This is the story of mission MSN-0184 — a roof recon job in Solihull that turned a homeowner’s “something looks wrong” into an evidence pack her insurer accepted on the first review. Details are anonymised at the homeowner’s request, but the timeline, the imagery, and the findings are real.
The intake
The homeowner submitted our standard intake form at 09:14 on a Sunday morning, the day after a heavy spring storm. She lived in a semi-detached two-storey on a residential street in the B91 postcode. From the ground she could see what looked like a ridge tile out of line on the front elevation, but she couldn’t tell whether it was actually displaced or just a trick of the light. Her insurer had asked for “photographic evidence of damage” before they’d send an adjuster.
We flagged the job as an urgent intake. The form was triaged within four hours: airspace clear (B91 is not in a controlled airspace zone), site is a semi-detached property with reasonable stand-off margin, weather window the following morning was good.
By 14:00 the same day we’d emailed her a fixed quote: £750 for a Roof Recon, flight scheduled for Monday morning, PDF report by Wednesday morning.
The flight
Monday 11:14, on site. The pilot ran a pre-planned pattern of 11 waypoints, captured 214 visible frames and 142 thermal frames across four elevations, the roof plane, and the gutter line. Total flight time was 22 minutes. The homeowner was at work; access was through an unlocked side gate that she’d told us about during intake.
The standard pattern picks up four elevations, runs zoom passes on the front roof plane (which is where she’d flagged the concern), and finishes with a thermal pass for moisture-risk anomaly mapping. No roof access, no ladders, no scaffolding.
The find
Frame review confirmed her instinct. There were three findings in total:
- A1 — URGENT. A ridge tile on the front elevation was visibly displaced — about 30 mm out of line, with the bedding mortar partially exposed. Storm damage was the most likely cause. Without reseating before the next sustained rainfall, water ingress was a real risk.
- A2 — MONITOR. The east-run gutter showed partial sag and a build-up of leaf debris. Not urgent; suitable for the next maintenance cycle.
- A3 — COSMETIC. A hairline crack in the north-gable render. Not structurally concerning; can be addressed at next decoration.
Thermal capture flagged two warm anomalies on the front roof plane — both consistent with localised heat loss patterns. We noted them in the report but didn’t classify them as evidence of a defect on their own — recommended for confirmation if a wider energy audit was in scope.
The report
The PDF evidence pack went out at 09:00 Wednesday, promptly after the flight. Six pages:
- Cover with mission ID, capture date, pilot, frame count
- Executive summary in plain English
- Annotated frames showing A1, A2, A3 with their evidence frames
- Thermal anomaly map of the front roof plane with T1 and T2 marked
- Repair priorities — urgent / monitor / cosmetic
- Deliverables and scope page
The full image archive was also delivered via a download link — 214 visible frames, 142 thermal frames, MSX-blended frames cross-referenced.
The outcome
The homeowner forwarded the PDF to her insurer on Wednesday afternoon. The insurer accepted it as evidence of damage on the first review, authorised an in-person inspection by a roofing partner the following week, and the ridge tile was reseated before the following weekend’s forecast rain.
Total time from her noticing the problem to the repair being scheduled: 9 days. Total cost to the homeowner of the survey: £750. The insurer covered the cost of the repair under the storm-damage clause.
What this typifies
This kind of mission is the bread-and-butter of Roof Recon — suspected storm damage, homeowner needs evidence for an insurer, fast turnaround. Most of them resolve cleanly when the survey is done right. The pattern: capture enough that the insurer’s adjuster doesn’t have to ask follow-up questions, deliver fast, deliver in writing.