A drone has made roof inspection cheap for the first time. Photographing a ridge, a valley or a chimney used to mean a tower, a scaffold or a rope, and the cost of getting a camera up there was most of the cost of finding out what was wrong. A roof drone survey does the external half of an inspection in twenty minutes, which is why it is now the sensible first step before spending on a repair.
What drone roof inspection services actually deliver
High resolution photographs of every external surface, including the ridge line, the hips, the valleys, the chimney stack and its flashings, the verges and the state of the covering across each slope. Video where movement helps. On some jobs a thermal pass, which can show where a flat roof's insulation is wet, although it needs the right conditions and an operator who will tell you when they are not present. The output is a set of dated images and a report, and the images are what you can show a contractor or an insurer.
What it cannot do
It cannot lift a tile, sound a slate to hear whether it is delaminating, tug a fixing to see if it has corroded, or look at the underside of anything. It cannot open the loft hatch. Those are the tests that distinguish a roof that looks tired from one that is failing, so a drone survey narrows the question rather than answering it, and a report that draws firm conclusions about fixings from photographs is overreaching.
Problems found in a drone roof survey
The findings that come up again and again are the ones that are hard to see from the ground. Slipped, cracked or missing tiles and slates. Ridge and hip tiles whose mortar has cracked or washed out. Lead flashings that have lifted or split at a chimney or an abutment. Valleys and gutters full of moss and debris. Chimney stacks with eroded pointing or a leaning pot. Each is photographed where it is, so a roofer can price the repair without first paying to get up and look.
A flat roof drone survey
A flat roof is where the overhead view earns most, because nothing on it can be seen from the garden. The photographs show ponding where the falls have gone, splits and blisters in felt, lifted edges on a rubber sheet, cracking in fibreglass, and blocked outlets. A thermal pass in the right conditions can show where water has got into the insulation under the covering, which is the difference between patching a split and replacing the deck. It still cannot tell you how soft the deck is underfoot.
Booking a roof survey near me: who is allowed to fly it, and where
Commercial drone flying in the UK is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority, and an operator working for payment needs the appropriate operator registration and flyer competency, with additional authorisation for closer flying in built up areas. This matters to you as a customer because an uninsured or unauthorised flight over your street is your problem as well as theirs. Ask for the operator ID and the insurance before booking, exactly as you would ask a roofer for public liability.
Questions people ask about drone roof survey
How much does a drone roof survey cost?
Aircam Drone says a drone roof inspection on a typical 2 to 4 bedroom house with a pitched roof generally costs from £195 plus VAT. Vidda Drones starts photo only inspections from £150 and surveys with a written report from £300. Impact Aerial gives £250 to £750 for a professional survey. The price follows the size of the roof and whether you want a report or just the images.
Is a drone survey cheaper than scaffolding?
Far cheaper, which is the point. The comparison is not really price for price, it is that a drone makes an inspection worth doing at all on a roof where nobody would have paid to erect access just to look.
Can a drone survey be used for an insurance claim?
Dated photographs of damage are among the most useful things you can give an insurer, particularly where the argument is whether damage came from a storm or from wear. Ask the operator to supply the original images with their timestamps.
Will a drone survey work in bad weather?
No. Wind and rain both ground it, and a thermal pass needs particular conditions. An operator who flies anyway in a gale is telling you something about how they work.