Drone Inspection Services
One off asset inspection
One roof, elevation, tower or structure looked at properly, photographed close up and written up, because something has happened or somebody has asked.
Most first enquiries are this. A tenant has reported water coming in. An agent has been asked to justify a repair. A lender or a buyer wants to know what condition a roof is in before a deal closes. Something is visible from the ground that nobody can get near enough to identify.
The job is scoped tightly on purpose. One asset, a clear question, and a report that answers it. There is no attempt to sell a survey of the whole estate off the back of a single leaking rooflight.
Where the asset is a structure rather than a building, a lattice mast, a silo, a chimney, a tank or a bridge parapet on private land, the same approach applies. The aircraft gets a camera to the parts of it a person would need a hoist or a climbing team to reach.
What is included
- One named asset inspected in full
- Close range photographs of every elevation or roof plane
- Detail shots of anything found that needs looking at
- A written report within 48 hours with each photograph located
- A plain summary of what was found, in language a non-specialist can act on
- Method statement and risk assessment supplied before the visit
- A fixed price agreed before anyone comes to site
What gets recorded on a commercial roof
On a profiled metal roof: sheet laps and end laps, fixings and washers, coating condition, rooflight sheets and their fixings, ridge and eaves detail, flashings at every upstand and penetration, and the state of any walkway matting.
On a flat roof: the membrane or felt itself, seams and welds, upstands and terminations, ponding and its tide marks, outlets and their guards, the parapet coping, and every plant base and cable run standing on the covering.
On plant and structures: frames and fixings, corrosion at the base and at the joints, missing panels or louvres, cable trays and their supports, and access ladders and their guards where they are visible from the air.
When a thermal camera earns its place
On a flat roof suspected of holding water under the covering, a radiometric thermal camera can show where the wet insulation is, because it holds heat differently to the dry material around it. That is a useful reading in its own right and it saves cutting exploratory holes to find out.
It is not magic and the conditions decide whether it works at all. It needs a temperature difference across the covering, which usually means late in the day after a dry sunny spell, and it will not read anything useful on a wet roof or one in full sun. Where the conditions are not there, we say so rather than produce a picture that looks technical and proves nothing.
On the day
How a one off inspection runs
- Step 1
Tell us the question
An address, the asset, and what you actually need to know. A specific question produces a far more useful report than a general request to have a look at the roof.
- Step 2
Fixed price and a slot
A price for that asset, and a visit date chosen with the weather in mind. If conditions are wrong on the day the visit moves rather than going ahead on a bad forecast.
- Step 3
The visit
Usually under two hours on site for a single asset. A cordon at the take off point, the inspection flown, the area handed back.
- Step 4
The report
Within 48 hours. Photographs, locations, findings and a summary you can forward to whoever needs to price or decide something.
Behind the work
Kit, cover and qualifications
CAA registered
A registered operator with an Operator ID and a Flyer ID held, which is the baseline any commercial client should be asking for and the first thing to check on a quote.
A2 Certificate of Competency
The A2 CofC, not a GVC. That decides how close the aircraft may legally be flown to people and property, so it decides what can be inspected and how, and it is set out plainly rather than buried.
Insured with Coverdrone
Commercial cover through Coverdrone. A certificate can be sent across for a site file or a contractor approval pack before the visit is booked.
Report within 48 hours
Photographs and a written report per asset within 48 hours of the flight, so the file is closed while the visit is still fresh in everyone's mind.
One off inspection
One off asset inspection questions
- Can you fly the same day I call?
- Sometimes, but it is not promised anywhere on this site. Weather, airspace and the diary all have a say. Tell us the deadline you are working to and you will get a straight answer about whether it can be met.
- Our site is near an airport. Is that a problem?
- It is a question rather than a problem. Airspace restrictions around airports, and around some prisons and military sites, are checked before a price is given, and where a permission or a notification is needed that is arranged first. Some locations cannot be flown at all, and you will be told that instead of being sold a visit.
- Do you inspect the inside as well?
- No. This is external inspection from the air. Where an internal look is the sensible next step, the report says so and says why.
Where
One off asset inspection across the South West
Also on this site
See how a visit runs
Request a site quote with Drone Inspection Services
Tell us the site and the assets you need covered. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price, a method statement and a date.