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Midlands Aerial Surveys

Drone Services

Roof Surveys

A complete photographic record of a roof, taken from a safe standoff. Every plane, ridge, valley, gutter run and rooflight, at a resolution that lets you zoom in on a single slipped tile.

Get in touch All drone services

Close aerial view of a slate roof and sash window showing weathering and moss on the tiles

A complete photographic record of a roof, taken from a safe standoff. Every plane, ridge, valley, gutter run and rooflight, at a resolution that lets you zoom in on a single slipped tile.

What it shows


  • Missing, slipped, cracked or delaminating tiles and slates
  • Failed or lifting flashings, soakers and leadwork
  • Blocked, split or sagging gutters and rainwater goods
  • Standing water and ponding on flat and shallow roofs
  • Cracked or displaced ridge and hip tiles, and failed mortar bedding
  • Damaged, cracked or crazed rooflights and glazing bars
  • Slipped or missing valley and abutment detail
  • Vegetation, moss and debris build-up
  • Storm and impact damage
  • Failed fixings, corrosion and rust staining on metal roofs
  • Areas the ground simply cannot see

Save time and money with a drone roof survey — no scaffold, no tower, no waiting.

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Why the roof is the part nobody looks at


Every building has a part of it that only gets inspected once something has already gone wrong, and on almost every building it is the roof. Not because it does not matter — it is the single most expensive element to replace — but because looking at it properly has always meant scaffold, a tower or a rope team.

The result is that most roofs are managed reactively. A stain appears on a ceiling, and the search for the cause starts from the inside, working backwards to a defect that has been developing quietly for a year or more.

An aerial survey inverts that. For less than the cost of putting access up, you get a complete, dated picture of the whole roof — every plane, every junction, every gutter — clear enough to plan maintenance from rather than react to. Fly it again in two years and you can see exactly what has moved.

Rear elevation of a building photographed from the air showing a run of windows and roof condition

What you get


Full-resolution imagery of every roof plane
Close detail of ridges, valleys, flashings, gutters and rooflights
Defect photography indexed to a plan reference
An overhead view of the whole roof in one frame

Save Time And Money With A Drone Roof Survey

Putting scaffold up to look at a roof frequently costs more than the repair that follows. On a tall or awkward building it can be several times the repair, which is why so many roofs are only ever inspected after something has already failed.

A flight costs a fraction of the access and takes about an hour. That changes what is worth doing: a roof can be checked before a problem develops rather than after, and checked again in two years to see what has moved.

A survey typically covers:

  • Every roof plane, ridge, hip and valley
  • Gutters, hoppers and rainwater goods
  • Flashings, soakers and abutment detail
  • Chimney stacks, flaunching and pots
  • Rooflights, vents and rooftop plant
  • Parapets, copings and high-level junctions
Rows of pantile roofs heavily colonised by lichen, seen from above
Aerial view of a long outbuilding with a large single-pitch roof
Flat roof, parapet detail and tiled roof behind, photographed from the air
Brick elevation and soffit detail photographed close up by drone

Nobody Works At Height, And Nothing Is Missed

The traditional way of getting eyes on a roof is to put a person on it. That means a tower, a MEWP or scaffold, a method statement, and somebody accepting the risk of the whole thing.

We fly instead. No work at height, no access equipment and no disruption to the building underneath — and no reason to defer the inspection until it becomes urgent.

It is also a more complete record. Somebody on a roof looks at what they can safely reach and photographs what catches their eye. A planned flight photographs all of it, in order, at a resolution that lets you enlarge a single tile and still see the crack in it.

Flat roof and rendered parapet photographed close up by drone
Fibre cement barn roof photographed from above, heavily colonised by yellow lichen with cracked sheets visible
Slate roof with a brick chimney stack, lead valley and rooflight photographed from above

Who asks for it


  • Managing agents setting planned maintenance budgets
  • Roofing contractors pricing a repair
  • Property owners after storm damage

What clients get from working with us


Timescales

Most sites are surveyed within two working days of instruction, with reports sent 24 hours after surveys.

Deliverables

Orthomosaics, 3D models, point clouds, elevation sets and edited media, supplied in the formats your team already works in.

Coverage

Operating throughout the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and East Anglia.

Compliance

Fully authorised and insured, with a site-specific risk assessment issued before every attendance.

Continuity

One point of contact from enquiry to delivery. Data is processed in-house and is never passed to a third-party bureau.

Certainty

A fixed written quotation against an agreed deliverable. No day rates and no variation after the event.

Questions


Do you need to go on the roof?

No. Everything is captured from the air at a standoff, so nobody works at height and nothing needs scaffolding, a tower or a MEWP.

How long does it take?

Most roofs are half an hour to an hour in the air. Larger or more complicated buildings take longer. You have the imagery within a few working days.

Will I get a report telling me what is wrong?

Not from us. We are not building surveyors and we do not pretend to be. What you get is a complete, dated photographic record clear enough for your own surveyor or roofer to work from — and, because we do not sell repairs, an impartial one.

What happens if the weather is wrong on the day?

We move it. Wind and rain make for unsafe flying and soft, unusable pictures, and a survey you cannot rely on is worse than no survey. We watch the forecast and give you as much notice as we can.

Is it legal to fly over my property?

Yes, within the rules. We hold a CAA Operational Authorisation and every flight is planned against the airspace, the surroundings and the people on and around the site before we attend. If a site needs a permission we cannot get, we tell you at enquiry rather than on the day.

Can you survey a terrace, an estate or a portfolio?

Yes, and it is often the sensible way to do it. Everything is flown to the same specification and delivered together, so properties can be compared against each other rather than each looking like a separate job.

Tell us about the site and we will take it from there

A site postcode and a sentence about what you need is enough to get started.

Get in touch

Get in touch


Provide a site postcode or boundary and a short description of the required output. We will confirm the deliverables, level of detail.

  • A site postcode is sufficient to price most instructions
  • Written quotation, in most cases the same working day
  • Deliverables and formats agreed at instruction

info@midlandsaerialsurveys.co.uk

Stamford, Lincolnshire