Just had a roofing company inspect my roof and they used a drone. I was unaware this was getting to be the standard for roof inspections. I was unapologetically in awe and totally impressed .
Boomer blown away by technology..........aGAIN
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I received a bid from a roofer a couple weeks ago. I assumed they would use a drone, but I was wrong. They used satellite technology to measure the roof and submit the bid.
All he asked “was my roof obstructed by overhanging trees.
This Boomer was blown away too.
All he asked “was my roof obstructed by overhanging trees.
This Boomer was blown away too.
There’s several companies around here now that are doing crop spraying with drones. They have 5 or 6 flying at one time on a field. They all communicate with each other and know where the others have sprayed and come back to the truck to refill on their own. If one is there being refilled it just waits in a hover until that one is done. It’s quite amazing to watch. They’re getting fields sprayed almost as fast as a crop duster with zero chemical drift risk.
Roofing company used a drone for my roof two years ago. It did a good job too - essentially no materials left over after the job was finished.
There are vendors that insurance companies use to measure your roof via satellite images for cost estimating purposes
We were using satellites over 10 years ago. Overhang was a problem, but it worked really well.
The guy who measured our roof was limited to a height of 80 feet because the airport is just a couple miles away.
I read an article about this a year ago and it sounded promising. I’m glad the technology is working and is being adapted.
How can the satellite judge the pitch of the roof? What you see in satellite view looks flat, but there is always pitch that can't be judged looking at a flat surface......
We were looking for storm damage . I was aware that roofs were being measured by satellite but I'd never seen a drone do a roof inspection for damage. The photos it took were very sharp, detailed and thorough. The young man who came out and brought the drone was very impressive and knowledgeable. I can see calling the same company in a year or two and them simply dispatching a drone unaccompanied by a representative.
They started using drones around 2016/2017. I will say that I would want someone to get on your roof and look for damage to flashing and all of the other stuff as well.
I consult in Ag related matters and the aerial applicators haven't been happy with the introduction of drones into the spraying of fields. We thought they would embrace it but not so much, they see it as more of a threat than an opportunity apparently
I was driving through the backwoods to get to work a few months ago and someone was doing that. Those drones are huge. Looks like something from a terminator movie. When you aren’t ready for them and suddenly one is flying towards you it’s a bit disconcerting
The satellite data includes an elevation, take a few measurements, apply a little trigonometry and bam you have an area. Even Google Earth does a decent job with elevations. I use it at work all the time to get a rough estimate for existing site conditions.
Does a separate company own the drones as opposed to the farmers? Seems like it would make sense for crop dusters to buy drones and spray for their customers.
That's what we were thinking would happen but aerial applicators seem to have dug their heels in and not going for it. I've seen several golf course superintendents that have started doing it and guys that already do power line spraying that aerial apps can't do have gotten into it too. I think they (crop dusters) are missing an opportunity to expand their business and prevent lost work but they apparently don't see it that way.
A well equipped crop dusting service has made a huge investment in his current equipment and my not be financially able to make a quick change.
We got ours done back in 2020 and the day after they showed up with a drone to inspect it
That’s awesome. Plus will make me less nervous driving through the delay and these damn planes are flying around barely missing light poles
Won’t be the first industry to have that happen
The one I saw had about 4 drones going, it it wasn’t that big of a field.
It does but that takes enough skill out of the application (or will over time) that I expect it's going to be more similar to a john deere dealership than traditional crop dusting. They don't have a competitive advantage like a pilot's license gives them.
Semi-OT but they are using drones now to pressure wash buildings. Much cheaper than putting a scaffolding up. The application I saw the pressure was definitely not there; I assume it's challenging to operate with a hose off the bottom and basically another thrust from a high pressure water stream. But I would assume they could do applications of cleaning solutions and spray off afterwards and do most of what a pressure washer could do.
Increasing costs which diminishes appeal.
At some point they may takeover. But that point is not today.
Those drones are a fraction of the cost of one plane. They are charging the same rate and sometimes a little cheaper than an airplane.
It would be the same as with crop dusting. They’ll get to you when it’s your turn if they are busy.
Feel like the costs of the drone and lifetime of it has to be better than the cost of an airplane and maintenance and such
But you don’t really have to change quick.
give up some income this year and make a small investment.
90% traditional application
10% drone
next year 80/20 and so forth
or just get left behind
You should see what Ukraine has been doing with them.
I was in Denver last week and saw a drone pressure washing windows on a high rise building. I have to say it was quite impressive.