Start to finish
An hour on site, a report two days later, and no ladders anywhere
On the day
What happens on the day
- Step 1
The check before the visit
The address gets checked for airspace restrictions and for somewhere lawful to take off and land, before the date is confirmed. Aerodrome zones, restricted airspace and sites with nowhere sensible to launch from all exist, and finding out about them on the morning of the survey helps nobody.
- Step 2
Ten minutes on the ground
A walk round first. Where the downpipes discharge, what the render at ground level is doing, which ceiling the stain is on, and anything the owner has already noticed. It is surprising how often the ground floor tells you where to point the camera.
- Step 3
The flight
A systematic pass round each elevation for the overview frames, then close work on ridges, valleys, abutments and stacks. Half an hour to an hour for a typical house. Longer for a terrace, a block or anything with a lot of roof planes.
- Step 4
The screen check
Before packing up, the imagery gets reviewed on site. If something is unclear or an angle was missed, it gets reflown there and then rather than discovered back at the desk two days later.
- Step 5
The desk work
Images sorted by elevation, defects identified and marked up, and each one written up with a note on how urgent it looks. This is the part that takes the time and it is the part you are actually paying for.
- Step 6
The report lands
Within 48 hours of the flight, by email, with the full resolution originals alongside it. If something in it needs explaining, ring and it gets explained.
The report
What is in the report
Elevation overviews
One clean frame per slope, so the roof can be understood as a whole before anyone starts looking at details.
Marked up detail images
Every item found, photographed close and marked so there is no argument about which slate or which joint is being discussed.
Plain descriptions
What it is, where it is, and what it is likely to lead to. Written in words a homeowner can follow and a roofer will not roll their eyes at.
A view on urgency
Whether something wants doing now, at the next opportunity, or watching. Not a price, because pricing the repair is the roofer's job.
What could not be seen
Anything obscured by vegetation, standing water or an adjoining building is listed as not assessed rather than quietly left out.
The original files
Full resolution images, so whoever quotes the work can zoom in themselves rather than trusting a compressed screenshot.
Why 48 hours
Because that is how long the desk work takes when it is done properly, and because a report that arrives a fortnight later has usually stopped being useful. If a survey is tied to an exchange date or an insurance deadline, say so when you book and it gets scheduled around it.
Weather and rules
The bits that decide whether a flight happens
Wind
Above roughly 20 miles an hour the aircraft is working hard enough that image stability suffers, and gusts around a building are worse than the forecast suggests. A survey flown in marginal wind produces marginal imagery, so it moves instead.
Rain
Water on the lens ruins the frame and water on the roof hides exactly what you are looking for. Damp after rain is workable and often shows up ponding nicely. Actual rain is not.
Light
Bright overcast is the best light there is for this work. Hard low sun throws deep shadow into valleys and behind stacks, which is precisely where the problems live, so timing on a clear winter day matters.
Airspace
Some addresses sit inside a flight restriction zone around an aerodrome or under other restricted airspace. That is checked before booking. Where permission is needed it gets sought, and where a flight cannot happen at all you are told before you have paid anything.
What is underneath
The A2 Certificate of Competency allows closer operation near buildings and uninvolved people than the basic category, which is what makes town centres and terraces workable. It still means thinking about the school playing field next door and the pavement below.
Rescheduling
Moving a survey for weather is normal and costs nothing. It happens most winters and it is better than flying a job that produces imagery nobody can use.
Before you book
Common questions
- How long does a roof survey take on site?
- For a typical house, half an hour to an hour in the air, plus a short walk round first to look at the ground level and work out where to fly from. Larger properties, terraces and blocks take longer because there is more roof and more sides to cover.
- Do I need to be there?
- No. Plenty of surveys are flown for landlords and agents with nobody on site. All that is needed is somewhere lawful to take off and land, and permission to be there. If you want to be present and watch the screen, that is welcome too.
- What if the weather turns?
- The flight moves. Rain on the lens ruins the imagery and strong wind ruins the stability, so a survey flown in bad conditions is not worth having. Rescheduling for weather costs nothing and is treated as normal rather than as a cancellation.
- Can you fly in a terrace or a town centre?
- Usually yes. The A2 Certificate of Competency covers flying closer to buildings and people than the basic category allows, which is what makes tight streets workable. Some sites are restricted by airspace or by what is directly below, and that is checked before the booking is confirmed rather than on the day.
- What do I actually get at the end?
- A written report within 48 hours, with annotated photographs, an overview of each elevation, a list of what was found with a note on how urgent each item looks, and the full resolution images so your roofer can zoom in themselves.
- Is the report enough for an insurance claim?
- It gives an insurer dated, photographed evidence of the condition on the day it was flown, which is usually what they ask for first. It is not a loss adjuster's assessment and does not price the repair, and the report says so rather than implying otherwise.
- Will you tell me what it costs to fix?
- The report describes what was found and how serious it looks. Pricing the repair is the roofer's job, and the photographs are there so they can quote from real evidence rather than from a ladder and a guess.
- How much does a survey cost?
- It is a fixed price per survey, agreed before the visit, based on the address and the size of the roof. Send the address and what you want looking at and you get the figure back rather than a range.
Get it looked at
Book a roof survey with Drone Roof Survey
Tell us the address and what you need looking at. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price and the next available slot.