so ive been doing roofing estimates for about 12 years and my business partner keeps pushing me to get into drone inspections properly. we've been halfassing it with a mavic mini 2 and honestly the footage is fine but im not sure if we're actually getting anything useful out of it vs just going up there ourselves. like we still end up on the roof half the time anyway to confirm stuff

the main thing i want to know is whether anyone here is actually using drones as a primary inspection tool or if its mostly supplementary. and if you are, what are you running? ive been looking at the mavic 3 enterprise but the price jump is significant and i want to make sure its actually solving a problem before i drop that kind of money. thermal would be interesting for moisture detection but again, not sure if that's overkill for residential reroofing estimates

we run a M3E with the thermal combo for commercial flat roofs and honestly it changed the workflow completely. for residential steep pitch stuff though yeah youre probably right that its overkill, you're not really getting moisture data that means much without the right conditions anyway ? thermal works best around dusk when the roof is releasing heat, most people don't bother to do it properly.

for what you're describing, the mini 2 is probably fine and the real value is just liability reduction and speed on estimates. you can turn around a quote same day without scheduling a second visit, that alone pays for itself. the enterprise stuff makes more sense if youre doing commercial or insurance work where you need defensible documentation.

idk i feel like once you show up to a job site with a drone the clients immediately think youre more professional lol even if the data is basically the same. theres definitely a sales angle to it that people underestimate. my cousin does realestate inspections and he swears by it just for the perceived value thing