Aerial Drone Roof Inspections based in Gloucester

Certified Drone Pilot specialises in drone photography and aerial drone roof inspections using UAV drones. We are based in Gloucester and we work with chartered surveyors, builders, property owners, and consultants to provide an in-depth oversight of the condition of roofing. Some of our projects include large commercial buildings, factories, residential homes, hotels, listed buildings, retail parks, industrial sites, wind turbine blades and even solar farms.

What sets us apart is our passion for the work and our ability to provide the best data for the project. In pursuit of gathering the best imagery for a roof inspection, we have invested in the latest drones that utilise high-resolution and thermal imaging.

We are a small outfit, CAA approved with a good eye for spotting those hard to spot problems within your roof. With our drone, we can gather infrared thermal images, and high resolution 40-megapixel images of loose or missing roof tiles, guttering, flashing, valley, ridges and roof planes.

Working alongside surveyors has helped us develop a keen eye for inspecting and finding small faults in a roof. UAV drone cameras have advanced so much that we can see a slightly loose roof tile, water damage under tiles using thermal imaging, and even faulty inverters on the underside of a solar panel.

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance with Aerial Drone Roof Inspections

Pre-flight safety assessment

Flying a drone over a roof isn’t a simple procedure as some of you may think. There are regulations to flying a UAV drone, and flying it safely is a priority. We have to perform a pre-site flight safety assessment to ensure the weather is good for flight, meteorology and the atmospheric conditions, the airspace to see if the airspace is clear for flight, and that there are no hazards nearby such as high-intensity radio-frequency transmission areas (HIRTA) which could cause interference with the GPS module in the drone.

We are also required to use Google Maps, Google Streets and various ordinance survey maps to research the area to check for any hazards, nearby schools, the nearest airports and the nearest emergency services for our documentation.

On-site safety assessment

Once we are onsite, we assess pathways, obstructions, nearby pylons, telecom cables and any other potential hazards which could pose a safety risk. Once we have conducted the onsite assessment, it is safe for us to find a suitable take-off location and to perform the aerial drone inspection.

Our CAA flight planning and risk assessment will be done prior to our arrival on-site, to ensure strict safety procedures and the safety of the public at the flight location. It only takes around 15-20 minutes to set up the drone on-site for flight.

This rapid deployment will minimise any potential disruption to residents or staff, with no damage to property or surroundings.

Aerial Roof Inspection Flight Procedure

Once we have the drone in the air we’ll begin with a single top-down view image of the whole building. This is what we’ll make our map image with, so you can refer back to which images belong where when reviewing the images afterwards.

We start with the roof plane itself and attempt to see any faults with the tiles, and then we start to move into the valleys of the roof, the ridge and roof hips in order. Once we have these images, we’ll move over to thermal imaging and go in for a closer look to see any roofing issues which aren’t visible in the RGB light spectrum.

Aerial Roof Inspection Flight Results

We deliver on the same day of the drone flight, so we can retain our reputation of rapid response in detecting and mapping out roofing problems. This way you can repair the roof quickly using the data gathered by Certified Drone Pilot.

Using the map image, you’ll be able to determine which parts of the roof are in need of maintenance. Obvious signs of roofing issues are usually taken individually and closer for maximum detail as these are flagged images that need immediate attention.

Thermal images provide information that can’t be seen in visible light. With our FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) thermal drone we can detect and inspect loose or broken tiles, water under the roof, leakages and water damage in the roof along with Solar panel hot spots, manufacturing defects, cracks, faulty inter-connectors, defective bypass diodes and temporary shadowing.

Pricing for a single visit is on our pricing page. Contact us to discuss pricing for multisite regular contract aerial inspections, as part of any scheduled and preventative maintenance program.