozen small decisions about the glass, the roof and the room. This page sets out each one, with general UK market ranges as a guide, so you can read any quote line by line.

Everything here is a general guide to what the UK market typically charges. It is not a price list and it is not a quote. A real figure needs a survey, because two rooflights of the same size can sit a long way apart once the roof, the access and the glazing build are known. That is why every quote from Clear Skylights is written after a visit, and why it arrives with a written quiet spec that names the glass and the seals in plain words.

Prices also move with the season, with supplier lead times and with the cost of aluminium and glass. Treat every range below as a rough shape, then ask for the quote on your own roof. You can start that with the quote form on this page or on the get a quote page.

A sensible way to use the page is to read the drivers first, then the table of typical ranges, then the section on how to compare two quotes that look alike but are not.

Glass, frame and labour all grow with area, but not in a straight line. A larger opening needs thicker glass, a stiffer frame and more hands on the roof.

A small fixed roof window over a landing is the simplest job there is. A wide lantern over a kitchen extension is another kind of job altogether. The frame has to be carried up, lifted into place and set level on an upstand that may itself need building. Glass panes above a certain size are heavy enough that a crane or a hoist comes into the plan.

Size also decides how much structural work sits behind the price. A small opening between existing rafters may need only a trimmer or two. A wide opening in a pitched roof can need a new beam and proper support for the rafters that were cut. On a flat roof the joists around the hole are trimmed and doubled. That carpentry is part of the price, and a quote that leaves it out has not yet looked at your roof.

When you compare openings, compare the clear glass area as well as the outer frame size. A chunky frame can eat a good part of the stated size, and the daylight you get follows the glass area.

The roof you start with changes the work more than any other single fact. Pitched roofs, flat roofs and mixed roofs each have their own steps.

On a pitched tiled or slated roof, a roof window is fitted between rafters with a flashing kit matched to the covering. Tiles are lifted, the opening is framed, the window is set, and the covering is laid back around it. The time taken depends on the tile type, on whether the tiles are old and brittle and on how steep the slope is. A steep slope calls for more scaffold and more care. Our page on roof window installation goes through the steps.

On a flat roof, a rooflight usually sits on an upstand, often called a kerb. The upstand is built up from timber or supplied as a ready-made GRP or insulated kerb, then the waterproof membrane is dressed up and over it. A flat roof with a fall of 1:80 and a sound membrane is one job. A flat roof with ponding and a tired felt covering is another, because the membrane around the new unit has to join sound material. That can push the scope beyond the rooflight alone. The flat roof rooflight installation page explains where the line usually falls.

Lanterns are a third case. A lantern is a small glazed roof in its own right, so it needs a strong upstand, correct support and careful insulation around its base. See roof lantern installation for the detail.

The table shows typical ranges for supply and installation across the UK market, for straightforward jobs with reasonable access. They are guides only, and a real quote can sit outside them.

Read the table as a map of where the money goes. A long, wide lantern sits at the top because of its span and its structure. A sun tunnel sits at the bottom because the opening is small and the tube is light. In between, the gap comes from glass, from the upstand and from how the roof is reached.

Glass is where a cheap unit and a good one part company. The build is the number of panes, their thickness, the coatings and the gap between them.

A standard double-glazed unit is two panes with a sealed gap. A triple-glazed unit adds a third pane and a second gap, which costs more and weighs more. A laminated pane has two sheets of glass bonded with a clear interlayer. It is used for safety on the inner face of many rooflights, and it is also the usual way to make a rooflight quieter, because the interlayer damps the thin-glass ringing that carries sound into a room.

Our approach is to choose the build for the noise the room actually hears. A loft bedroom near a Gatwick departure route and a north-facing landing on a quiet close do not need the same glass. Where the survey shows aircraft, road or rail noise, we specify a laminated acoustic inner pane and a thicker outer pane, and we write that down. Where the room is already hushed, the extra spend is not needed and the quote says so. Nothing on this page states a decibel figure, because the choice is made by specification: pane thickness, interlayer, cavity and seals.

Energy performance runs alongside. Coatings, warm-edge spacers and gas fills improve the U-value of the unit. The energy efficient rooflights page covers that side in full. Glass with a solar-control coating costs more, but it can be the right choice for a south-facing loft that overheats.

A rooflight that opens costs more than one that does not. A rooflight that opens by motor, with a rain sensor, costs more again.

Opening units need hinges or actuators, a more complex frame and, for electric versions, a power supply. That means a cable run from a spur or a nearby circuit, made safe by a qualified electrician, and often a switch position chosen with you. Rain sensors and remote controls add to the unit price, and so do integrated blinds. A manual opening roof window has a bar or a pole. An electric one has a motor and a control point. The difference in price is the motor, the control and the wiring.

Where a room overheats, an opening rooflight high in the roof can let hot air escape. It is one of the better uses of an electric unit. The electric and opening rooflight installation page describes the options. If you only want light, a fixed unit is the simpler and cheaper choice.

How the crew reaches your roof is often the difference between two quotes that look alike. Access is a cost, and it should be visible on the quote.

A rear roof over a single-storey extension can be reached with a ladder and a tower. A three-storey terrace with no side access may need a full scaffold, and a large lantern may need a hoist lifting the frame and glass. Narrow driveways, parking restrictions and a steep front garden all add time. Crawley's post-war neighbourhoods, with their terraces and semis close together, tend to have tight rear access, and the same applies to many Brighton and Reigate terraces. The survey looks at this so the quote can name it.

Internal access counts too. A sun tunnel needs a route through the loft. A loft room with sloping ceilings and a finished plasterboard lining needs careful protection and careful making good. Clear Skylights covers floors, stairs and furniture, and leaves the room tidy.

A rooflight is building work. It must meet current Building Regulations, and some of it is notifiable to Building Control. That work has a cost, and it should appear as a line.

The regulations that bear on a rooflight include Part L (conservation of fuel and power), which sets the thermal performance for new and replacement glazed units, Part K (protection from falling, including glazing safety and guarding around walk-on glass), Part B (fire safety, which can affect the position and material of rooflights near a boundary) and Part F (ventilation). Where the work is notifiable, we handle the Building Control notification, and that is included in how the job is planned. You can read the official guidance on building regulations approval at gov.uk.

Planning is a separate matter. Most rooflights fit within permitted development on a house that is not in a conservation area or listed, but the position is checked for your address and is not assumed. The conservation rooflight installation page explains what changes when the property is protected, and why slim-profile units cost more.

Replacing a misted or failed unit is priced like a new installation at the same size, with a few differences that can swing the figure either way.

If the frame and the upstand are sound and the new unit matches the old opening, the job is shorter, because there is no new opening to cut. If the old frame has rotted, if the upstand has moved or if the surrounding covering has aged, the scope grows. The survey checks these things so the quote does not change on the day. Our page on misted and failed rooflight replacement lists what we check, and what a replacement unit is specified to.

Replacement is also the best moment to improve the glass. The new unit can carry a better thermal build and a quieter one for little extra cost compared with the labour, which is the same either way. That is often where the quiet spec pays for itself in a room that used to drum in the rain.

Two quotes for the same rooflight can differ by a large margin and still both be honest. The difference usually sits in what each one includes. Compare these points.

1. The glass: the number of panes, the thickness, whether the inner pane is laminated and whether the coating is named.
2. The upstand or kerb: who builds it, what it is made from and how much insulation sits around it.
3. The structure: whether trimming, a beam or a support is priced or left as an extra.
4. The access: whether scaffold, hoist or crane is included.
5. Making good: plastering, lining, decorating and the state the room is left in.
6. Regulations: whether Building Control notification is handled and by whom.
7. The guarantee: its length, what it covers and who gives it.

A short quote that names none of these is not necessarily cheaper. It may simply not have looked. A quote that names them all is easier to hold a builder to, and easier to compare line by line. Our guarantee page explains the 10-year workmanship cover that goes with our work.

Most surprises on a rooflight job come from things nobody looked at before the price was given. A written quote, made after a survey, closes most of them.

The common sources of drift are simple. A roof that turns out to have a rotten timber behind the tiles. A flat roof membrane that cannot take a new upstand. A lantern that is heavier than the structure beneath it. A window position that clashes with a hidden pipe or a joist. A survey spots many of these from inside the loft and from the roof edge, and the quote then states its assumptions in plain words.

Agree in writing what happens if something unexpected turns up. A fair approach is that any extra is described, priced and agreed before it is done. You should never be surprised by the final bill, and the sensible way to avoid that is a written scope and a written specification.

The quickest route is to tell us about the room, the roof and what you want from the glass. We then arrange a survey across Crawley and the 30 miles around, and write the quote.

What to send helps: the type of roof, the approximate size of the opening you have in mind, the room below it, and anything that bothers you about the current one, such as noise in rain or a unit that has misted. Photographs from inside and outside speed things up. The form on the get a quote page takes all of it, and you can also reach us by WhatsApp or email from the contact page.

You will get a written quote, with the quiet spec beside it. There is no obligation to go ahead. If you want to see how the pieces fit together before you ask, start at the homepage, where the ten services are laid out.

Why will nobody give a fixed price over the phone?

Because the price depends on the roof, the access and the glass, and none of those can be judged from a description. Any figure given without a look is a guess, and a guess can turn into a bigger figure later.

Does a quieter rooflight cost much more?

It costs more than the thinnest standard unit, because a laminated inner pane and a thicker outer pane add glass. The increase is usually small beside the cost of the labour, the upstand and the access, which stay the same. The survey shows whether the room needs it.

Is a flat roof rooflight cheaper than a pitched roof window?

Neither is always cheaper. A small fixed unit in a pitched roof can be the least costly job of all. A flat roof rooflight can be simple when the membrane is sound, and costly when the upstand and covering need work.

What is usually left out of a low quote?

The items in the list above: a named glazing build, structural trimming, scaffold, making good inside and Building Control notification. Ask for each one by name.

Will the price change after the survey?

The quote is written after the survey, so it reflects what was seen. If something hidden turns up once the roof is open, it is described and agreed before it is done.