Start to finish
What happens between the first call and the report
On the day
The sequence
- Step 1
You describe the building
Address, what is worrying you, and anything you already know about the roof or the elevation in question. A postcode on its own is enough to start, but the more you say, the closer the first answer is to the final one.
- Step 2
The site gets checked before it is quoted
Airspace, what sits next to the property, and whether there is anywhere sensible to take off and land from. Most sites are straightforward. A few are not, and those get flagged at this point rather than on the morning of the visit.
- Step 3
A fixed price and a slot
One figure for the work described, travel included, with the next slot that suits both the diary and the forecast. Nothing is booked against weather that is obviously going to stop it.
- Step 4
Pre-flight checks on site
Aircraft, batteries, propellers, controller link, and a look at what has changed since the desk check. Where the ground has moved or someone has parked where the take off point was going to be, the plan changes on the spot.
- Step 5
The flight
Usually somewhere between twenty minutes and an hour in the air depending on the size of the building. Every elevation and every roof slope is covered systematically, then the detail frames are taken of anything that has shown up.
- Step 6
A word before leaving
If something obvious and urgent has appeared, you hear about it on the day rather than waiting two days for a document. Anything that needs a proper look at the imagery waits for the report.
- Step 7
The reading and the writing
Back at the desk, every frame is gone through at full resolution. This is where most of the job is, and it is what separates a set of photographs from a survey.
- Step 8
The report lands
Within 48 hours of the flight, by email, with the full resolution files. Yours to forward to whoever needs them.
The report
What the report contains
Summary
One page at the front. What was flown, what condition it is in, and the two or three things that need a decision. Written for the person who will only read this page.
Elevation by elevation
Each face of the building and each roof slope in turn, photographed as a whole and then in detail, so nothing is left out because it was uninteresting.
Defects and observations
Each one against its own photograph, with a note on what it is, whether it is doing harm now, and roughly what putting it right involves.
Thermal frames
Where the job included the thermal camera, the thermal image sits beside the visual image of the same elevation so the pattern can be read against the building.
What could not be seen
Anything obscured by vegetation, standing water, another building or the weather on the day. Stated plainly rather than left as a silence somebody later reads as a clean bill of health.
The original files
Full resolution imagery, not just the compressed versions inside the document, so a roofer or an insurer can zoom into the frame themselves.
About the 48 hours
The written report goes out within 48 hours of the flight. That is a process commitment about how the work is organised rather than a promise about your particular Tuesday: it holds because the diary is kept with writing time in it, not because anyone is working faster than is sensible. If a job is unusually large and the report will take longer, you are told the figure before you book rather than after the deadline passes.
Weather and rules
The rules the flying happens under
Registered with the CAA
An Operator ID for the aircraft and a Flyer ID for the person flying. The Operator ID is displayed on the airframe, and it is the number worth asking any firm for.
A2 Certificate of Competency
Held. It is the qualification above the basic Flyer ID test, covering theory and a declared practical assessment. There is no GVC, and the page on what the permissions mean sets out what that changes.
People who are not part of the job
Flights are planned around anyone who is not involved in the survey and who has not agreed to be there. On tight urban sites that is the single biggest constraint on where the aircraft can go.
Airspace
Checked before the quote, not on the day. Parts of Devon sit under restrictions around airfields and other sensitive sites, and where that affects a job it is raised before anyone commits to a date.
Weather
Wind, rain, low cloud and poor light all stop flights. Rescheduling for weather costs nothing and happens often between October and March. A survey flown in marginal conditions produces imagery not worth reading.
Insurance
Commercial cover with Coverdrone, in force for every job on this site. The certificate goes out on request before the booking.
Before you book
Common questions
- Who actually turns up on the day?
- Sam Hembury. He quotes the job, flies it and writes the report. There is no pool of subcontracted pilots behind this and no office booking somebody else into your slot, which is the whole reason this site exists.
- What qualifications does a drone surveyor need in the UK?
- At a minimum the operator has to be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority, holding an Operator ID for the aircraft and a Flyer ID for the person flying it. Beyond that, an A2 Certificate of Competency is the qualification most commercial operators hold, and a General VLOS Certificate sits above it for work that needs an operational authorisation. Ask which of those a firm holds before you book.
- Do you hold a GVC?
- No. The certificate held here is the A2 CofC. That is set out plainly because it affects how a small number of sites have to be planned, and you are better off knowing before the visit than after it. The page on what the permissions mean explains where the line falls.
- Can I see the insurance certificate before I book?
- Yes, and it is worth asking every firm you speak to. The cover is commercial drone insurance through Coverdrone, and the certificate is sent by email on request rather than produced afterwards if something goes wrong.
- What aircraft do you fly?
- A DJI Mavic 4 Pro with a 100 megapixel Hasselblad camera for the survey work, and a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced with a 640 by 512 radiometric thermal camera when heat or damp is the question. Both are flown by the same person.
- Do you need permission from my neighbours?
- Not their permission as such, but their proximity matters. Flights are planned around people and property that are not under your control, and on tight sites that shapes where the aircraft can be flown from and how close it can get. If a site cannot be flown safely within the rules, you get told that rather than a flight that should not have happened.
- How far will you travel?
- Devon and the wider South West, out of Exeter. Travel is inside the fixed price for the job, so a farm on the Exmoor edge is quoted the same way as a house in Topsham. The areas pages set out roughly what the drive looks like from Exeter to each town.
- What happens if the weather stops the flight?
- It gets rescheduled at no cost. Wind, heavy rain, poor light and airspace restrictions all stop flights, and pushing a survey out in marginal conditions produces photographs that are not worth having. Rescheduling for weather is normal and is not treated as a cancellation.
- What does it cost?
- A fixed price per survey, agreed before the visit once the address and the scope are known. Travel is in it. Any figure discussed before the address is known would be a guess, so the quote comes after you describe the job rather than before.
- Is a drone survey the same as a structural survey?
- No. This records the visible condition of what can be seen from the air on the day, and says what it suggests. It is not a RICS building survey, a structural engineer's report or an insurance assessment. Where something needs opening up or testing by another trade, the report says so instead of guessing.
See the credentials
Talk to a surveyor with Drone Surveyors
Tell us the address and what you need looking at. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price and the next available slot.