A quotation starts with a survey, because the covering, the structure and the access are what decide the figure and none of the three can be judged from a photograph. A survey takes about half an hour, costs nothing, and quite often ends with a suggestion rather than a quotation. If there is a job, what we send sets out four separate lines rather than one number.
Before the visit
A conversation and a photograph.
A picture of the rooflight from inside and a note of when the problem appears will frequently answer an enquiry, or at least tell us what to bring.
What to send is on the contact page.
What we look at first
The roof.
The covering, its condition, the pitch or the fall, the state of the flashings and what is happening above the position, because that is where most faults originate.
Then the loft
Where one exists.
The structure, whether it is cut or trussed, where the purlins and the members run, and what is in the way of a route or an opening.
Why the loft matters so much
It decides what is possible.
The rafter or truss spacing sets the maximum width of a roof window, and an obstruction decides where a sun tunnel can go.
The constraint is on can a roof window be fitted between trusses.
Then the room
What it is used for, and where it is dark.
A bedroom, a bathroom and a hallway want different things from the same aperture, and the room decides the specification more than the roof does.
The measurements we take
Enough to order without a second visit.
Member spacing in the position, available height on the slope, kerb dimensions and diagonals on a replacement, and the profile depth of the covering.
Why the profile depth
Because it chooses the flashing kit.
A kit for a deep pantile is a different pressing from one for slate, and it is measured with a tape rather than judged by eye.
What a kit does is on what is a flashing kit.
The access assessment
Done by standing in the garden.
Where the equipment will stand, whether the ground is firm and level, whether there is a route in, and whether anything below cannot be built over.
Why that is not done from photographs
Because it is the largest variable.
Access can be a substantial share of a small job, and getting it wrong from a picture means a figure that changes on the day.
What it turns on is on can you replace a rooflight without scaffolding.
What we check on a replacement
Whether the timber is sound.
We probe what we can reach and we say plainly what we cannot see, because water that has been arriving for years will have reached something.
What that involves is on what happens if the timber underneath has rotted.
What we check on a designated property
The planning position, before anything is specified.
Whether the property is listed, in a conservation area or within the National Park, because on a designated slope the product follows the planning position.
What the quotation sets out
Four lines and a note.
The unit with its specification, the construction, the access, and the making good, plus what happens if anything is found once the covering is off.
What is named rather than implied
The specification.
The product and size, the glazing, the flashing or kerb detail, and the frame finish, so the figure can be compared with anybody else’s on equal terms.
What is separated out
Anything optional.
Blinds, decorating and electrical work are their own lines so they can be removed rather than discovered inside a total.
How long it stands
A stated period.
Glass, aluminium and timber prices move, and a quotation with an expiry is more honest than one renegotiated quietly later.
What we say when there is no job
That there is no job.
Where a gasket, a cleared drainage channel or an extract fan would fix the complaint, that is the recommendation, and it happens more often than people expect.
Where we suggest doing more
Where the access is already paid for.
A second rooflight on the same visit, or doing the work alongside a recovering, is materially cheaper than doing it separately later.
Why is on the how we price and quote page.
What to have ready
Access to the loft and the room.
A cleared loft hatch and a clear area under the position makes a survey faster and considerably more accurate.
How long from quote to work
The lead time on the unit, mostly.
Units are made to a measured size, so there is a manufacturing period between accepting a figure and a date, and it is longer in spring than in winter.
What we do not ask for at survey
A decision.
A survey produces information and a figure, and nothing is signed on a doorstep, because a specification is worth reading before it is agreed to.
Comparing our quotation with another
Encouraged, and there are five questions that make it possible.
What exactly the unit is, what the flashing or kerb detail includes, what access is allowed for, what happens if timber is wet, and what making good is in the figure.
Payment
A deposit at order, the balance on completion.
Units are manufactured to a measured size so there is a commitment at ordering, and nothing is asked for before a survey has produced a figure.
How to start
A call, an email or a message with a photograph.
The details are on the contact page.
Thinking about this job? We survey across Worthing, West Sussex and the South Downs and give you a fixed price before any work starts, with a 10-year workmanship guarantee.