For homeowners, roofers & adjusters

Drone Roof Inspection

Aerial view of a suburban house with a grey shingle roof
Straight-down view of a house roof among trees
Overhead view of a row of houses with steep gabled roofs
Top-down view of a shingle roof above a driveway
What do you need?
Where's the property?

Free to post · Usually a reply the same day

182 inspection pilots listed · Pay the pilot directly, no commission

Free to post

Two minutes, no card, no commitment.

Pay the pilot directly

No commission or markup on their price.

FAA Part 107 pilots

The license all paid drone work requires.

Usually a reply the same day

From a pilot, or from our team if no pilot has answered.

How it works

Three steps, and the first one is free

  1. Describe the job

    The form opens with this page's answers already filled in. Add the location and anything specific to your site.

  2. A pilot near you sends a price

    Pilots whose service area and services match are emailed. Usually a reply the same day, from a pilot or from our team.

  3. Book them and pay them directly

    Check their certificate, kit and sample work, then pay the pilot. SkyLog takes no cut and adds no markup.

What to know before you book

What a drone can and cannot tell you about a roof

It can show you surface condition in detail: lifted or missing shingles, granule loss, hail bruising, cracked tiles, failed flashing, blocked valleys, ponding on a flat roof, and the state of penetrations and vents. With a thermal sensor and the right timing it can also show where moisture is sitting under the surface. What it cannot do is tell you the condition of the deck underneath, walk the roof to feel for soft spots, or lift a shingle to look at what is beneath. A drone survey is often the right first step and sometimes the only step you need — but a pilot who tells you it replaces every physical inspection is overselling it.

What a drone roof inspection costs

A standard residential drone roof inspection runs roughly $150 to $400 in 2026, with a typical figure around $375 for a straightforward visual survey. Adding a thermal pass usually costs another $100 to $200. Commercial and multi-building roofs run from $500 into the low thousands depending on size and how much reporting you need. Metro areas price higher than rural ones. If a quote sits far outside that band in either direction, it is worth asking what is included — an unusually low one often turns out to be raw images with no report, and that is a different product.

What drives the price

Roof size and complexity first — a simple gable is one flight, a multi-level roof with dormers and towers is several. Then deliverables: raw images cost less than a written report with annotated defects, and a thermal pass adds both equipment and a time-of-day constraint, since it usually has to be flown around dusk. Location and travel matter. So does urgency: a survey booked for tomorrow after a storm competes with everyone else who called after the same storm.

Using drone imagery for an insurance claim

Many adjusters accept dated drone imagery and thermal scans as supporting documentation, but requirements vary by carrier and by claim, so the safe move is to ask your adjuster what they need before you commission the flight. If the imagery is for a claim, say so when you post: pilots who do claims work will scope the report to it, capture the overview shots that establish the property, and know to keep the original unedited files rather than only delivering a polished set.

What this settles

  • Surface condition in detail: lifted or missing shingles, granule loss, hail bruising, cracked tiles, failed flashing and blocked valleys.
  • The state of penetrations, vents and gutters, and ponding on a flat roof.
  • Where moisture is sitting under the surface, with a thermal sensor and the right timing.
  • Dated imagery of a steep, tile or multi-level roof that is unsafe or slow to walk.

What it does not

  • Tell you the condition of the deck underneath the covering.
  • Walk the roof to feel for soft spots, or lift a shingle to see what is beneath it.
  • Estimate remaining life, or substitute for a licensed roofer's structural opinion.
  • Guarantee acceptance by an insurer. Requirements vary by carrier and by claim — ask your adjuster first.

It is often the right first step and sometimes the only step you need. A pilot who tells you it replaces every physical inspection is overselling it.

Why post it on SkyLog

Every roof type

Shingle, tile, metal, membrane, flat commercial or steep residential. The steeper and taller the roof, the bigger the advantage over a physical climb — and the more likely a ladder inspection skips the far slope entirely.

When thermal earns its cost

A thermal pass finds trapped moisture and heat loss that a visual pass cannot, because wet insulation holds heat differently after sundown. It is worth it for suspected leaks and flat commercial roofs; it adds little to a straightforward hail check.

Imagery you keep

You come away with dated, high-resolution images of the whole roof — something you can send to an insurer, a roofer or a buyer, and something a verbal opinion from the top of a ladder does not give you.

Free to post

Posting and receiving quotes costs nothing, and SkyLog takes no commission and adds no markup. You pay the pilot you hire, at the price the two of you agree.

Inspection pilots with published profiles

Real published profiles. Open any one to see credentials, kit, service area and sample work before you post.

Roof inspection pilots by state

Before you post

How much does a drone roof inspection cost?

Expect $150 to $400 for a standard residential roof, commonly around $375, and another $100 to $200 if you want a thermal pass. Commercial roofs start near $500 and climb with size and reporting depth. The spread is real: pitch, height, access and how much of a written report you need all move it. Posting the roof free and comparing two or three quotes is the quickest way to find where yours sits.

How long does a drone roof inspection take?

The flight itself is usually well under an hour for a single-family home. Producing the report takes longer than flying it, so ask about turnaround separately from time on site.

Does the pilot need to come inside or onto the property?

They need lawful access to a launch point and a clear view of the roof, which normally means being on the property. They do not need to go inside or onto the roof itself.

Can a drone inspect a roof in a city or near an airport?

Usually yes, but flight in controlled airspace requires FAA authorisation, and dense urban sites bring their own constraints on where a pilot can safely launch and recover. Give the address when you post and pilots will tell you what the site needs.

Should I ask for thermal?

Ask for it if you are chasing a leak, checking a flat or low-slope commercial roof, or looking for heat loss. For hail or wind damage on a pitched residential roof, high-resolution visual imagery is normally what an adjuster wants to see.

What should a roof report actually contain?

At minimum: the date, the address, wide shots that establish the whole roof, close imagery of each elevation, and callouts on anything the pilot flags. Agree the format before the flight — a folder of unlabelled images is much less useful than an annotated set, and it is far cheaper to ask for annotation up front than to commission it afterwards.

From a job poster

The jobs nobody else would quote

“I was not expecting to have a response so quickly after calling countless different companies.”
Jared OlroydOwner, Specialty Cleaning Agents
Quote in under 2 hours

Post your roof inspection free

Describe the roof and what you need to know, and let Part 107 pilots quote you. No commission, no obligation to hire.

Overhead view of tiled rooftops in a dense town at golden hour
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