What the job costs in Dulwich
Onto a ready upstand
Customer-supplied unit up to about 1.5 m², fitted to a prepared kerb, sealed and trimmed
With a new upstand
Insulated timber upstand built, membrane turned up and dressed, unit fitted and sealed
Large or heavy unit
Extra hands or lifting gear, larger openings, fixed or opening units
Guide ranges for labour only — you supply the rooflight. Your price is fixed in a written quote after we have seen photos or surveyed. Scaffold, access towers or a crane are priced separately if the job needs them, and building control fees, where a job needs them, are shown as their own line.
Fitting across Dulwich and nearby
Fitters travel to the job, so the address is what counts. In Dulwich that means postcode districts SE21, SE24 and SE22, and the same teams can just as easily take on work in Brixton, about 2 miles away, or Camberwell at roughly 2 miles. Survey and fitting dates are offered according to fitter availability, and travel is built into the quote rather than added later.
Fit-only or supply and fit
There are two ways to do this. Supply and fit means we source a rooflight that suits your roof and install it, so one company answers for both the product choice and the fitting. Fit-only means you buy the unit and we install it. With fit-only, the product warranty stays with the maker or seller, and our written guarantee covers the fitting work. Both routes get the same checks on the opening, the upstand and the maker's instructions before anything is fixed.
On the day, we cover
- Check of the delivered unit, glass, fixings pack and instructions before work starts
- Opening and upstand measured against the maker's drawing, timber to timber
- Opening tested where relevant, packaging taken away and paperwork handed back
- Delivery damage and missing parts — We ask you to open the delivery and check it as soon as it arrives, not on fitting day.
- Upstand height above the roof — We measure how far the upstand stands above the finished roof surface, including any ballast or walkway.
Fitting your rooflight, step by step
Morning first: the team arrives, introduces itself and walks through the job with you. Dust sheets go down in the room below and along the route in. Then the opening and upstand, or the flashing on a pitched roof, are checked against the unit's measurements. A rooflight goes in, is fixed to the maker's pattern and sealed into the roof covering. Inside, the reveal is finished as quoted. Before leaving, the team clears debris and talks you through what was done. Most jobs of this type take half a day to a day.
Planning, building control and Dulwich
Replacing a rooflight in an English home is a controlled fitting: it has to be self-certified by a scheme-registered installer or notified to building control. We are not registered with a competent person scheme, so replacements we fit are notified with a building notice, and the new unit has to meet current energy limits. Adding a new one usually means a building regulations application, because joists or rafters are trimmed. On the planning side, most house rooflights are permitted development if they project 0.15 m or less; on a side slope the glass must be obscured and fixed unless the opening part is over 1.7 m above the floor.
Help us quote accurately
A fast quote needs five things: a photo of the roof from outside, one from the room below, rough sizes of the opening or the space, the roof covering (felt, single-ply, fibreglass, tiles, slate or metal), and a note on access. If you have already bought the unit, add the product link or spec sheet. And give us the postcode, SE21 or a neighbouring district.
Common questions in Dulwich
What if my roof opening is the wrong size for the rooflight?
We find out before the fitting day, not on it. If the opening is slightly out, it can usually be adjusted by trimming or by packing out the upstand. If it is a long way off, the choice is between altering the opening and changing the unit. Bear in mind that rooflights are often sold by builder's opening size rather than external size, so check which one your measurement refers to.
Do you need scaffolding to fit a rooflight?
Not always. Single-storey roofs can often be reached safely with ladders, a tower or edge protection. Higher roofs, steep pitches and large units usually need scaffold or a mobile platform, and heavy glass may need a crane. We assess access from your photos or at the survey, and any scaffold or lifting cost is shown as its own line on the written quote.
Can you replace an old dome without redoing the whole roof?
Usually, yes. If the existing kerb is sound, level and tall enough, a new unit can often sit on it with a fresh seal to the roof covering. If the kerb is rotten or too low, we rebuild it and patch the covering around it rather than stripping the whole roof. This is checked at the survey and included in the written quote, so you know the full scope first.
Get in touch with the details of your Dulwich property and we will explain what the job involves and what it costs.
