Sun tunnel
$700–$1.6k
- Velux Sun Tunnel, 10 or 14 inch
- Roof dome with flashing kit
- Rigid or flexible reflective tube
- Ceiling diffuser like a light
- No rafters cut
- Drywall patch and paint
Skylight installation · Velux · Sun tunnels · Licensed
Skylight installation that brings in daylight, and never lets in rain.
One crew frames the opening, flashes the skylight into the roof and finishes the light shaft inside, so you do not coordinate a roofer, a carpenter and a drywaller. A skylight specialist checks rafters and attic space first and sends a written estimate within 24 hours.
Text a photo of the room and the ceiling. A licensed specialist answers within 5 minutes during business hours and tells you whether a skylight or a sun tunnel fits.
- 1–2 daysMost skylights
- From $700Sun tunnels
- 4.9410 reviews
- 24hWritten estimate
What happens after you text us
Send a photo of the room. A specialist tells you what will fit.
A typical first exchange about a skylight. You say which room is dark, we ask what is above the ceiling, and you leave with a visit time and an honest first idea of whether a skylight or a sun tunnel makes more sense.
- What is above the ceiling decides the price more than the skylight
- An honest call on sun tunnel versus skylight
- Visit time set before the conversation ends
Our upstairs hallway is dark all day, no windows at all. Could we put a skylight in? There is an attic above it.
Hi Emily, Chris here with ProBuild Remodeling. With an attic above a hallway, a sun tunnel is often the better choice: much cheaper and done in a few hours. How far is it from the ceiling to the roof, roughly?
Maybe four or five feet. The roof above faces south.
South is ideal. A 14-inch sun tunnel would light that hallway like a lamp at midday. I can check the attic Monday at 10 and price a tunnel and a full skylight so you can compare. Does Monday work?
Monday at 10 is fine. Will it make the hallway hot in summer?
Very little, the dome and the tube are built to limit heat. I will show you the numbers Monday.
What a skylight costs
A skylight costs $700 to $9,000 installed. What is above the ceiling decides most of it.
A sun tunnel through an attic is the simplest job. A new skylight needs a framed opening in the roof and a finished light shaft down to the ceiling, which is where most of the labor goes.
Skylight replacement
$1.5k–$3.5k
- Old skylight and flashing removed
- New Velux in the same opening
- Matching flashing kit
- Ice and water shield collar
- Shingles woven back in
- Interior trim touched up
New skylight opening
$3.5k–$9k
- Rafters cut and headed off
- Deck-mounted Velux skylight
- Flashing and underlayment collar
- Drywall shaft, flared for light
- Insulated shaft walls
- Permit and inspection
Price your skylight in ten seconds
Choose the type of job, the skylight size and what the house is like. The price range updates as you pick, based on the skylight jobs we price every week.
A range, not a quote. Your written estimate comes after the visit and does not change once you approve it.
Typical range for your answers
Turn this range into a written skylight priceWhere the money goes
The skylight is a third of the price. The opening and the shaft are the rest.
Averages from our recent new skylight openings. Framing, flashing and the finished shaft inside take more hours than setting the skylight itself, and they are exactly the lines a cheap quote leaves vague.
Get my itemized skylight estimate
Sun tunnel or skylight
A sun tunnel lights a small room. A skylight changes how a big room feels.
A sun tunnel costs about a quarter of a skylight and brings daylight through the attic without framing. A skylight gives a view of the sky and can open for air. We write down which one suits each room.
| If this is true | We recommend |
|---|---|
| The room is a hallway, bathroom or closet | Sun tunnel |
| The ceiling is vaulted with no attic above | Skylight |
| You want light only, no view and no fresh air | Sun tunnel |
| You want to open it for air in a kitchen or bath | Skylight |
| Ducts or wiring crowd the attic above the room | Sun tunnel |
| The room is large and you want to see the sky | Skylight |
How long it takes
Most skylights are in and dry on day one, with the shaft finished over the next day or two.
Skylights ship in one to three weeks. On install day the roof opening is cut and sealed before evening; drywall, mud and paint in the shaft need a day or two to dry between coats.
Visit day
Check roof and attic
Rafter spacing, attic depth, wiring and ducts checked, sun direction noted, estimate written in three options.
Install morning
Cut and frame
Ceiling and roof opened, rafters headed off, dust walls up in the room below, tarp ready overhead.
Install afternoon
Set and flash
Skylight set, flashing kit and underlayment collar woven into the shingles, roof closed before dark.
Days two and three
Finish the shaft
Shaft insulated, drywalled, taped and painted, trim fitted, room cleaned and the skylight tested.
Remodeling concepts
Skylight installation: conditions and possibilities.
AI-generated examples of existing conditions and remodeling possibilities. Each image is a separate concept, not a documented transformation of the same home.
What your skylight is made of
Model, glass and flashing kit are named in the estimate, so nothing is left to chance on the roof.
A skylight is a window in the most exposed spot of the house. Your estimate names the exact Velux or Fakro model, the glass and the flashing kit matched to your roof material.
Fixed deck-mounted skylight
Velux FS models: light only, no opening. Low-E laminated glass with a no-leak flashing kit sized for shingle roofs.
Solar venting skylight
Velux VSS opens by remote, powered by a small solar panel, and closes itself when its rain sensor feels the first drops.
Sun tunnels
Velux Sun Tunnel or Solatube: a roof dome and a mirror-finish tube that carries daylight into rooms the roof cannot reach.
Laminated low-E glass
The inner pane is laminated so it holds together if broken, as code requires overhead, and low-E limits summer heat.
Flashing kits
Kits matched to the roof type: low-profile for asphalt shingles, high-profile for tile and a kit made for metal roofs.
Light-filtering blinds
Velux solar blinds or room-darkening shades fit inside the frame and open by remote, useful in bedrooms and home offices.
Written into every contract
Six promises you can hold us to.
The approved price is the final price. Change orders only with your written approval.
A credit for every working day of delay we cause. Weather and inspections excepted, in writing.
Dust barriers, floor protection and a clean-up before we leave. Your home stays livable.
A text or email every working day with photos and tomorrow's plan, or the day is free.
Workmanship warranty in writing, transferable to the next owner, backed by a fixed address.
A small deposit, then you pay only for work that is already completed, inspected and photographed.
Who works on your skylight
One crew does the roof and the ceiling, so no trade blames another for a leak.
Skylight leaks often start where a roofer's work meets a carpenter's. Ours is installed start to finish by one small crew, background-checked and introduced by name, who own the result.
Skylight specialist
Plans the opening, orders the unit and texts you updates.
Roofer and carpenter
Frames the opening and flashes the skylight into the roof.
Drywall finisher
Builds, tapes and paints the light shaft to a clean finish.
Illustrative project scopes
Skylight installation: scope and budget examples.
Planning examples with illustrative budgets and durations. These are not completed customer jobs, invoices or promises about your project.
Hallway sun tunnel
- Example budget
- $1,150
- Example duration
- 1 day
- Record type
- Illustrative scope
Leaking skylight replaced
- Example budget
- $2,400
- Example duration
- 1 day
- Record type
- Illustrative scope
Two venting skylights, vaulted
- Example budget
- $8,700
- Example duration
- 3 days
- Record type
- Illustrative scope
Your room is not average
The right skylight depends on the room. Here is how the plan changes for yours.
Room, roof and climate change what we recommend and what it costs. These are the cases we see most often, and how each one changes the job.
A skylight that leaks
We check whether the water comes from the flashing, the glass seal or condensation before quoting anything. Most leaks mean replacing the skylight with a new flashing kit in the same opening, done in one day on the roof.
Price my leaking skylight fixReplacing the roof soon
The best time to replace a skylight is with the roof, because the flashing is woven into the new shingles. If a roof is scheduled, we coordinate both and save you a second trip and a second patch of shingles.
Plan my skylight with a new roofA windowless bathroom
A sun tunnel brings daylight into a bathroom with no window, and a venting skylight also lets steam out. We add a sealed, insulated shaft so the moist air stays out of the attic and the glass stays clear.
Price my bathroom skylightHot sun overhead
In hot climates we place skylights on north or east slopes where we can, use low-E glass that limits heat and add a solar blind. The room gets daylight without turning into a greenhouse in the afternoon.
Price my hot-climate skylightSnow country
We use flashing kits with extra underlayment collars, place skylights away from valleys where snow piles, and insulate the shaft fully so the glass does not frost or drip on cold mornings in the middle of winter.
Price my cold-climate skylightA kid's room or loft
Venting skylights in bedrooms need screens and a way to close them from below. We quote solar models with a remote and rain sensor, and blackout blinds so the room still gets dark enough for naps and early bedtimes.
Price my bedroom skylightA home office
Daylight from above spreads evenly and cuts screen glare better than a side window. We place the skylight so the sun does not fall on your desk and add a remote blind for video calls on bright afternoons.
Price my home office skylightMost light for the money
A sun tunnel gives the most daylight per dollar and takes half a day. For rooms that need more, one well-placed skylight usually beats two small ones. We price both options so you can see the difference.
Price my most affordable daylightWhat this service is
Skylight installation, what it means on your roof and ceiling.
Skylight installation is the fitting of a roof window or tubular daylight device into a roof, including cutting and framing the opening, flashing the unit into the roofing and building a finished light shaft to the ceiling below. ProBuild Remodeling performs it with one licensed crew using Velux skylights and sun tunnels, and Fakro or Solatube where they fit better.
The service covers new skylight openings, replacement of old or leaking skylights in the same opening, sun tunnels, flashing kits, underlayment collars, rafter headers, insulated drywall shafts, blinds and the permit where required. It does not include moving roof trusses, repairing a whole roof, or electrical work beyond powering a venting skylight.
It is for homeowners with dark hallways, bathrooms, kitchens or vaulted rooms, and for anyone whose old skylight leaks or has fogged. It is not for roofs flatter than about 3/12 without a curb-mounted unit, or for truss roofs where the opening would need engineering; we say so at the visit and price the alternative.
The words you will see on your skylight estimate
- Deck-mounted skylight
- A skylight fastened directly to the roof deck, with a flashing kit woven into the shingles. The standard for sloped roofs.
- Curb-mounted skylight
- A skylight set on a raised wooden box built on the roof. Used on low-slope roofs and when replacing old curb units.
- Sun tunnel
- A tubular skylight: a roof dome and a reflective tube that carries daylight to a round diffuser in the ceiling.
- Light shaft
- The drywall box between the roof opening and the ceiling. Flaring its walls outward spreads light across the room.
- Flashing kit
- The set of metal pieces made for one skylight model that seals it to the roof. Reusing old flashing causes leaks.
- Header
- A doubled framing member added across cut rafters so the roof load is carried around the new opening.
- Venting skylight
- A skylight that opens for fresh air, by hand crank, electric motor or solar power, often with a rain sensor.
- Laminated glass
- Glass with a plastic layer between panes so it holds together when broken. Required for skylight glass above living space.
Questions we hear about skylights
Eight questions people ask before adding a skylight.
How much does it cost to install a skylight?
A sun tunnel costs about $700 to $1,600 installed. Replacing a skylight in the same opening runs $1,500 to $3,500. A new skylight with a framed opening and a drywall shaft costs $3,500 to $9,000, depending on size, shaft length and whether it opens.
Do skylights always leak eventually?
No. Most skylight leaks come from reused or caulked flashing, not from the skylight. A modern skylight with its own flashing kit and an underlayment collar stays dry for the life of the roof. Condensation in winter is often mistaken for a leak.
How long does skylight installation take?
A sun tunnel takes half a day. A replacement in the same opening takes one day. A new skylight takes one day to cut, frame and seal the roof, plus one or two days to insulate, drywall and paint the light shaft.
Is a sun tunnel as good as a skylight?
For hallways, bathrooms and closets, a sun tunnel gives plenty of daylight for about a quarter of the cost and needs no framing. It gives no view and does not open. For large or vaulted rooms, a skylight is the better choice.
Should I replace my skylight when I replace my roof?
Usually yes, if the skylight is more than 15 to 20 years old. The flashing is replaced with the roof anyway, and a new skylight costs far less to install then than it would later, when shingles must be cut out around it again.
Do skylights make a room hot in summer?
Modern skylights with low-E glass let in light while blocking much of the heat. Placing them on north or east slopes and adding a solar blind keeps rooms comfortable. Old bubble skylights with clear plastic are the ones that overheat rooms.
Can a skylight go in any roof?
Most sloped roofs with rafters take a skylight easily. Truss roofs need the opening to fit between trusses or be engineered. Low-slope roofs need a curb-mounted unit. We check framing and pitch in the attic before we quote.
Can a skylight open and close by itself?
Yes. Solar-powered venting skylights open with a remote or wall switch and close automatically when their rain sensor detects moisture. They need no wiring, because a small solar panel on the frame charges the battery.
Skylight installation near you
Your remodeling address, within our service area.
Skylights are installed by local crews working under the license of your state, with flashing chosen for your roof and climate. License numbers are listed state by state.
- Maine
- New Hampshire
- Massachusetts
- Rhode Island
- Connecticut
- New York
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Virginia
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Florida
- Check your remodeling address
Free skylight estimate
Send your answers now. Get a written skylight price within 24 hours.
A skylight specialist reads your answers, texts you back within 5 minutes during business hours and books an attic and roof check in the same thread.