Drone Survey vs Ladder Survey: Why Every Solar Survey Should Start in the Air

What a drone survey gives you that a ladder survey doesn't

A ladder survey gets a person onto your roof for 20–40 minutes with a tape measure, a phone camera and a pad of paper. They can measure the roof, photograph the tiles, and assess obvious obstructions. They cannot see the back of chimneys, they cannot accurately measure pitch on hip roofs, and they cannot capture surrounding shading from neighbouring buildings.

A drone survey gets a CAA-qualified pilot onto your site for 30–60 minutes, captures 200+ photographs from every angle, and produces a 3D photo-real model of your roof inside 48 hours. That model has ~3cm vertical accuracy, includes all four roof elevations, shows every chimney, vent, parapet and roof-light, and allows precise placement of panels in the design software with shading modelled against neighbouring buildings across all 8,760 hours of the year.

The risk profile

HSE statistics report that falls from height remain the leading cause of construction fatalities in the UK. Roof access for a solar survey is one of the more common situations where it happens. Drone capture removes that risk entirely.

Costs

A drone survey costs us roughly £180 in pilot time, processing and licence amortisation per site. A ladder survey with proper PPE, harness and a two-person team costs around £230. We pass the saving to the customer — every KMM survey is free.