Pre-Purchase Roof Survey by Drone, London
Your survey says "roof not inspected" or "unable to gain access". The roof is the most expensive thing on the house to put right, and nobody has looked at it. For £325 + VAT we photograph every slope, chimney, gutter and parapet in under an hour and send a written report within 48 hours, in time for exchange, with the images shared with your surveyor.
- £325 + VATFixed, report included
- 48 h reportGuaranteed after the flight
- Shared with your surveyorSeverity mapped to RICS 1 to 3
- Repair pricedEvidence for the negotiation
The Three Questions Every Buyer Asks About the Roof
Will a Level 2 survey check the roof?
From the ground, with binoculars, and from a ladder at the eaves if it is safe. The surveyor looks in the loft if there is a hatch and a way up. Nothing is walked on, lifted or opened. On a London terrace that means the front slope and the gutter get seen, and the rear slope, the valleys, the chimney backs and the flat roof over the back addition usually get the phrase "not inspected". A Level 3 looks harder and writes more, but has the same limits.
The survey says the roof needs work. What will it cost?
That depends on whether it is six ridge tiles or the whole covering, and a survey written from the pavement cannot tell you which. "Roof needs attention, obtain a roofer's report" covers everything from a £400 repointing to a re-roof. The drone survey turns that sentence into a list: what exactly, where, how urgent, and our fixed price to fix it. That is the number you take back to the seller.
Should we get a roof survey done at all?
Yes if any of these is true: the house is pre-1950; the roof is slate; there are chimneys; there is a flat roof anywhere; the survey says "not inspected" or "unable to access"; you can see a stain on a top-floor ceiling; or you are about to pay London money for the house. If the roof turns out to be fine, £325 bought you the certainty. If it is not, it bought you a negotiation.
Not Instead of a RICS Survey. On Top of It.
A RICS Level 2 or Level 3 survey is the right document for a purchase. It covers the whole house, the surveyor carries professional indemnity insurance, and your solicitor and lender know what it is. We are not surveyors and this is not a substitute for one.
What the RICS survey cannot do is get above the roof. A drone can, for about the cost of the difference between a Level 2 and a Level 3. The two together give you the house from the ground up and the roof from the sky down, which is the only way to see all of it.
We send the photographs and the report to your surveyor as well as to you. The severity scale in our report is mapped to the RICS 1 to 3 condition ratings, so the surveyor can reference our images in their own report without re-interpreting them. Many buyers' surveyors in London now suggest a drone pass themselves when a roof cannot be reached; some practices sell it as an optional extra. Ours comes from the firm that can also repair what it finds.
Prices for the three, excluding VAT: Level 2 around £445, Level 3 around £630 to £660, drone roof survey £325.
From Booking to Report in a Week, Usually Less
Day 0: send the address
We check the airspace the same day and tell you whether the flight is clear or needs a permission. Most of London is clear.
Day 1 to 2: the agent agrees a slot
We fly from a cordoned spot on the pavement, the front path or the garden, so we ask the estate agent to let the seller know. Nobody needs to be home and nothing touches the house.
The flight: 30 to 60 minutes
Dry weather and wind under our limit, or we move it at no cost. 60 to 120 photographs and a 4K fly-round. You are welcome to come and watch the screen.
48 hours later: the report
PDF and a private web page for you, your surveyor and, if you choose, your solicitor. With a fixed repair price for anything rated 4 or 5, ready for the negotiation.
What We Look For on a London House
Slate and tile covering
Slipped, cracked and missing slates, patches of mismatched repairs, delamination, and the tell-tale scatter of slipped slates that means the nails have gone and the roof is near the end of its life.
Ridges, hips and valleys
Missing bedding mortar, displaced ridge tiles, valley gutters full of debris or with the lead split along the fold. Valleys are where most "mystery" leaks on terraces start.
Chimneys
Leaning stacks, cracked flaunching, loose pots, lifted lead at the back gutter and the aprons. A chimney rebuild is one of the bigger bills on a Victorian house and it is invisible from the street.
Flat roofs and back additions
Ponding, blistering, split laps, blocked outlets, the felt that was "done a few years ago". Nearly every London terrace has one, and nearly no survey reaches it.
Parapets and party walls
Open coping joints, failed pointing, leaning parapets and the gutters hidden behind them. The source of most top-floor damp in London, and the reason the neighbour's roof matters too.
Gutters, hoppers and the loft roof
Cast-iron hoppers cracked at the back, gutters pulling off the fascia, dormer cheeks and flashings on any loft conversion, and the extractor or soil pipe that was never flashed properly.
Every item is rated 1 to 5 with a timescale and a photograph. See the full structure on the report example page.
The Roof You Do Not Own but Will Pay For
If you are buying a leasehold flat, especially a top-floor one, the roof belongs to the freeholder and the bill for it comes to you through the service charge. A survey of the flat says almost nothing about it. A drone survey of the block tells you whether a Section 20 for a new roof is coming, which is a question worth asking before you commit.
We survey the whole block from £495 + VAT, and the report is written so you can share it with the managing agent and the other leaseholders. Ask the agent whether the freeholder has a recent roof survey first; if the answer is no, that is your answer.
Who else books this
- ✓Buyers' surveyors who want the roof covered on a property they cannot reach, with our images referenced in their report.
- ✓Sellers and estate agents who would rather show a clean roof report than lose a sale to a nervous survey.
- ✓Buyers after a bad survey who need a number for the renegotiation, not another opinion.
- ✓New owners who completed anyway and now want to know what they bought before the first winter.
Pre-Purchase Drone Surveys. Frequently Asked
Know What You Are Buying. Send the Address.
£325 + VAT, airspace checked today, flight this week where the airspace allows it, report 48 hours later. Tell us your exchange date and we work back from it.
This work as a standalone service