How far in advance should I book?
Two to six weeks for most work, and the lead time is manufacturing rather than our diary.
Part of our Replacing a Failed or Misted Rooflight guide
Most of the wait is the unit being made rather than our availability.
Typical timelines
Stock size roof window replacement: often two weeks from acceptance.
Made to measure flat roof rooflight: three to five weeks, because the unit is ordered from a measured kerb.
Roof lantern: four to seven weeks, more where a steel has to be designed first.
Conservation rooflight: add planning time where an application is needed, which can be eight weeks or more, and longer for listed building consent.
Seasonal variation
Spring and summer are busier and lead times stretch. Winter is quieter and often quicker, and winter fitting is entirely normal.
If you are building
Talk to us early, before the roof structure is built. Two reasons.
The kerb has to be right, and it is far easier to build it correctly than to correct it. And an electric unit needs a cable at first fix, which is trivial then and disruptive later.
A conversation at design stage costs nothing and prevents most of the problems we are called to fix.
Emergencies
Active water ingress is different. We will make a roof safe and watertight quickly, then order the replacement properly rather than rushing a specification.
A misted unit is not an emergency: nothing is entering the building and it is worth planning.
Booking the survey
Usually within a week or two, and free, as is the indicative range by email before it.
It depends entirely on the unit
The fitting is rarely the limiting factor. What decides how far ahead to book is the lead time on the product and, where it applies, the wait for permission.
A stock size replacement: days to a couple of weeks. These are the quickest jobs we do and we can often fit within a fortnight of a survey.
A made to measure unit: several weeks from order, sometimes longer for an unusual size or a specialist glazing specification.
A conservation rooflight: several weeks, and longer where a non standard size is needed. These are built in smaller volumes than mass market roof windows.
A roof lantern: several weeks minimum, manufactured to your dimensions, and a large or unusual configuration can be considerably longer.
Anything needing planning permission or listed building consent: months, and that comes first, before the order.
The right sequence
Survey. Then permission where it is needed. Then structural design where a trimmer or beam is required, because the opening dimensions depend on it. Then order. Then book the fitting to the confirmed delivery date.
Doing it in that order costs nothing. Doing it in any other order means either ordering a unit that may not be consented, or booking a fitting date and hoping the unit arrives, which is how jobs slip.
Seasonal considerations
We work all year. The busiest period for us runs from spring through early autumn, largely because that is when people plan extensions and loft conversions, so booking further ahead in that window is sensible.
Winter work is entirely normal and there is no premium on it. The rule is that an opening is never left uncovered overnight and a strip out does not start if the forecast will not allow the roof to be closed the same day. That occasionally means moving a date by a day.
If it is urgent
Where water is coming in, say so at the enquiry stage and we will treat it as urgent rather than putting you in the queue.
Very often the right first step on an urgent job is not a replacement at all. Making the roof watertight temporarily buys you the time to specify the permanent repair properly rather than ordering the wrong unit in a hurry.
Booking with a builder
Where the rooflight is part of a larger project, tell us the builder’s programme early. The kerb detail on an extension and the capped cable to a rooflight position in a loft conversion both need to happen at the right moment, and both cost almost nothing then and a great deal afterwards.
The short version
Stock replacement: a couple of weeks. Made to measure or conservation unit: several weeks after order. Lantern: several weeks after the structural design is settled. Anything needing consent: months, and that comes first.
Book the fitting to a confirmed delivery date rather than to an estimate, and start the permission before the order rather than alongside it.
Ask us
Tell us what you are planning and when you want it done, and we will work backwards from that date honestly. Where the timescale is not achievable we would rather say so at the enquiry than at the order.
If you are working to a fixed date
Tell us at the enquiry rather than at the order. Where a wedding, a birth, a house sale or a builder’s programme sets the deadline, that changes what we recommend: a stock size that can be delivered next week is frequently a better answer than a made to measure unit that arrives after the date.
One last point
Where water is already coming in, say so and we will treat it as urgent. Making a roof watertight temporarily is frequently the right first step, because it buys the time to specify the permanent repair properly rather than ordering in a hurry.
Work backwards from the unit
The fitting is rarely the long pole. What sets the date is the lead time on the product and, where it applies, the consent.
A stock size roof window arrives in days. A made to measure unit runs to several weeks. A conservation rooflight in a bespoke size, longer. A lantern, several weeks minimum and considerably more for a large or unusual configuration.
Where planning permission or listed building consent is needed, that is measured in months and it comes first.
Where structural design is needed, the engineer comes before the order, because the opening dimensions depend on the drawing.
The seasonal factor
Late spring through early autumn is the busy period, and scaffold availability tightens with it. A job wanted in June is best arranged in the spring.
The sequence that avoids slippage
Survey, then consent, then structural design, then order, then book the fitting against the confirmed delivery date.
Booking the fitting first and hoping the unit arrives is how jobs slip, and it leaves a room half finished while everybody waits.
More on Replacing a Failed or Misted Rooflight
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