How much is a satellite system installation?

Satellite installation is generally a fairly simple thing, find the right place on the building, install the dish and bring the cables in. Obviously there is a bit more do do with it than that but that's the general idea.

We need to factor a few details :

- What is the client viewing and what equipment will we need?

- Where is the best signal area on the building and can we put a dish there?

- Does that dish position look ok on the building and will the weather cause an issue in the future?

- How do we get the cables into the building discretely?

- Is it accessible for future work which may need done?

Can I use my current dish for Freesat?

If you've currently got a dish on the premises, then we should be able to use that. As long as it is in good condition that is! If it's working well then quite often we can use a Sky dish for Freesat, it may need the LNB changed but it should be fairly easy to do. Have a look at our blog to see if it it can help with this. We can also realign it if it's been moved by our lovely Scottish weather. When we do this, we'll check the fixings, cable and connections and make it as secure as possible.

You may find that a dish has been fine for a few years but trees have grown up around it and they're affecting the signal. If this is an issue and you can't trim the trees, we would look to see if we can resite the dish to a more suitable location.

If it's old and rusty we would recommend renewing it though as you don't want us to pop out every few months to fix something on it that isn't working.

A whole new system

This depends on what you want, the location of the dish and how long it will take to install. The price can vary a bit but a standard Freesat or Sky dish installation tends to be around £228 (that's the dish, cable and a universal LNB). That's with a standard 43cm - 60cm dish an coax cable run to a central point.

This tends to be most of our satellite installations and will cover buildings such as terraced, flats, new builds, detached homes etc.

If the dish is to be located on a difficult to reach area, we need to factor in extra time for our installers. This tends to be on properties like Edinburgh New Town properties where building regulations mean that the dish can't be seen from the street or commercial properties where there may be long cable runs. We may need to use a 2 man team or even a cherry picker if it's in a really tricky area.

What type of satellite dish do we use?

We use various installers such as Triax, Inverto or Fracarro and they're available in different sizes and materials. A standard Sky/Freesat dish is often the grey, steel 43cm version that you'll see on most properties. With some properties we will use a 60cm dish to get a better signal. Sometimes we will use a fibreglass dish in places that require it such as at the seaside where the sea air will corrode a normal metal dish. There is also aluminium available too. We also have ones available in cream or light grey if the client wants a bit more of a subtle installation with the colour of the building.

We have larger dishes available for other jobs (ie 65cm, 80cm or 1m). These tend to be for more specialist such as motorised systems or foreign satellite. If you're unsure if you would need something like this, feel free to get in touch and we can discuss it.

Motorised systems & Array systems

We also install arrays, motorised and hybrid satellite systems too, again this can be a fairly standard install but if the system needs a bigger dish (say and 80 or 100cm) then we'll generally need 2 people. A basic cost for that tends to start at £350 but it can vary depending on what is required.

Bear in mind that we're CAI registered installers and have years of experience in the industry so if you're unsure about what you'll need just get in touch and we can discuss it with you. We can also do a site visit and have a look at the property before you commit to a full install.