ok so a local roofing company reached out after seeing my instagram and wants me to start doing pre and post job documentation for them. sounds great in theory but when i showed up to the first property it was a pretty steep residential roof right next to power lines and the backyard was basically zero room for a safe launch spot. i have my 107 and ive done a lot of recreational flying but this felt different, like the liability question started hitting me for real when i was standing there.

ended up launching from the street and it was fine but i felt like i was winging it. for people who do this regularly how do you actually structure a roofing inspection flight, like is there a standard pattern you use or does everyone just freestyle it based on the property. also what do you use for deliverables, just a folder of jpgs or is there software that stitches it into something more presentable for a contractor who is definitely not technical

dronelink or litchi for the flight pattern depending on how comfortable you are with mission planning. for simple residential roofs i usually just do a manual orbit at two or three altitudes and then go in closer for the specific areas the roofer flagged like flashing, valleys, chimney surrounds. honestly freestyle is fine once you've done enough of them, you get a feel for what angles the contractors actually care about.

for deliverables i deliver a shared google drive folder with full res jpgs organized by section of the roof plus a short mp4 walkthrough video. tried using pix4d for orthomosaics early on but most roofing clients dont know what to do with it and it added a ton of processing time for not much extra value at that scale. some guys use dronedeploy for larger commercial flat roofs where the 2d map actually makes sense.

the liability thing is the part people skip over and then regret later. make sure your hull and liability insurance actually covers commercial operations because a lot of recreational policies have that exclusion buried in there. also get a simple service agreement signed before you fly anything ? doesnt have to be fancy, just something that defines what you're delivering and limits your exposure if they claim the inspection missed something. found that out the uncomfortable way after a contractor tried to blame me for a repair estimate that came in higher than expected after i did the documentation flight. never again without paperwork first