Who does the looking
A construction background, then a method for checking a roof properly
Why the seven areas, checked in the same order
The background is construction rather than photography, and it changes what a roof inspection is actually for. A tradesperson does not look at a roof for the picture. They look at it because a ridge that is letting go, a valley that has silted up, or a flashing that has lifted a fraction is going to become somebody's problem, and the useful thing is knowing which one, how bad, and how soon.
That comes from Hembury Contracting, a Devon contracting business, where the same request kept coming up: somebody needed to know the actual condition of a roof, not a guess from the pavement. Every existing way of finding out was slow, expensive, or required a ladder against a wall that nobody particularly wanted to lean one against.
The inspection method grew out of that: seven areas, checked in the same order on every property, so the areas that are awkward to reach do not quietly fall off the list because the light was better somewhere else. The drone answers the access question. The order and the write up are what make it an inspection rather than a set of photographs.
Everything is based in Exeter, which puts the city's own districts and a tight ring of towns around it inside easy reach without a long drive eating into the working day.
On the record
Registrations, kit and cover
Seven areas, checked in order
Tiles and slates, ridges and hips, valleys, flashings, chimney stacks, gutters and outlets, and any flat section, checked in the same order on every property where they apply.
CAA registered
Operator ID and Flyer ID held, plus the A2 Certificate of Competency. Every flight is planned to the rules that apply to the site, and the paperwork is available before the visit if a solicitor, agent or insurer needs it.
100 megapixel camera
A DJI Mavic 4 Pro with a Hasselblad camera and 6K video. The resolution is what lets the inspection stand off the building at a safe distance and still show a hairline crack in a single tile.
Insured with Coverdrone
Full commercial cover for the operation. Certificates go to solicitors, agents and insurers as a matter of course, without anyone having to chase for them.
DJI Mavic 4 Pro
100 megapixel Hasselblad camera and 6K video. Resolution enough to hold together on screen when a frame is cropped down to a single ridge tile or one length of flashing.
DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced
640 by 512 radiometric thermal camera alongside the visual one, used where a flat roof or a chimney abutment needs checking for trapped moisture rather than just photographing.
How we work
Three things this inspection will not do
Skip an area because it was hard to reach
All seven areas are checked on every visit where they apply. A hard to reach valley or an awkward flat roof section does not get quietly dropped from the report because the angle was difficult.
Report a guess as a finding
Where something cannot be assessed from the outside, such as the state of a rafter under a sound covering, the report says so rather than implying it was checked when it was not.
Fly in conditions that would not produce a usable inspection
Wrong wind, wrong light, wrong airspace, and the visit moves. An inspection carried out in poor conditions produces imagery nobody can actually make a decision from, and charging for that would be worse than rescheduling it.
See what's checked
Book an inspection with Roof Inspection Exeter
Tell us the address and what you need looking at. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price and the next available slot.