Devon · EX13
Drone surveys in Axminster, flown by the surveyor who writes them
About fifty minutes from Exeter. A hilltop town near the Dorset border, open to wind from every quarter, with large span former industrial roofs.
On the hill above the Axe
Axminster is roughly fifty minutes from Exeter, at the eastern edge of the coverage close to the Dorset border. The town sits on a hilltop above the Axe valley with the land dropping away to the river on three sides.
A hilltop position leaves the town open to wind from every quarter, which is unusual. Most exposed places in Devon are exposed in one particular direction and detailed accordingly. Here there is no sheltered side, so ridge and verge details take a beating from whichever way the weather happens to arrive.
Exposure without a prevailing direction
Wind from every quarter changes what a survey looks for. On a coastal town you concentrate on the seaward elevations. Here the whole roof is a windward roof at some point in the year, so the inspection has to be even rather than weighted, and the report has to cover all four sides in the same detail.
The Axe valley below funnels damp air upward as well, so the town gets exposure and moisture together. Ridge lines, verges, hip tiles and any mortar bedded detail are the recurring findings, and they are worth photographing on every elevation rather than only on the one that faces the prevailing wind.
Coverings are natural slate, clay plain tile and concrete tile through the housing, with the older centre around the Minster church and Trinity Square carrying the historic stock.
Former industry and its roofs
The former mill and carpet factory buildings are a distinctive part of the town and they carry large span metal and asbestos cement roofs. Those are a category that repays aerial inspection more than almost anything else, and for a specific reason: nobody should be walking on them.
Asbestos cement sheeting is fragile, it becomes more fragile with age, and it is a well known cause of falls through roofs. Inspecting one from the air rather than from on top of it removes the risk entirely, and the imagery answers the questions that matter: which sheets have cracked, where the fixings have corroded, whether the ridge and the gutters are sound, and whether the rooflights have gone.
A report on a roof like that is also a document somebody will use to plan work under a proper management regime, so precision about location and extent is worth more than a general condition grade.
The eastern edge
Axminster is the far eastern end of the regular coverage and it sits close to Chard, Seaton and Lyme Regis, so a trip out here is usually worth combining. The drive is straightforward on the A35.
The Axe valley farmland around the town brings the usual agricultural work: long ranges, corrugated sheet, and the fixings and lap questions that come with them.
Behind the survey
What Axminster clients are actually buying
Registered with the CAA
A registered operator with both an Operator ID and a Flyer ID. The Operator ID is the one that has to be displayed on the aircraft, and it is the number a client or an insurer asks for.
A2 Certificate of Competency
The A2 CofC is the theory and self-practical qualification that sits above the basic Flyer ID test. There is no GVC, which is stated here rather than left out, because it changes how some sites have to be planned.
Insured with Coverdrone
Commercial cover through Coverdrone, one of the specialist drone insurers. A copy of the certificate goes out on request before a booking, not after it.
DJI Mavic 4 Pro
The main survey aircraft. A 100 megapixel Hasselblad camera and 6K video, which is what lets a photograph of a ridge from twenty metres away still show an open mortar joint.
DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced
The thermal aircraft. A 640 by 512 radiometric thermal camera alongside the visual one, so a heat pattern can be read against the picture of the same elevation.
Construction background
The surveying came after years of contracting, so the report is written by somebody who has stood on the scaffold as well as flown over it, and who knows which faults matter and which are cosmetic.
Written report within 48 hours
A process commitment, not a sales promise. The flight is the short part of the job; the report is where the time goes, and it lands within two days of the visit.
No scaffolding, no ladders
Nothing leans on the building and nobody goes up it. That removes the access cost, the permit paperwork and the working-at-height risk from the survey itself.
Nearby
Also covered around Axminster
See the credentials
Talk to a surveyor in Axminster
Send the address and what is worrying you. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price and the next slot that suits the weather.