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Saving Chartered Surveyors Time & Money, assisting with Schedule of Condition and Dilapidation Reports

When a roof area requires inspection as part of a Schedule of Condition or Dilapidation report the Surveyor has questions in relation to its type, age, accessibility plus, critically, safety considerations. They then have to choose the best access options and the most appropriate tool for the job. Below are some options and alternatives.

1. Get on the roof and have a hands on close up inspection - This is ideal as is hands on, in that respect it is the best option however this a labour intensive and a potentially dangerous method, working at height, even if you are sure the roof is safe to access must be taken into consideration.

2. Alternatively, remove the danger completely and reduce the time and associated costs significantly by arranging for a professional drone operator to attend and collect clear, accurate, hi-resolution images of all areas of the roof, images are presented to the surveyor in a simple format to enable the report to be completed, saving time & money and preventing any accidents.

3. Use traditional means, cherry picker, scissor lift or scaffolding to access the roof, that is if access is possible around the site? - This has advantages but they are outweighed by time and cost and again by working at height plus the inability to reach all areas of the roof to be inspected. How many hours does it take to arrange the necessary equipment, plan the job, risk assess and then execute the job?

4. See option 2

5. The surveyor could become skilled and experienced enough to pilot a drone as would a Drone Operator to gather the required images - This is not a bad idea, many surveyors have gone down this route successfully ,however the surveyor cannot be in two places at once and the time required to plan the job and then gather the images can take a a minimum of half a day or more in which time the surveyor could be inspecting other parts of the building. Not forgetting that the equipment carries a purchase and maintenance cost and must be thoroughly prepared before the flight, furthermore checks regarding airspace, air hazards and NOTAMS should be completed as pre-flight basics, insurance* must be purchased as is a legal requirement (* not a PL policy, actual drone insurance as per EU Regulation 785/2004), all images must then be arranged and often need some post production manipulation to bring out the details particularly in shaded areas, all of which has a monetary cost and a time cost, and, time is money,! Finally, what if the weather does not allow a flight to take place? does the surveyor return at a later date solely to gather images, how much more time would this re-visit involve? or is the roof simply uninspected and omitted from the report?

6. Alternatively, arrange for a professional drone operator to attend site to gather required images. The Time & Money savings are significant if the flight can go ahead, if not and a return is made by the drone operator allowing the Surveyor to continue working on other matters.