What does a sunlight study cost in 2026? A price comparison

What does a sunlight study cost in the Netherlands?

A sunlight study in the Netherlands costs between €29 and €5,000 per report. The price is set by the provider: a self-service tool runs the analysis in minutes, a small building-advice firm reckons 5 to 10 working days, a large engineering firm delivers in 1 to 3 weeks with a sworn expert. All four price brackets use the same public government data — 3DBAG, BAG and AHN4 — and the same TNO standard.

The difference lies in who prepares the report, how quickly you receive it, and to what extent a human expert is involved. Below is an honest comparison of the four segments, with the prices that were common at the well-known Dutch providers in April 2026.

The table makes one thing immediately clear: the final legal quality scales more slowly than the price. According to the Council of State (Almelo, 18 January 2023, ECLI:NL:RVS:2023:172), TNO standards based on the same data that all four segments use are “not unusual” to apply. What a more expensive firm adds is primarily human interpretation, a cover letter and a possible appearance as an expert witness — not the underlying calculation.

Self-service tools: €29 to €99 per report

Self-service tools deliver a sunlight report without human intervention, in minutes. Schaduwplan costs €29.95 per report and uses 3DBAG, BAG and AHN4 directly from the browser. ZonScenario charges €39 as an introductory price (rising to €99) for a month of unlimited access including PDF export. Zonnegrens offers no report but consumer access from €2.49 per 90 days. The advantages are speed, cost-free iteration and reproducibility.

What you miss compared with a firm: human commentary, a cover letter and the option to have a sworn expert appear as an expert witness. For the objection phase of an environmental permit — where the examining magistrate assesses only the case file — that rarely matters. The same holds for civil proceedings at the District Court of The Hague, as the ruling of 17 January 2024 (ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2024:1206) showed: what proved decisive was that the report explicitly tested against the TNO standard and cited public data sources.

Who self-service works for: concerned neighbours within the six-week window, proactive homeowners who want to see up front whether their design poses a risk, and architects who run several variants in an early design phase before ordering a formal report.

Independent building-advice firms: €295 to €535

Independent building-advice firms deliver a report prepared by a human, with an explanatory foreword and the option to contact the adviser directly. HoeveelZon starts at €295, SchaduwSimulator at €310, Zonnestudie between €330 and €350, and HBA (Handel Bouwadvies) charges €400 to €535 depending on the complexity of the project. Turnaround: 5 to 10 working days.

What you get at this price point: a PDF report that often already meets local guidelines (such as that of Krimpen aan den IJssel), an adviser who answers questions by phone or email, and at some firms a template for a covering letter to accompany your notice of objection or permit application. The legal status is equivalent to a self-service report. The difference for the judge or the municipality lies in the signature of a professional, which lowers the threshold in official procedures.

Where it pinches is iteration. Every firm works from the building drawings you supply. If you want to lower the roof height by 20 centimetres to see whether you then stay within The Hague 50% rule, that is in almost all cases a new study with a corresponding extra charge. For anyone having a single final design assessed, this segment is usually the best balance between price and quality.

Large engineering firms: €500 to €5,000

Large engineering firms such as DGMR, Peutz and Nieman Raadgevende Ingenieurs charge €500 to €5,000 per sunlight study. The price varies strongly with complexity: a stand-alone roof addition sits at the bottom, an area development with dozens of volumes and aesthetic-quality requirements at the top. Turnaround: 1 to 3 weeks.

What you get for this investment: analysis by a senior building physicist or sunlight specialist, extensive scenario variants, an explicit assessment against both the TNO standard and the local guideline, and — if the project goes to appeal or higher appeal — the option to have the author appear as an expert witness before the administrative court or the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State. The latter is, for example, what tipped an Amsterdam Nieuw-West case (2023) about roof additions.

For most homeowners this segment is overkill. The Council of State ruled in Ootmarsum (3 July 2013, ECLI:NL:RVS:2013:191) that the absence of a sunlight study can annul a plan — but an existing, well-substantiated study does not have to come from a large firm to fulfil that same role. Large firms are functionally necessary for high-rise visions, inner cities with a historic sunlight record, and projects where the zoning plan requires “maximum planning possibilities” as the baseline.

Which price point fits your situation?

The pricing question does not hinge on the report, but on the risk that the case ends up in appeal or higher appeal. That is why, where the risk is limited, it is advisable to start small and escalate only if it proves necessary. Below are four common scenarios with a suitable price bracket.

• Concerned neighbour, six-week window running. Start with self-service (€29 to €99). The objection phase calls for a case file, not a hearing. Escalate to a firm only if your objection is declared unfounded and you go to appeal before the court.
• Proactive homeowner, preparing a permit. Self-service (€29.95) for the design phase and iteration, a small firm (€295 to €535) for the final report you attach to the application. Total: around €325 with several design variants tested.
• Architect with a residential project. Self-service for preview and client presentation, a small firm for the official permit annex. The architect saves one to three iterative firm reports and keeps client budget free for other advice.
• Complex high-rise project or historic inner city. A large engineering firm straight away (€500 to €5,000). Self-service remains useful for interim design choices, but the final report with an expert witness justifies the investment.

Hidden costs: legal aid and excess

The list price is not always the net price. Many Dutch homeowners hold home legal expenses insurance with providers such as DAS, Achmea or Univé. In disputes about building permits and neighbour law, these insurers in many cases reimburse the cost of a sunlight study, provided the report contributes substantively to the case and has been agreed in advance. Zonnestudie mentions this explicitly as a service.

That changes the calculus. A €350 report that is fully reimbursed is effectively free, whereas a €29.95 report via Schaduwplan usually falls within the excess and is therefore not claimable. For low-threshold research questions self-service is still faster; for formal procedures with fully covering insurance, the firm report at no extra cost is a reasonable choice.

Note the following: always request written confirmation of cover from your insurer before ordering, with an explicit reference to the policy clause. Insurers sometimes maintain a preferred list of firms. Schaduwplan and ZonScenario are not (yet) on it; HoeveelZon, HBA and SchaduwSimulator are.

How Schaduwplan fits into this price spectrum

Schaduwplan positions itself in the self-service segment at €29.95 per report, with no subscription. The tool automatically builds a 3D scene based on 3DBAG, BAG and AHN4 — the same sources that both HoeveelZon and DGMR use. The report contains the standard elements that officials and judges expect: a north arrow, a scale bar, TNO testing per measurement point, a methodology appendix with source references, and a disclaimer about the indicative status.

In practice you use Schaduwplan in three ways. As a starting point to gauge for yourself whether the sunlight loss is material before you decide to bring in a firm. As a final report for objection phases and civil neighbour-law cases where the cost-benefit balance makes a more expensive route hard to justify. Or as an iteration tool alongside a firm: run the variants in Schaduwplan, then take the final design to HBA or Peutz for the official annex. In all three cases €29.95 is a fraction of the alternatives, with the same data underneath.