Looking straight down on a tiled house roof from the drone, from our sample chimney survey: the ridge, the chimney stack and pot, the flashing round it and lichen on the tiles

Drone work Drone surveys

See everything, while it is still cheap to fix.

CAA Registered operator
Fully insured
Standard report within two business days

Non-regulated visual inspection from the air — roofs, gutters, chimneys, solar arrays, tall structures and hard-to-reach parts of a site. High-resolution imagery and a written summary — without paying for scaffolding just to find out what’s wrong.

Book a survey See a sample report What we can and can’t do

Survey prices

Houses and small units

Standard surveyHouse, chimney, single roof or small unit from£180

Second subject£120
Each further£100

Bigger jobs

Large buildingfrom£340Barn, warehouse or flats
Site or estatefrom£600/daySeveral buildings or a farm

Progress visits (2 visits minimum)from£100each

Paid on completion. A £50 deposit holds your date and comes off the final invoice.

What every survey includes

The report as a PDF you can forward to a builder or insurer
Close-up imagery of anything that needs attention
What we found, and what we would do about it
The price agreed before you book

See what you get

Every survey ends with a written report.

Not a folder of photos to work out for yourself: annotated imagery, plain-English findings and clear recommendations. This is a real chimney inspection, and yours is the same document.

Scroll through it right here, open it in its own tab, or download the PDF.

What a survey covers

Cheaper than scaffolding, safer than a ladder.

The purpose of a drone survey is to see the parts of a property or site that are otherwise expensive or dangerous to reach — and to give you evidence you can act on.

High-resolution stills

Close-up imagery of the exact areas you’re worried about — tiles, flashing, gutters, joins, panels — annotated so you know where each photo was taken.

Honest written summary

A short plain-English report describing what’s visible and where. Not a structural verdict, not a certificate — evidence you or your tradesperson can use to make a decision.

4K video if useful

A slow flyover video included on any site where movement helps you see joins, roof lines or how water is likely running. Delivered as a shared link.

Optional physical model

Where a survey produces a suitable building model, we can supply a single-colour PLA or PETG print as a practical presentation or planning aid.

Scope of practice

A visual inspection service — not a regulated survey.

What this is not

A RICS or chartered building surveyor’s report
A measured land survey
A structural sign-off

What it is

A way to see, photograph and describe the parts of a building or site that are hard to reach — priced so it makes sense as an early step, before you commission that kind of formal work.

What we are covered for

£1,000,000 public and product liability for commercial flying
Arranged through UK FPV, compliant with EC 785/2004 — certificate on request
Visual line-of-sight only — we do not quote beyond it

We will not fly outside CAA rules or the insurance terms, and we do not quote for beyond-line-of-sight work. If a site cannot be flown safely or legally, we will tell you before invoicing.

How it runs

Book, fly, report.

Straightforward for a single property. Larger sites or multiple visits are quoted together so travel and setup aren’t billed twice.

01
Confirm the site
Address, what you want to inspect, and any known access or airspace constraints. We measure the building footprint from the map, tell you which size band it falls in, and confirm the price before anything is booked. A £50 deposit then secures your date and comes off your final invoice.
02
Fly the site
A one-visit flight — up to an hour for a standard subject, up to half a day for a large building. We photograph every area of concern and take a slow flyover video if the site benefits from it.
03
Deliver the report
A shared link with the imagery, the video if included, and a written summary of what’s visible: two business days for a standard survey, five for a large building or site. You keep the files.

Clear starting prices

Priced by size, not by guesswork.

A chimney and a warehouse are not the same job, so they are not the same price. Surveys are priced on how big each subject is and how many you want covered — and we measure the footprint from the map before quoting, so the band is settled before you book.

Most surveys

Standard subject

From £180 one-off

A house, chimney, single roof line, mast or small commercial unit — one visit, the imagery and the written summary.

Roughly up to a large detached house footprint
Up to an hour on site
Second standard subject just £120
Then £100 each after that
Detailed stills of every area of concern
Slow 4K flyover video where movement helps
All raw photos and footage supplied
Written summary within 2 business days

Book a survey

Barns & warehouses

Large building

From £340 one-off

A barn, warehouse, industrial unit, agricultural building or block of flats — one big footprint that takes several passes to cover properly.

Roughly 250–2,000m² of footprint
Up to half a day on site
Each further large building £240
Every elevation and roof bay covered
Imagery foldered by elevation and roof section
4K flyover video included
All raw photos and footage supplied
Longer written report within 5 business days

Price a large building

Site or estate

From £600 per day

Several large buildings, yards, a whole farm or an industrial estate — priced as a day on site rather than building by building.

A full day on site
As many buildings as the day covers
Ordered folder per building
One consolidated written report
All raw photos and footage supplied
Turnaround agreed when we quote
Confirmed from the site plan before booking

Talk about a site

Progress survey

From £100 per visit

Condition tracking, seasonal roof check, after-storm inspection. Cheaper than a first visit — the flight plan, the viewpoints and the access are already worked out. Booked as a series of at least two visits.

Minimum of two visits
Priority booking after weather events
Consistent viewpoints for comparison
Ongoing folder of dated imagery
Change-over-time summary each visit
Rolled up monthly or quarterly on one invoice

Talk about repeat visits

Drone survey visualisation — a planned flight path traced over the roof and elevations of a commercial unit

Which band: If a site turns out to be materially bigger than it looked, we tell you and re-quote before flying, not after. Travel: On-site visits within 15 miles of Salisbury have no mileage charge. Further out, we charge 55p a mile for the distance beyond 15 miles, there and back — so a visit 20 miles away adds £5.50. We regularly cover Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset. Weather: We won’t fly in conditions unsafe for the drone or the site — a rescheduled visit is included, never re-billed. Deposit: A £50 deposit secures your date and comes off your final invoice. If we cancel for weather or safety, you choose a new date or a full refund of the deposit.

Letting agents and portfolios

Managing several properties? Put them in one request, each with its own landlord reference. A £50 deposit holds each visit day, and the final invoice lists every property with the deposit taken off.

Start a survey request

Good to know

Straight answers.

Can I see an example of what I’d receive?

Yes — we publish a sample chimney survey report from a real inspection, with the address withheld and neighbouring properties blurred. It shows the annotated imagery, the findings table and the recommendations exactly as a client receives them — on the page or as a downloadable PDF.

Is this a substitute for a building surveyor’s report?

No — and we don’t position it as one. This is a visual inspection with photographic evidence, useful as a first step (or a way to save money when a chartered survey would be excessive) but not a formal survey.

What insurance do you carry?

CAA operator registration and full commercial drone insurance, including public liability. We can share the policy details for site clearance if you need them.

Can you fly near my property?

Usually yes, provided we stay within CAA rules on airspace, distance from people and property, and the site itself is safe. We check the flight zones before quoting and will tell you plainly if the site can’t be flown.

Do you provide 3D models or measured data?

Where a survey produces a suitable building model, we can supply a printed 3D model. It is not something we sell off a price list, so tell us what you need and we will tell you whether it is worth doing. Measured land or building survey data is a different matter: that needs equipment and licensing we do not have, and a chartered surveyor is the right call for it.

How much does a drone survey cost?

From £180 for a standard subject — a house, chimney, single roof or small unit. Larger buildings and whole sites are priced by footprint, measured before we quote; the bands are set out in the pricing table on this page.

I’ve got a big barn — is that really the same price as a roof?

No, and it shouldn’t be. A domestic roof is about ten minutes of flying and a short summary; a barn or warehouse means several passes, every elevation and roof bay, a hundred or more images and a much longer report. That’s the £340 large-building band rather than the £180 standard one. Send the address and we’ll tell you which band it is before you commit to anything.

How do you decide which size band my building is in?

From the footprint, measured on satellite imagery before we quote — so it is checkable rather than a judgement call on the day. Roughly: up to a large detached house is standard, up to around 2,000m² is a large building, and beyond that (or several large buildings together) it becomes a day on site. If a site turns out to be materially different from the map, we re-quote before flying, never after.