Following on from our previous articles where we explained [what is a roof inspection](/blog/what-is-a-roof-inspection/ "what is a Roof Inspection") and [how drones are useful for roof surveys](/blog/how-are-drones-useful-for-roof-inspections/ "how are drones useful for Roof Surveys"). In this article will explore what you need to look for when choosing a roof inspector by answering the following questions: **Do you want a traditional or drone surveying method for a roof inspection?** And **What do you need to consider when hiring a roof inspector for your business?** Keep reading to make sure you hire the best roof inspector to help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## DO YOU WANT A TRADITIONAL OR DRONE SURVEYING METHOD FOR A ROOF INSPECTION?

There are two ways for you to achieve a roof inspection either by hiring someone who uses a traditional roof surveying method or someone who uses a drone surveying method.

Traditional roof surveying methods have been around for years and usually includes the need of scaffolding to reach the roof, Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWP) to access hard-to-reach areas, and so on. Whereas, the drone survey method, a more modern method, uses commercial drones that can be kitted with various types of equipment such as sensors and high-resolution cameras in order to collect data and conduct a deep report of the roof, eliminating human error in calculations and the need for scaffolding and other resources.

Knowing the differences between drones and traditional surveying methods will help you decide which surveying method best suits your needs and to know what to expect when the roof inspection takes place.

## WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN HIRING A ROOF INSPECTOR FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

Regardless of if you have chosen a traditional method or a drone method to have your roof surveyed, it's extremely important to choose an experienced and legitimate roof inspector. Below we introduce several important points you need to consider when hiring a roof inspector to guarantee you will choose the right one for your business.

### LEGITIMATE COMPANY
One of the most important factors when considering hiring a roof inspector is to make sure they are legitimate. You can verify if the company is legitimate by asking for their business address, business website, tax identification number, phone number, and email address. Also, if you have chosen a drone survey method then ensuring the company has full permission to be operating drones is essential.

### GETTING A QUOTE
Before hiring a roof inspector you should consider getting a quote, quotes should be free as standard to allow you to know the costs of the roof inspection before any work has begun to avoid any unwarranted surprises of additional costs later. Additional costs could be for other services such as: scaffolding arrangement or the removal of debris etc,.

### THE COST OF AN ROOF INSPECTION
Researching the costs of multiple potential roofing inspectors can give you an understanding of how much it will cost to get a roof inspection. Although lower pricing doesn't always necessarily mean that roof inspectors will do the same job as those priced higher.

### THE TIME IT WILL TAKE
A reliable and trustworthy roof inspector will be able to tell you how long the job will take and what will be required in order for the job to get done. If the company cannot give you a specified timeframe or is indecisive then you may want to decide to go elsewhere. It is worthy to note that traditional inspections may take more resources and be more time-consuming compared to inspections conducted using drones.

### GETTING EVERYTHING IN WRITING
You may want to get the full details of the roof inspection in writing to know exactly what you will be receiving. A written document detailing the inspection can include things such as: the start and end times, the length of the job, resources that will be used, payment details, and cleaning methods. Having a signed contract or a detailed written document will therefore give you a thorough understanding of the job in its entirety.

### ACCESS TO THE ROOF
Knowing how the roof inspector will access the roof is essential because this could potentially increase costs and add on more time. For instance, hiring a traditional roof inspector, often, includes the need of scaffolding, meaning a scaffolding company will also need to be contacted to supply the scaffolding before any work begins, hence the additional costs and time on the job. Whereas, hiring a technology company to conduct roof inspections with drones can eliminate the need of scaffolding, as they can work safely from the ground, minimise risks, and cover more ground in less time, saving you money instead of adding it.

### WARRANTY
Another thing to consider is reading the warranty thoroughly to understand the expectations and actions that may void the warranty. This allows you to understand what is covered if anything goes wrong.

We discuss several important factors for you to consider when hiring a roof inspector for you to hire the best company for your business.

What To Consider For Roof Inspections

After your [Roof Inspection](/blog/what-is-a-roof-inspection/ "Roof Inspection") you should have received a [highly detailed and accurate roof geometry report](/blog/roof-inspections-for-insurance/ "highly detailed and accurate roof geometry report"), highlighting the damages of your roof, if any, for you to get them fixed as soon as possible. In this article, we will explore how Machine Learning can support you with your roof repairs by answering the following questions: **How can Machine Learning help with Roof Inspections?** And **How can we track your roof repair progress with Machine Learning?** Keep reading to find how Machine Learning and Roof Inspections can help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## HOW CAN MACHINE LEARNING HELP WITH ROOF INSPECTIONS?

First and foremost, to briefly explain [Machine Learning](/blog/machine-learning-with-drones-and-3d-models "Machine Learning") (ML), it is a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is defined as ***"the study of computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience"*** according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning "Wikipedia"), by which it has the ability to learn from data it's being constantly fed.

ML is commonly used to analyse data to find recurring and common patterns and apply them to new sets of data. And due to its capability of finding common patterns and learning from vast amounts of data, this means ML can forecast and track things such as your roof's energy consumption and performance, repairs, and damages.

## HOW CAN WE TRACK YOUR ROOF REPAIR PROGRESS WITH MACHINE LEARNING?

Regardless of how minor or major the damages on your roof may be, if you are carrying out full roof repairs, you can keep track of the repair progress to detect discrepancies very early on, prevent unnecessary delays, and save you money. Below we provide a list of how we can help you track your roof's repair progress with Machine Learning:

### CONDUCTING REGULAR INSPECTIONS

In order to get the most out of Machine Learning we need to conduct regular and frequent inspections, as the more data we feed to the system, the more accurate and precise the comparison results will be.

### PROVIDING VISUALS OF YOUR ROOF'S REPAIR PROGRESS

By performing repeated Roof Inspections of the same roof over the duration of the project, you will have constantly updated roof reports and combined with our Machine Learning software, we can identify discrepancies by keeping a side-by-side track of the repair's progress, going back and forth between the different scans. This not only provides you with updated reports of the repairs but also visuals so you see for yourself the progress being made.

### CONSTANT UPDATED INFORMATION

As Machine Learning analyses the results from the frequent drone inspections we conduct, comparing your roof's repair progress can save your project vast amounts of money by giving you constantly updated information to spot discrepancies as they occur, preventing unnecessary delays.

Machine Learning and our drone Roof Inspections can help you with keeping track of your progress and provide you with better data to make more informed decisions.

Machine Learning for Roof Inspections

One of the questions that our clients ask us more frequently is about **how can drones be useful for roof inspections?** In this article we are going to look at the different **applications and the advantages of using drones during roof inspections**, how can they dramatically **improve your workflow** and help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**.

## WHY DO YOU NEED A ROOF INSPECTION?

First of all, there are several reasons why you could need a roof inspection:

  - You live in a listed building and want to know if the centuries-old tiles are in tip top shape
  - Your insurance provider is asking for a roof report to attach to your policy
  - There has been damage by severe weather
  - There is a leak and you want to identify its source
  - You want to know how energy efficient your building is and you want to reduce your energy bills

Regardless of the reason, roof inspection reports are always very informative and could save you many thousands of pounds in costly repairs by identifying issues very early on.

## DRONES LOWER THE RISK AND INCREASE SAFETY WHEN DOING ROOF INSPECTIONS

Traditionally roof inspections have been tedious, dangerous and very inconvenient for your clients and their neighbours, taking place over the course of several days, blocking some of the pavement and with your employees working in perilous conditions.

Drones are revolutionising the roof inspection industry and rightly so. One of the main advantages is that **we work safely from the ground**, sending the drone to get the job done, without needing any cumbersome scaffolding or expensive cherry pickers.

To help minimise risks even further, our UAVs have cameras with **30x optical zoom** that can be mounted on the top or the bottom, depending on the mission’s requirements. This allows us to fly further away from dangerous objects, like power lines, and still produce highly detailed results with close-up images of the roof.

## FASTER, MORE EFFICIENT ROOF SURVEY REPORTS PRODUCED BY DRONES

When the traditional roof inspection is completed, you have to rely on your inspectors’ memory and notes, which sometimes could fault, and then spend the next few days trying to piece all this data together, ending up with a somewhat half-decent report.

By using UAVs we produce results much faster, safer, more accurately, and with reduced costs, since no employees have to work at height, you do not have to block the street for days on end and we cover more area than by traditional methods, all while eliminating human error in calculations and producing permanent, irrefutable evidence of the roof’s condition at that precise point in time.

We will give you **high-dynamic-range images** in full resolution as well as **4K high-dynamic-range video** shot at 30 frames per second. The high-dynamic-range images and videos produced by our cameras will deliver **enhanced detail and contrast** across all areas of the roof, especially in the parts where shadows could be more prominent, and therefore eliminating all guesswork.

## DRONES OUTPUT ACCURATE AND DETAILED ROOF GEOMETRY REPORTS

Our fleet of RTK-equipped drones with high-resolution cameras produce thorough roof inspection reports with 99.4% accuracy and are available in different formats, which allow full integration with DXF and CAD, as well as video and photographic evidence. The report includes the full geometry of the roof: slopes, measurements, gradients, etc. We can also measure the tile gauge, letting you know how much the tiles overlap.

## ROOF SURVEYS WITH MACHINE LEARNING OUT OF THE BOX BY USING DRONES

When a roof is severely damaged and requires a full repair, our Machine Learning software will keep track side-by-side of the repair’s progress and identify discrepancies with repeated inspections of the same roof over the duration of the project.

## THERMAL CAMERA FOR ROOF SURVEYS WITH DRONES

Thermal surveys are in high demand nowadays because they can provide much more information that cannot be capture by the naked eye or normal camera sensors.

These thermal reports with drones can help you cut down your energy bills by identifying the areas where your roof is leaking precious heating.

If your roof is leaking water after a heavy downpour, our drone thermal camera can save you a significant amount of money by pinpointing the area that needs fixing and therefore preventing further extensive damage if you get the roof repaired as soon as possible.

Detecting damage on solar panels just visually is very difficult, unless the damage is evident. However, by using our thermal camera we can tell you exactly what panel and where in the panel the damage is located.

We use the best thermal camera in the market. It delivers **high-resolution, blur-free thermal videos and images**. It can be adjusted to specific ranges of temperature, if you need it. This camera has some incredible specifications, with a sensitivity (NEDT) of <50 mk @ f/1.0 and a resolution of 640 x 512 at 30 Hz.

We explain the main advantages and the reasons why you should consider using our drones to improve your upcoming roof inspections.

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