Book a Rooflight Survey

A rooflight looks simple from a brochure page, but what you actually see through it depends on the exact room it sits above: the pitch of the roof, the height of the ceiling, and where you sit, stand or lie underneath. A survey is the visit where we find those things out, in your house, before a single measurement goes onto a drawing.

We measure the roof and the room together, talk through what you want to see when you look up, and leave with everything needed to draw your own sightline sketch: the view from the pillow, the sofa or the sink, with the frame edges, any glazing bar and the open sky marked in. Nothing is ordered and no opening is cut until you have seen that drawing and are happy with it.

Two houses with an identical rooflight on the same shelf can give completely different views, because the room below them is never quite the same. The survey is where that difference gets found.

Outside, we check the roof: its pitch or fall, which way it faces, the covering it already has, and where the joists or rafters run so we know what a new opening has to cut through or work around. Inside, we check the room: ceiling height, where the bed, the sofa, the table or the worktop sits, and which way you face while you are using it. A loft bedroom in a Fletton brick terrace and a kitchen extension on a newer Bretton or Orton street ask different questions of a rooflight even when the glass itself is the same size.

We also look at anything already through the roof, an existing rooflight, a soil pipe or a vent, and any downlight or extractor duct below that a new opening would need to clear. None of this needs to be prepared in advance; it is simply easier to answer with a tape measure in hand and the room in front of us than over the phone.

The measurements from the survey feed straight into the drawing that comes with every quote: a sightline sketch from the exact spot in the room that matters, the pillow, the sofa cushion or the worktop where you stand.

The sketch marks where the frame edge sits against the sky, where a glazing bar falls if the rooflight has one, and how deep and how open the reveal is between the ceiling and the glass. It is a drawing rather than a promise, and it means you are looking at the actual view before anything is ordered rather than guessing from a photograph of someone else's roof. Our sightline sketch page sets out how the drawing itself is built and what each line on it means.

Where more than one rooflight type would work in the room, the survey is also where we compare them against each other for that specific view: a roof window set into a pitched roof gives a different sightline from a flat rooflight over a flat-ceilinged extension, and a roof lantern brings ridge, hips and bars into the view in a way a single flat pane never does. Seeing the room in person is what tells us which one actually suits it.

Some of the questions a rooflight raises are about paper rather than glass, and the survey is where we start answering them for your specific address rather than in general terms.

Whether the work needs a planning application depends on the house: whether it is a flat or maisonette, whether it sits in a conservation area, and whether any permitted development rights have already been used up or removed by an Article 4 direction. Around Stamford and the stone villages to the west, where Collyweston stone slate and limestone give whole streets their character, that check matters more than it does on an ordinary terrace, so we look at the position for the actual address rather than assume either way.

None of this needs settling before you book the visit. It is exactly the sort of question the survey exists to answer, alongside the measurements that shape the drawing itself.

After the visit, you get a written quote and the sightline sketch drawn from what we found, so there is something concrete to look at rather than a verbal estimate.

You take whatever time you need to look over the drawing, ask questions, and change anything that does not match what you pictured, a different reveal shape, a different position in the room, or a different rooflight type altogether. Nothing is ordered until you sign off the drawing. Once you do, the rooflight is made to measure, so there is a lead time from the manufacturer before it arrives on site, and this is also when the Building Control notification goes in where the work is notifiable.

What affects the eventual figure, the size of the opening, the glass specification and whether the roof needs new trimmers, is set out on our page on what affects the cost of a rooflight, and the workmanship itself is covered by our 10-year workmanship guarantee, which the survey visit is the first step towards.

Booking a survey does not commit you to anything beyond the visit itself. It is the step that turns a rooflight you are thinking about into a drawing you can actually judge.

We cover Peterborough and 30 miles around it, from the Fletton brick terraces and new-town streets of Bretton, Orton, Werrington and Hampton to the Fens' flat horizons further out and the stone villages around Stamford. A short list of what helps on the day, though none of it is essential:

• which room the rooflight is for, and roughly where in it you spend your time;
• whether the roof is an existing one or part of a planned extension;
• any photographs of the roof from outside, if you have them;
• a rough idea of when you would like the work carried out.

You can book a home visit directly, or message us on WhatsApp first if you would rather talk it through before fixing a date. Either way, the next step is the same: we come to the house, measure the roof and the room, and leave with what we need to draw your sightline sketch. See our full contact page for both routes, browse every rooflight and skylight service we cover in Peterborough, or read more about Clearview Skylights before you book.

Do I need to know exactly what rooflight I want before booking?

No. A survey works perfectly well with only a room and a rough idea in mind, and the visit itself is where the options for that specific roof get narrowed down. Bring whatever preferences you already have, a look you like, a worry about glare, and the survey works from there.

How long does a survey visit take?

It depends on the number of rooms and rooflights being discussed, but a single-room visit is usually a straightforward hour or so: enough time to measure properly and talk through the room without rushing either part.

Can I get a sketch for more than one room in the same visit?

Yes. If you are weighing up rooflights for a loft bedroom and a kitchen extension at the same time, we measure both and draw a sightline sketch for each, so you can compare the two rooms side by side rather than deciding on one before seeing the other.

What if the roof turns out to be more complicated than expected?

That is exactly what the survey is for. An awkward joist layout, an existing rooflight nearby, or a roof shape that is not obvious from inside the house all get spotted and worked around at this stage, well before an order is placed or a roof is opened.