Skylight quotes come in with an unusually wide spread, and the sources disagree more than they do for almost any other renovation. HomeGuide puts the 2026 average at about $2,900; Angi says $1,919; This Old House says $1,800; Fixr says $1,523. They are not contradicting each other so much as quietly measuring different jobs. The single biggest question behind that spread is whether anyone has to cut a new hole in your roof.
Replacement versus a new opening
| Job | Cost (HomeGuide) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Replacing an existing skylight | $800 – $2,400 | Opening, framing and light shaft already exist. Three to five hours’ work. |
| New skylight, pitched roof | $1,600 – $4,200 | Cutting rafters, framing, new flashing, building a shaft. One to three days. |
| New skylight, flat roof | $2,100 – $4,800 | Curb construction and different flashing detail. |
| Tubular skylight (sun tunnel) | $500 – $1,000 | Fits between rafters, so no structural work. Light, not a view. |
HomeGuide’s full range runs from $500 at the low end to $5,700 at the high end. The flat-roof premium is the one differential any major source actually publishes; claims that tile or metal roofs cost a specific amount more come from individual contractors, not national data.
The type you choose changes the bill more than the size does
| Type | Unit only | Installed |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed | $150 – $800 | $1,500 – $4,000 |
| Manual-crank venting | $300 – $1,200 | $1,600 – $3,900 |
| Electric venting | $1,100 – $1,600 | $2,500 – $4,600 |
| Solar-powered venting | $1,100 – $2,000 | $2,400 – $4,700 |
| Tubular | $150 – $500 | $500 – $1,000 |
All figures from HomeGuide. Note that going from a fixed unit to an electric venting one roughly triples the hardware cost while adding only around a thousand dollars to the installed price — the labour is much the same either way. Upgraded glazing adds $100 to $250 per window. Beyond that, no major cost guide publishes a price for triple glazing, low-E coatings or laminated versus tempered glass, so we are not going to invent one.
On brands, HomeGuide puts VELUX units at $150–$2,000, Fakro at $220–$3,500, Sun-Tek at $30–$475 and Solatube at $140–$500.
The light shaft, and when framing gets expensive
If your ceiling is not directly under the roof deck, a light shaft is a separate trade that quotes routinely bury. Angi prices the pieces: carpentry $300–$800, drywall and painting $200–$600, demolition and prep $200–$700. On a two-storey house with a loft above the room, that is how a “$1,900 skylight” becomes a $3,500 one.
Then there is the structure. Under the IRC, a roof opening is framed with header and trimmer joists, and once the header spans more than four feet both the header and the trimmers must be doubled. That is the practical line between a skylight that fits in one rafter bay and one that does not — and the reason a wider unit costs disproportionately more. If your roof is built with engineered trusses rather than rafters, the code prohibits cutting or altering truss members without sign-off from a registered design professional, so an engineer stops being optional.
Budget for that: Angi puts a structural engineer’s assessment at $300–$800, permits at $50–$400 and inspections at $100–$250. HomeGuide quotes engineers by the hour at $100–$500 and permits at $100–$500.
The leak question, answered properly
“Skylights leak” is the folk wisdom, and you will find plenty of articles asserting that some precise percentage of leaks come from flashing rather than the glass. We went looking for a source for that figure and could not find one — no trade association, no manufacturer, no major cost guide publishes it. So we are not going to repeat it.
What is verifiable is far more useful anyway. Both VELUX and FAKRO offer a ten-year installation warranty that covers the skylight and its flashing against leaks — product and labour. That warranty exists because flashing is where the risk lives, and it is separate from the product warranty. VELUX also runs a tiered 20/10/5-year product warranty and ten years on hail breakage; FAKRO gives ten years on the frame, sash and flashings, ten on the glass seal, twenty on laminated glass against hail — but only two years on electrical components, which is short if you are buying an electric or solar unit.
So the question to ask a contractor is not “do these leak?” but “are you using the manufacturer’s flashing kit for my roof covering, and does that qualify me for the ten-year installation warranty?” If the answer wanders, get another quote.
Both federal tax credits are gone — including for solar units
This is the most important thing on the page if you are budgeting, because plenty of guides still get it wrong twice over.
The 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit ended for property placed in service after 31 December 2025, under section 70505 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The statute is blunt: the section “shall not apply with respect to any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.”
Less widely reported: the 25D Residential Clean Energy Credit — the one solar-powered skylights were sold under — also ended, via section 70506, and it uses a different test. It does not apply to expenditures made after 31 December 2025. So the timing that saves you under one rule does not save you under the other.
And there is a twist worth knowing before a salesperson tells you otherwise. VELUX withdrew its own 25D certification. Its federal tax credit page states plainly that after reviewing US tax law, it is “unable to certify that any solar powered skylight, accessory or related installation cost qualify under the Residential Clean Energy Credit 25(D).” That was the manufacturer’s position even before the statutory sunset.
We also went looking for state or utility rebates that might fill the gap for solar-powered skylights in 2026 and could not find a single programme that names skylights or tubular daylighting devices. That is not proof none exists anywhere, but treat any claimed rebate as something to verify with the utility directly, in writing, before it goes in your budget.
Will it raise your cooling bill?
Yes, and also no, and the Department of Energy is the only source here worth quoting. Because skylights sit on the roof, DOE says they “can result in unwanted additional heat in summer and loss of heat from the inside of the home in the winter.” South-facing units offer the best winter passive solar gain of any glazing position and the worst summer gain.
DOE gives direction but no magnitude — there is no credible published figure for how much a skylight adds to an air-conditioning bill, so anyone quoting one is guessing. What DOE does give you is a sizing rule worth following: a skylight should be no more than 5% of floor area in a room that already has many windows, and no more than 15% in a room with few. Oversizing is where the summer heat problem actually comes from.
How long will it last?
The sources genuinely disagree, and we are not going to split the difference to give you a tidier answer. HomeGuide says 15 to 40 years and suggests replacing at 30 to stay current with code. This Old House says 8 to 20. Acrylic and polycarbonate units carry much shorter warranties — one to five years — than glass, which is typically ten to twenty.
Repairs, if you are weighing them against replacement (HomeGuide): resealing $75–$250, flashing repair $150–$500, glass replacement $150–$600, leak repair $225–$800, motor replacement $350–$700, dome replacement $350–$900. Once you are past about $800 on an older unit, full replacement at $800–$2,400 starts to look better — and it takes hours rather than days.
Does it add resale value?
Skylights are not in the Remodeling Cost vs. Value report — we checked the full 2025 project list and neither skylights nor chimneys appear among the 28 projects covered. So there is no reliable recouped-cost percentage to give you, and we are not going to invent one. The nearest tracked analogue is asphalt roofing at 68%, which is a different job.
What is defensible without a number: daylight in a dark room, hallway or bathroom is one of the cheapest perceived-quality upgrades available at this price point, and it photographs well. That is a real benefit. It is just not a statistic.
Working out your own number
- Start with replacement ($800–$2,400) or new opening ($1,600–$4,200, or $2,100–$4,800 flat).
- If your ceiling is not the roof deck, add the shaft: carpentry, drywall and demolition, $700–$2,100 together.
- Wider than one rafter bay, or a truss roof? Add an engineer at $300–$800 and expect doubled framing.
- Add permits, somewhere between $50 and $500 depending who you ask and where you live.
- Assume no tax credit. Both federal routes closed at the end of 2025.
Figures sourced from HomeGuide, Angi, This Old House and Fixr’s 2026 cost guides, the Department of Energy, and the manufacturers’ published warranties. Tax positions are from the statute at 26 U.S.C. §25C and §25D as amended by Public Law 119-21. Where sources disagree we have shown the disagreement rather than averaging it away.