bit of an odd situation and not sure how other people handle this. did a commercial flat roof inspection last week, decent sized warehouse, client wanted general condition documentation and i flagged a bunch of membrane bubbling, some standing water pooling in a few spots, and what looked like a compromised flashing section near one of the HVAC units. standard stuff.

now the client is coming back asking me to basically write up whether the roof needs to be replaced or just patched and i dont really feel comfortable doing that. im a drone operator, not a roofing contractor or a structural engineer. i can show you what the camera sees but calling structural integrity is a different thing entirely. the imagery is pretty clear though, Zenmuse H20 so the detail is there.

is this a common thing? feels like clients sometimes think the drone is doing the assessment when really its just a delivery mechanism for the visual data. wondering if other people have had this and how you pushed back without losing the client

yeah this comes up constantly. what i do now is make it really explicit in the contract language before the job even starts ? i provide visual documentation and flag anomalies for review by qualified professionals, full stop. i actually had a lawyer friend look at my standard agreement after a similar situation because the liability exposure if you start making structural calls without the credentials is real. lost one client over it who wanted me to just say what he wanted to hear but honestly good riddance.

the way i frame it to clients now is that the drone gets you the data you need to have an informed conversation with your roofing contractor, it doesnt replace that conversation. most reasonable clients get it when you explain it that way.

honestly the H20 imagery should be more than enough for a qualified roofer to make that call from your footage if you got good resolution on the trouble spots. maybe the move is to connect the client with an actual roofing assessor and position yourself as the data capture side of a two-part service. could even be a referral relationship that works out for you longer term. just a thought, i havent done much commercial roofing work myself so take it for what its worth