Timing answer
How long does swapping an old rooflight take?
Most of the elapsed time sits before anyone climbs onto the roof. This answer walks through the stages in order, so you can see where a swap is quick and where it waits on a factory.
The answer
The visit to the roof is the short part: a like-for-like swap of one rooflight is a matter of hours on a straightforward roof, and longer where the upstand or flashings need rebuilding or several units are changing. The longer part is the wait while a made-to-measure unit is manufactured. We give the timing on the written quote once the survey has shown what your roof needs.
What happens between the survey and a finished swap?
A survey, a written quote, an order to the maker, the wait for delivery, the fitting visit and then any paperwork. The fitting is one stage out of six, and rarely the longest.
It helps to see a swap as a short chain, because each link has a different owner and a different clock.
The links, in order
- We survey the rooflight and the roof round it, free of charge.
- You receive a fixed written quote.
- You accept it, and the unit is ordered or made.
- The unit travels to us from the manufacturer.
- We fit it.
- Any notification or sign-off is dealt with.
You control the gap between the first two links and the third. We control the fitting. The maker controls the gap in the middle, which is why a promise of a date before an order is placed would be guesswork.
Why the order of events matters
Nothing is ordered until the survey has been done, because a swap built on a guessed measurement is a swap that can fail at the door. The survey is also where we find out whether the roof round the old unit is in good enough condition, and a clean like-for-like swap depends on that. If it is not, the job becomes a different, longer one.
Why is the wait for the new unit the long part?
A made-to-measure glass unit or rooflight is built to your dimensions after you accept the quote. That manufacturing and delivery time is set by the maker and usually outlasts the work on the roof.
Nothing about a rooflight is kept on a shelf in your size. Glass is cut, laminated and sealed to order, frames are cut and finished in the colour you choose, and the finished piece is packed and sent on.
Made to measure or from a range
A standard-sized rooflight from a maker's range can arrive sooner, because it is built from stock parts. A unit cut to the odd dimensions of an old frame, or a rooflight with special glass, a particular colour or an electric opener, goes into a production queue. The queue length varies through the year and is not ours to promise.
What speeds it up
Decisions made early help. A quick yes to the quote, a settled choice of glass and finish, and an accurate survey that does not need re-measuring all take days out of the wait. Changing your mind after the order is placed does the opposite, because a unit already in production cannot simply be adjusted.
How we handle the wait
Ask about the maker's current lead time when the quote reaches you, so the date you plan around is the maker's own. If the new rooflight has to be in by a certain point, say so at the survey, before you commit to anything.
How long is the fitting visit itself?
Short for one rooflight with a sound frame and upstand, longer when the surround needs rebuilding, access is awkward or several units are done at once.
With the unit on site, the work moves quickly. The old unit is taken out, the surround is checked, the new unit is set in and sealed, and the finish is tidied at the edges. For one straightforward rooflight, that is a matter of hours rather than days.
What stretches it
- An upstand or flashing that has to be rebuilt before the new unit goes on.
- A roof that is hard to reach, or a rooflight above a stair or double-height space where the inside needs protecting.
- Several rooflights on the same roof, each with its own surround.
- A large or heavy pane that needs more hands, or lifting gear, to place.
- Weather that makes the roof unsafe to work on, which pushes the visit to the next suitable day.
What to expect inside
The fitters work from above, but the space underneath is exposed once the old unit is out, so furniture under the opening is best moved beforehand. A Tyneside flat with a shared stair or a shared roof may also involve a neighbour's access, which is worth arranging with them ahead of the fitting day.
To have sorted before the fitting day
- The floor beneath cleared and any furniture moved clear of the opening
- Access to the roof route agreed, including with a neighbour if it is shared
- The choice of glass and finish confirmed, so nothing is held up
- A clear route in from the road for the new unit
- Someone at home to let us in and sign off the finished work
Does the paperwork add to the time?
It can, but it runs alongside the wait rather than after it. Planning for a flat, or listed building consent, is settled before ordering. The Building Control notification is ours to send.
Not every swap needs paperwork, but some need it before anything is ordered, and that is the only way it lengthens the timeline.
Before ordering
On a house, a replacement that is the same size and no higher is unlikely to raise a planning question, but a deeper frame or taller upstand needs checking against the 150mm projection limit of Class C. A flat has no householder permitted development, so planning permission applies to a new rooflight on one, and your council can say how it treats a swap at your address. A listed house usually needs listed building consent for almost any rooflight, and that consent decides the job. These decisions take as long as the council takes, so they belong at the start.
Alongside and after
Building work involving a new opening in a roof is notified to Building Control, the local authority or a registered building control approver. Where a job is notifiable, we send the notice, and it does not hold up the fitting.
Shared roofs
If you are on one of Tyneside's two-flat terraces, check your lease or title for who has to agree to roof work and talk to the other owner early. Waiting for that agreement after a unit has been made is the delay most worth avoiding. For house, flat and listed cases side by side, see the planning permission guide.
Timing worries, one at a time
Can the swap be done in a day?
The fitting visit for one straightforward rooflight can be that short, if the unit has arrived and the surround is sound. The days or weeks before it are usually the wait for manufacture and delivery. The quote says what applies to your roof.
Will I be without a rooflight while the new one is made?
Yes, in the sense that the old unit stays in place until the new one is ready, so there is no period with an open hole. The old unit is only removed on the fitting day, with the new one on site.
Does bad weather cancel the visit?
Rain, strong wind and ice can make a roof unsafe or unsuitable for sealing work, so the visit moves to the next suitable day. A change of date does not alter the fixed price on the quote.
Does swapping several rooflights take proportionally longer?
Not strictly. Some steps, such as setting up access, are shared, while each unit still needs its own surround checked and sealed. The survey adds up the work for every rooflight and the quote reflects it. See our misted rooflight replacement page for the full service.