Roof Inspection Exeter
For Buyers and Sellers
Inspection work timed around a transaction: before you offer, before you list, or when a survey has already flagged something that needs a closer look.
Property transactions run to dates, and a roof inspection either fits inside those dates or it becomes the reason a deadline slips. This covers the three points in a transaction where an inspection usually gets booked: before an offer goes in, before a property goes on the market, and after a homebuyer or building survey has already raised a question the surveyor could not answer from the ground.
The same seven area inspection runs underneath all three. What changes is the pace it runs at, who the report gets written for, and which questions it needs to answer first.
What is included
- Turnaround built around your exchange or listing date, not a general queue
- A written report addressed so it can go straight to a solicitor, agent or surveyor
- Coverage of anything a homebuyer or building survey flagged but could not reach
- Dated, photographed evidence to support a renegotiation if one is needed
- Outbuildings, garages and extensions covered on the same visit where relevant
- A plain answer where the roof turns out to be sound, not just where it is not
Before you offer
A homebuyer report will look at a roof from the ground, note that it could not be fully inspected, and recommend further investigation. That sentence has cost buyers money over the years, because it lands at exactly the point nobody wants to slow a purchase down.
An inspection booked between offer and exchange answers it properly, usually within a few days of the seller agreeing. You find out what is actually on the roof before you are committed, for a cost that is a rounding error against the price of the house.
Before you list
Selling a property with an unknown roof invites exactly the query that slows a sale down at the worst possible moment, when a buyer's own surveyor raises it during their conveyancing. An inspection booked before a property goes to market puts a dated report in the file, ready to answer the question before it gets asked.
Where something clearly needs attention, knowing about it in advance is a negotiating position rather than a surprise on somebody else's timetable. Where the roof turns out to be sound, that is worth having on record too.
Survey follow up
A building survey or a homebuyer report that flags a roof as needing further investigation is usually working from binoculars at ground level. That is a reasonable limit for that kind of report, and it is exactly the gap this inspection is built to close.
The report is written to sit alongside the original survey, addressing the specific area that was flagged as well as the other six, so a surveyor or a solicitor is working from a complete answer rather than a partial one.
On the day
How a buyers and sellers runs
- Step 1
Get permission
For a pre-purchase inspection, the seller or the agent needs to agree to the visit. A short note explaining what is involved is provided if it helps that conversation.
- Step 2
Book to the date
Tell us the exchange date, listing date, or the date the follow up query needs answering by, and the visit is fitted around it and around the weather.
- Step 3
The inspection
The same seven area check, with particular attention on anything a homebuyer report, a building survey or an agent has already flagged and could not reach.
- Step 4
The report
Within 48 hours, addressed and written so it can be forwarded straight to a solicitor, a surveyor or an agent without needing translation first.
Behind the work
Kit, cover and qualifications
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.
Buyers and Sellers
For Buyers and Sellers questions
- Will the seller actually agree to a pre-purchase inspection?
- Most do, because the alternative is a buyer who stays uncertain. It helps that nothing touches the building, there is no scaffolding or ladder involved, and the whole visit is under an hour.
- Does this replace the homebuyer report or building survey?
- No. It covers the roof in the detail a ground level report usually cannot reach, and sits alongside it. Where the two disagree, the photographs are there to settle it.
- How quickly can a pre-exchange inspection happen?
- Usually within a few days of the seller agreeing, weather permitting. Say what the exchange date is when you enquire and the visit gets prioritised against it.
Where
For Buyers and Sellers across the South West
Also on this site
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.