The photographs can identify visible defects and support decisions about access or repair, while a loft inspection remains important where the concern is concealed inside.
What the camera can find over Dorchester
- Slipped, cracked or missing coverings
- Open ridge and hip joints
- Lifted lead at chimneys and abutments
- Blocked valleys and hidden back gutters
- Cracked chimney flaunching and pots
- Sagging gutters and water marks at the eaves
Views unavailable from the pavement
The ridge, rear slopes and hidden valleys of slate and clay-tiled period roofs, terraces and modern estate housing can sit outside every ground-level sightline. Close imagery records those surfaces without walking on the covering.
- 1The drone surveys the whole roof from above — nobody goes onto it
- 2Ridge, hips, valleys and flashings photographed in detail
- 3Chimney head, flaunching, pots and back gutter
- 4From the ground you see the lower slope and gutter line — and very little else
How a survey is carried out
Flights are planned around the site, weather, people and applicable airspace restrictions. Open approaches across the Frome valley can bring driving south-westerly rain, while sheltered town-centre junctions create their own hidden drainage details. Unsuitable conditions mean rescheduling rather than accepting poor or unsafe imagery.
1. Brief
You tell us what's prompted the survey — a leak, a storm, a purchase, or a quote you want checked.
2. Flight
A short flight over each elevation, the ridge, valleys, flashings and chimney — nobody needs to go onto the roof.
3. Imagery
High-resolution stills of the surveyed external areas, with close-ups where something needs a closer look.
4. Findings
A plain-English write-up: what's sound, what needs attention now, and what we can just keep an eye on.
5. Quotation
Only if work's needed, and priced against what the images show rather than a guess.
What it cannot show
A camera cannot see rafters, underlay, insulation or the route water takes after entry. Internal inspection may therefore be recommended alongside the external survey.
| What you want to know | Drone survey | Also needs |
|---|---|---|
| Outer covering — tiles, slates, ridge, flashings | Photographed in detail from above | No access needed |
| Chimney head, flaunching and pots | Photographed from above and each side | Otherwise needs scaffold or tower |
| Roof timbers, underlay and insulation | Not visible — a drone works outside only | Loft inspection from inside |
| Whether a leak is active right now | Shows likely entry points, not the water path | Internal check, sometimes a water test |
Common questions
What homeowners in Dorchester usually want to know about drone roof surveys.
Ask us anything