Recent skylight work
New York Skylight Installers replaces, installs and supplies skylights in Staten Island houses, cottages and rowhouses. Official VELUX dealer, LIC# 2084179, skylights only since 2005.
Todt Hill is the highest ground on the eastern seaboard south of Maine and the houses on it are the largest on the island. Big freestanding houses on wooded lots, mid century modern through to much more recent custom work, and rooflines that are rarely one simple plane. Low slope sections meeting steep ones, long rear extensions, courtyards, atriums and in a good number of these houses a bank of skylights rather than a single unit.
A bank is a different job from a single skylight and it should be priced as one. On a run of units on the same roof the mobilisation happens once, the staging goes up once and the crew is there once, and we show that as a multiple unit credit on the quote rather than charging five single jobs. That credit is real and it is on the face of the proposal. It is also conditional, because if the units get split into separate visits or separate hoisting days the saving is gone and the work has to be repriced.
The second thing about this hill is the wind. An exposed hilltop roof with mature trees around it takes gusts that the sheltered streets below do not, and that matters twice over. It matters on the day, because an open roof with glass on it in a gust is not something to be casual about, and we will move a date rather than fight it. And it matters over twenty years, because wind driven rain finds a flashing detail that ordinary rain never tests. The leak that only shows up in a storm is almost always a flashing detail, not the glass.
On the roof itself the numbers are the published ones. A replacement on a sound curb is $2,287 installed with the $1,760 standard replacement labor inside it. A new opening cut, framed, flashed and finished on the inside is $3,850. A roof window in a slope is $1,004 installed and a solar venting unit is $2,100, which on a high roof nobody wants to climb is usually the right answer because it opens on a remote and closes itself on a rain sensor.
Large custom units, long spans and walkable or structural glass are quoted on the drawing and the measurement rather than off a list, because at that size the glass is made for the opening. Those we price once we have the sizes in hand. We do not put a number on a custom unit before we have measured it, on this hill or anywhere else.
Leaking skylight in Todt Hill? Start with a professional assessment from New York's original skylight specialists. Skylights are all we have done since 2005: licensed and insured (LIC# 2084179), VELUX Trained & Approved, an official VELUX dealer, 4.9 stars on Google, and a 10-Year No Leak Warranty on every unit we install. Roofers and handymen do skylights on the side; we are the specialists the roofers call. Water dripping from the skylight, a stain on the ceiling under it, a drip that only shows up in a heavy rain: none of that tells you what actually failed. We come out, find the real cause, and give you a straight answer and a price for the right fix, which is usually a new unit. Active leaks go to the front of the schedule. Read more about skylight repair on Staten Island.
Yes. The staging goes up once and the crew comes once, and that saving shows as a multiple unit credit on the face of the proposal rather than being kept quiet. It is conditional on the units being done in one visit. If they get split into separate installs or separate hoisting days the credit comes off and the work is repriced, and the proposal says so.
It means the problem is almost certainly a flashing detail rather than the glass. Wind driven rain is pushed sideways and upward into laps that normal rain runs straight over, and an exposed hilltop roof gets tested that way several times a year. We look for where water is being driven in rather than where it is dripping out.
It does, and we would rather move a date than open a roof in a gust with glass on it. Published gusts over about twenty miles an hour are enough to make a panel unmanageable on an exposed roof. We watch the forecast for the site rather than for the city and we tell you honestly the day before if it needs moving.
Off the measurement and the drawing, not off a list, because at that size the glass is made for the opening. We take the sizes, get the unit priced, and give you a number we can stand behind. We will not put a figure on a custom unit before it has been measured, which is the only honest way to do it.
Walkable and structural glass is a real product and we install it, but it is engineered for the opening and the load rather than picked from a range, so it is quoted on the drawing. It also wants a frank conversation about what it will be walked on with and how often, because that is what drives the specification.
Not at the join if it can be avoided, because that is where water concentrates and where any flashing detail works hardest. Usually there is a better position a few feet away that lights the same room just as well. That is the kind of thing worth settling on the roof at the assessment rather than on paper.
St. George · Tottenville · Great Kills · New Dorp
We cover every part of the borough. See skylights on Staten Island, our published prices, or NYC permits and landmark rules. Serving 10304 and 10306.