What Should a Skylight Quote Include?

A line that reads "supply and fit rooflight" tells you nothing you can check when the unit turns up. A proper quote names the type: a fixed or opening roof window, a flat rooflight, a lantern, a walk-on unit or a sun tunnel, and the manufacturer and model where one has been specified. Compare that against every type of rooflight and skylight compared if you are not sure which one you have been quoted.

Size should appear twice, not once. The quote should state the kerb or frame size being ordered, and separately the size of glass you will actually see from below, because the two figures are rarely the same once frame width and upstand height are allowed for. If the job involves enlarging an existing hole, the quote should give the new opening size against the old one, since upsizing a rooflight opening touches rafters or joists and changes the price for structural work, not just the glass.

The glass unit is where money moves the most, so it deserves its own line rather than the word "glazed" on its own. A written quote should say whether the unit is double or triple glazed, whether the outer pane carries a self-cleaning coating, and whether the inner pane is laminated for safety, which matters most where the glass sits low enough to be walked past or reached from a loft floor.

Ask for the coating to be named if the quote only says "solar control glass". Coatings vary in how much they tint the sky, and tinted rooflight glass can shift a view from a clean blue-grey to something with a visible colour cast. A good quote will say which coating is proposed and why, not leave it as a default.

The frame is the part of the unit you actually see against the sky, so the quote should name its material, its finish and its colour, inside and out. Aluminium, timber-cored and PVC frames all sit and age differently, and a frame finished grey outside and white inside is a different product from one finished the same colour throughout.

Where the view matters most, from a bed or a sofa, ask the quote to state the face width of the frame as seen from inside. Frame profiles and sightlines sets out how a few centimetres of face width changes how much sky sits inside the frame edge, and a firm that has thought about your sightline will usually have this figure to hand rather than a rough estimate.

Above the ceiling and below the glass sits the reveal, the plastered opening that carries your eye from the room up to the frame. A quote should say whether the reveal will be square, splayed or left deep, and how it will be finished: plasterboard and skim, or a timber lining where that suits the room. Choosing a reveal shape explains why this single decision changes how wide the sky looks from a chair or a pillow more than the size of the glass itself does.

A short table is the clearest way to see what a written quote should cover before you sign anything.

Beyond the unit itself, the quote should say how the job gets done, because access changes both the price and the day. Some pitched roof windows can be handled largely from inside on roof ladders; others, and most flat rooflights and lanterns, need scaffolding or a tower. If your roof needs either, that should be a stated item, not an assumption discovered on the morning of the fit.

Where the opening is being made larger, or a truss needs a structural opening formed around it, the quote should say what is being done to carry the load, and whether that work needs sign-off from a structural engineer as well as Building Control. Leaving this out is one of the more common ways a fixed-sounding price turns into extra invoices once the roof is open.

Most work on an existing rooflight or the roof around it is notifiable under the Building Regulations, and the quote should say plainly whether that applies to your job and who is submitting the notification. What Building Control checks on a new rooflight covers the structural, thermal and safety points an inspector looks for; a quote that is silent on notification has left out a step you will need at completion, and possibly at the point of selling the house later.

Planning permission is a separate question from Building Control, and the two get muddled in conversation more often than they should. Permitted development and planning for rooflights explains when a rooflight needs an application rather than simply a notification, and a quote for a job near a conservation boundary or on a listed building should say the position has been checked for your specific address.

The last stretch of any job is what happens inside the room once the glass is in, and it is worth naming separately because it is easy to assume rather than confirm. A clear quote states what is re-plastered around the new reveal, whether a mist coat or full decoration is included, and what floor and furniture protection is used while the work goes on. Making good inside after a rooflight is replaced sets out what is disturbed and what is put right as standard.

• Whether dust sheets and floor protection are supplied or expected from you
• Whether the reveal is left ready to paint or fully decorated
• Whether rubble, old glass and packaging are removed the same day
• Whether a final clean of the room is included before the crew leaves

What happens on rooflight installation day walks through the order these steps run in, from opening the roof to the last sweep of the floor.

Every Clearview quote carries something most quotes leave out entirely: a sightline sketch, a drawing from the eye position that matters in that room, showing where the frame edges fall, whether a bar sits in view, and how much open sky the finished opening will give you. The sightline sketch: how we plan the view is drawn before the roof is cut, so you are agreeing to a view you have actually seen, not a specification sheet you have to picture in your head.

A workmanship guarantee should also be stated in years, not left as a verbal promise. Ours runs for ten years, and it should appear on the quote itself alongside the guarantee period for the glass unit, which is usually set separately by its manufacturer.

A fixed total is worth more than a low headline figure with a list of exclusions underneath it. Before you compare two quotes side by side, check that each one covers the same ground: product and glass, frame and reveal, access, Building Control paperwork and making good. What affects the cost of a rooflight sets out the factors that move a price up or down so you can tell whether a lower figure has left something out rather than found a saving.

If a quote reads like a single line and a number, ask the firm to break it down using the headings above. A firm that has planned your sightline, checked Building Control and thought about making good will usually have those answers ready, because they are the same questions they had to answer to price the job properly in the first place.

Should a quote include a fixed price rather than an estimate?

Yes, once a survey has been done. Before a survey, a figure is only a guide; after it, the product, glass, access and Building Control position are known well enough for a firm total rather than a range.

Does the quote need to name the glass manufacturer?

It should name the coatings and build of the glass, whether double or triple glazed, laminated or self-cleaning, so you can check it against what is fitted. Naming the manufacturer is useful but the specification matters more than the badge.

What if Building Control is not mentioned on the quote at all?

Ask directly whether the work is notifiable and who is submitting the notice. Most rooflight installation and replacement work needs telling to Building Control, and a quote that is silent on it has left a step out rather than confirmed it is not needed.

Is a sightline sketch something every firm provides?

No, it is not standard across the trade. Ask for one before you agree to a quote, since it is the clearest way to see the view you are paying for rather than reading a description of it.