been getting a lot of requests lately from roofing contractors and insurance adjusters wanting aerial roof inspections done. i've been flying a phantom 4 pro for a while for real estate stuff but im starting to think the camera isnt quite cutting it for the detail these guys need, especially when they want to document hail damage or flashing issues on flat commercial roofs.

someone mentioned i should look at getting a thermal attachment for it but then someone else said the p4p thermal integration is kind of janky and i should just move to an M30T or something. honestly the M30T seems like overkill for what i'm doing and the price is just brutal. is there a middle ground here? like does anyone actually use the DJI mini 3 pro or air 3 for this kind of work or is the sensor just too small to be useful when you're picking out 2mm cracks in a membrane roof from 30 feet up.

also wondering if orthomosaic maps are actually something contractors want or if they mostly just want the raw photos and a quick video walkthrough. i dont want to over-engineer the deliverable if nobody actually uses the fancy stuff

the air 3 sensor is fine for visual documentation honestly, especially for sloped residential where you're mainly documenting missing shingles, ridge cap issues, that kind of thing. but for flat commercial membrane inspections thermal is where it gets really useful because you can see moisture trapped under the membrane that you'd never catch visually. for that i'd look at the mavic 3 thermal ? its not cheap but its way more practical than the M30T for a solo operator and the thermal + rgb in one unit means you're not flying two separate missions.

on the ortho question ? most small contractors dont know what to do with an orthomosaic and you'll spend more time explaining it than its worth. i just deliver a structured folder of georeferenced JPEGs and a short video and thats what gets used. the fancy stuff is more useful for the big insurance loss adjustment firms who have their own software pipelines.

tbh for hail damage specifically the angle matters more than the camera. ive seen people miss obvious spatter marks because they were flying straight nadir and the light was wrong. try flying at like 45 degrees in the late afternoon when the sun is low, the shadows from the dents become really obvious even on a decent camera. i use a p4p v2 still and it does fine for most residential work when i shoot it right. thermal is nice to have but i wouldnt say its essential unless you're specifically marketing moisture surveys to commercial clients.