Risk-free working from the ground

In this article, we would like to highlight the advantages of drones for roof inspections. A few years ago, drones were considered an expensive niche product, but today their commercial and industrial use is a matter of course. The advantages of drones are obvious. But what can the drone do for roofers?

• UAVs offer significant improvements in occupational safety
• Carrying out an inspection with a drone saves a lot of time
• UAVs lead to a noticeable cost reduction per inspected roof. Detecting clogged gutters or mossy surfaces, identifying slipped or broken tiles or taking measurements is much faster with a drone
• Roofers, in particular, can use a drone to significantly improve their service quality. The customer is much more likely to receive a tailor-made offer and is informed transparently thanks to precise data. This helps both sides
• In addition, a drone enables many other applications for roofers

The profession of a roofer is associated with all kinds of risks, especially if you have to be on a roof to inspect it. Particularly in older buildings, special and time-consuming safety measures have to be taken in order to secure climbing from roof windows or movement on the roof.

When it comes to the mere inspection and description of the condition of a roof or gutters, movement, and protection on the roof has been a previously necessary evil. UAVs can make a significant contribution to occupational safety and risk prevention. Instead of climbing onto the roof for inspection, it is simply inspected by a drone. A drone with an appropriate high-resolution camera allows easy inspection from the ground. In bad weather or during the cold months of the year, in particular, drones make a significant contribution to occupational safety.

Roof inspection in minutes

For a pure roof or gutter inspection, the time required is often not well proportioned. The installation of ladders, the search for the optimal place for the riser, correct and controlled roping up to slow maneuvering on the roof is time-consuming. All this often only to find out where any damage has occurred and to obtain a result that you can easily generate from the ground. With the help of a drone, you can fly the whole roof in a few minutes. In addition, hard-to-reach areas can be perfectly seen. The images are shown in real time directly on the control display or on a tablet.

Accordingly, the digitally collected data can later be precisely analyzed. By the way, the same applies to the creation of measurements. The data generated by the drone can easily be converted into perfect measurements with the aid of software. This is much faster and more accurate than manual measurement. This includes the exact measurement of roof lengths and areas, roof pitch, dormers, and fume cupboards.

Significant cost savings

In terms of cost, a drone is also unbeatable for a roof inspection. The transport of ladders, risers, safety ropes or even scaffolding is no longer necessary for condition monitoring, but only in cases where damage has to be detected and repaired. Data collection is faster and is fully digital. Difficult to access locations and possible second dates for a full inspection are a thing of the past, as are unclean recordings, which make it difficult to accurately evaluate damaged areas afterwards. Quality, customer loyalty, and new customer acquisition.

The preparation of quotations for measurements and repair work is significantly accelerated and can significantly increase sales for every roofer. In addition, a professional impression and a special relationship of trust is created with the customer if you can offer a higher degree of transparency with the help of the new technologies. The possibility to show your customer directly on site, where possible damages exist and how the general condition of his roof is, can serve a long-term customer connection. In addition, you will be able to accept significantly more orders. Customers no longer have to wait long before they can make use of your service and possibly turn to a competitor.

Quite simply extend your portfolio

With the help of a drone, not only regular roof or gutter inspections can be carried out. With the help of this device, you can easily extend your portfolio. Construction projects can be documented without any problems and their progress over time can be recorded before and after. This is appropriate, for example, for a roof renovation or the installation of a photovoltaic system. It is also possible to use it spontaneously for damage assessment after storms, whereby considerably more roofs can be inspected in large-scale storms. Also conceivable is the preparation of thermographic reports on buildings or crack detection on building facades.

What do I need and what does it cost?

All that is missing is an appropriate drone, preferably one with a high-resolution 4K camera. Such devices often weigh less than 2 kg and are available at prices around 1.000 €. Of course, there are hardly any upper price limits. Before you buy a drone, make sure that it is only a tool. The right and necessary sensor technology for the intended use should be the focus of the selection.

If you decide for a device with a take-off mass of more than 2 kg, a proof of knowledge for the operation of the drone is necessary. This costs about 300 €, whereby also here the prices vary upward and downward. In addition, you will need commercial insurance for the use of the drone, which only costs about 10 to 15 € per month.

If the roof is not only to be inspected but also measured, you need software that deduces the corresponding data from the pictures. Photogrammetry software for surveying and creating 3D views is partly available in free versions. Professional applications are available from about 70 € per month.

Legal framework simply solved

So far, many users are still unsure whether they should use a drone, as it is associated with some legal requirements. However, not using a drone for this reason alone and not taking advantage of the advantages mentioned above would be the wrong conclusion to draw. With suitable software, you can plan your roof inspections in advance on a digital map in just a few minutes, view the relevant requirements and obtain the relevant approval from the relevant authorities. This ensures that you are always on the safe side and can very easily benefit from the advantages of a drone.

Individual checklists make your ascent easier, so you don’t have to become an aviation professional every time you plan a flight. Map2Fly_Pro shows you which requirements you have to meet. You only check off what you already have and know which requirements you may still have to fulfill. Another advantage of a simple software solution is the management of all your projects. How do you keep track of your projects so far? With solutions like Map2Fly_Pro you can not only create and manage your projects, you can also upload all your inspection data.

Ideally, you can also access it from anywhere. A customer asks you about recordings from the past year? No problem, your data is stored in a cloud within Germany in compliance with data protection regulations and is always available to you. It is now also possible to give your customers direct access to the data. At least to the data you release – and provided you wish to do so.

Try Map2Fly_Pro today without any obligation and save valuable time for your planning.

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The FlyNex Team