How much does an electric rooflight cost?

An opening rooflight is the same unit with four things added: the opening frame, the actuator that drives it, the control system, and getting a supply to it. On a new extension where the ceiling is open, those add a modest step. On a finished room where a cable has to be chased across a plastered ceiling, the last of the four can be the largest item on the quotation.

What a rooflight or skylight quotation is made of

The general anatomy is on how much does a flat roof rooflight cost.

What follows is only what is added by making a unit open under power.

The opening frame

A different product, not a fitting.

An opening rooflight has hinges, a compression seal arrangement and its own drainage, so the frame itself is a step above a fixed unit of the same size before any motor is involved.

The actuator

The motor that moves it. A chain actuator, or a pair on a wider unit, extends to push the pane open and retracts to pull it closed, and it is sized to the weight and the opening distance.

What one is is on what is a chain actuator.

Why a wider unit costs more here

Because one actuator stops being enough. Beyond a certain width a single point of push twists the frame, so a second actuator is fitted and synchronised, which is two motors and a controller rather than one.

The control system

Anything from a switch to a full integration.

A wall switch is the least. A handset, a wired keypad, a rain sensor and integration into a home system are each steps beyond it.

The options are on how is an electric rooflight controlled.

The rain sensor

A small item that changes how the unit is used.

A sensor that closes the pane automatically is what makes leaving a rooflight open during the day a reasonable thing to do, and on a roof that is worth more than it costs.

What it does is on what is a rain sensor rooflight.

The electrician

A separate trade and a separate visit.

A mains actuator needs a fused supply, and that is notifiable electrical work certificated by whoever carries it out.

Whether one is needed is on do electric rooflights need an electrician.

The cable run

The item that varies most between two identical jobs.

Getting a supply to a kerb while a roof is open is a few metres of cable. Getting one to a rooflight in a finished plastered ceiling is a chase, a repair and a decoration.

It is why the same product can cost very differently in two houses.

Running the cable early

The advice that saves the most money on this page.

Where a rooflight might one day open, running a cable to the kerb during the build costs almost nothing and removes the largest future cost entirely.

A low voltage system

Sometimes simpler, and it still needs a supply.

Some systems run the actuator at low voltage from a transformer, which changes the cable but not the fact that a supply has to reach it.

A solar option

Where a retro fit becomes affordable.

Solar powered opening units carry their own panel and battery, so there is no cable at all, and on an existing roof that removes the largest line from the quotation.

How they work is on can you get a solar powered VELUX.

Retro fitting an opener

Possible on some products and not on others.

Where a manufacturer offers a conversion, an existing unit can be motorised. Where the opening light is a different frame, it cannot, and the unit is replaced.

The position is on can you retrofit an electric opener.

Smoke vent specification

A different order of product and price.

A certified smoke ventilation unit carries tested performance, a dedicated control panel and a battery backup, and it is not a comfort opener with a label on it.

What that involves is on can a rooflight be a smoke vent.

Escape specification

Where the opening dimensions drive the size.

A unit relied on for escape has to give a stated clear opening, which can mean a larger unit and a larger opening than the room would otherwise need.

The arithmetic is on how wide does an escape rooflight need to be.

Insect screens

A modest addition that people wish they had specified.

A screen for an opening unit is ordered against the size, and adding one later is possible on some systems and awkward on others.

What is available is on do opening rooflights come with insect screens.

Two units opening together

Less than twice, on the control side.

Two actuators on one control system share the controller and the commissioning, so the second unit adds its own motor rather than a whole system.

That is on can two rooflights open together.

Servicing over the years

A small recurring item rather than a one off.

Seals want keeping clean and an actuator wants running through its stroke, and an occasional visit is cheaper than a seized motor on a roof.

What it involves is on do electric rooflights need servicing.

What we would spend first

The rain sensor, then the second unit.

A sensor turns an opening rooflight into something used daily rather than occasionally, and a second opening across the room gives cross ventilation that one cannot.

Why we do not publish figures

Because the cable makes the range meaningless.

The same product in an open ceiling and in a finished one are different jobs, and one number covering both would be wrong for one of them.

How we quote it on an opening unit

We quote the unit, the actuator, the controls and the electrical work as four lines, and we always ask whether the ceiling is open, because that single fact moves the total more than the product choice does.

The whole picture is on the electric rooflight installation page.