How to select the best flat roof skylight supplier

Here, we are going to take a look at the main questions you should be asking anyone you’re considering doing business with.

How involved are you with your own products?

Because the rooflight industry’s fairly specialist, you will normally find that the standout suppliers are heavily involved with both designing and manufacturing their own products. After all, they are specialists by nature. It’s a good idea to check if the company is prepared to let you view their products – and their manufacturing processes – before you place an order.

Can you provide evidence of any performance claims?

Most suppliers in this industry will make claims about performance: this is to be expected, as genuine improved performance is a major selling point for rooflights. However, you should always check if a supplier can provide specific calculations for the product you’re looking at, and not just generic documentation. The more specific information they can provide, the more you can be assured that they know their stuff.

It’s also worth checking if your company offers a quality guarantee and warranty for their materials. For instance, at Sunsquare we offer 20-year glazing guarantees as well as a 35-year warranty on optional upstands purchased to make the rooflight installation process as swift and painless as possible.

What of the U-values of your rooflight?

U-values are fairly standard within the rooflight industry, as they are an effective way of measuring energy performance. As such, all of the products that your supplier sells should have a measurement. The important thing here is to check that the supplier is giving you a U-value for the whole roof, rather than just the glass. This is a requirement of the Building Regulations and not doing so means that the supplier could be giving you a false perception of how well the product will perform.

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How much loading can the glass withstand?

Rooflights vary in the sense of whether they are able to be walked on or not. For instance, a skylight installed on a flat roof with no access will typically measure differently to a unit installed on a terrace. As you can imagine, it’s extremely important your supplier understand the difference and be able to supply details of how much force their glass can handle in both cases. UK guidelines currently require to walk on specification glass to measure at a 2.0kN/m2 uniform distributed load (UDL) and a 1.5kN concentrated load. If your company can’t provide this information, be wary.

Are you Kitemarked?

At Sunsquare we know that the only UK-based rooflight manufacturers that can honestly answer yes to this question is us. We surpassed the BSI’s Kitemark standards, setting a new benchmark for flat roof skylights for air permeability, weather tightness and extreme wind loading. Put simply, if you’re looking for the ultimate stamp of quality, Sunsquare skylights are made to withstand the most rigorous of external elements better than the rest available on the market.

Which quality systems do you have in place?

There is obviously a range of different industry quality systems in place, and meeting them is a legal requirement. However, it’s important to ensure that the company themselves has their own certified quality management processes in place, such as the ISO 14001 standard. If they do, it’s evidence that they are focused on going above and beyond the necessary requirements.

At Sunsquare we recently secured another important accolade that’s widely recognised and in-demand within the UK construction industry: the Contractors’ Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS) accreditation.

It’s a demonstration of our commitment to annual assessments of our procedures to ensure our health and safety management is at the levels our clients demand every single day.

Get in touch

If you’d like to have your skylights installed by an industry-leading company with a real reputation for quality, get in touch with Sunsquare today by calling 01284 846576 or use our simple online enquiry form.