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The trade · Use case

The roof after the hailstorm

An owner, a contractor or an insurer wants to know what damage the hail has done. The result is documentation that holds up in front of the loss adjuster: every roof slope, every damage, with date, position and a scale.

Sources checked on 13 October 2026

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Scenario

After a hailstorm, the owner of a house or a warehouse calls: they have to open a claim with the insurer, or the contractor has to quote for the repair. Climbing onto the roof is slow and risky. The drone sees everything in half an hour.

Objective

To deliver the documentation of the damage as it was before any repair: every roof slope, every damage, with date, time and position, in a form the loss adjuster can use.

Risks

  • The roof is in an inhabited area: people in the street, in the courtyards, at the windows.
  • Obstacles: antennas, cables, chimneys, trees.
  • Incomplete documentation: a forgotten roof slope, photos without a scale, retouched photos.
  • Repairs start before the flight: the damage can no longer be proven.

Category

It depends on the drone you have and how close you are to people. The European rules, in the 'open' category:

  • A1 with a drone under 250 g or of class C0: the remote pilot may overfly uninvolved persons, "but shall never overfly assemblies of people" (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947, Annex, UAS.OPEN.020(2)).
  • A2: no overflight of uninvolved persons and "a safe horizontal distance of at least 30 metres from them", which can be reduced down to 5 metres in low speed mode, after an evaluation of the situation (UAS.OPEN.030(1)).
  • A3: "a safe horizontal distance of at least 150 metres from residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas" (UAS.OPEN.040(2)). On a roof in a built-up area this is usually not workable.

If no subcategory fits the place, you leave the open category and need the 'specific' category (Article 5(1)).

Drone insurance. EASA points out that most States require third-party liability insurance even for light drones: "please consult the national regulation" (EASA FAQ 116469).

Equipment

  • A drone with a good camera, suited to the chosen subcategory.
  • A scale reference for the close-up photos.
  • The list of roof slopes and elements to capture (gutters, chimneys, skylights, panels).

Recommended sequence

  1. Before leaving: zones and temporary restrictions, the owner's permission, a request that nobody repairs anything before the flight.
  2. On site: a walk round on foot, who is around, where to take off from.
  3. An overall shot of the building and of every roof slope, always in the same order (for example clockwise from the street side).
  4. Close-up photos of the damage, with a scale reference, and of the elements the hail marks most: metal sheets, gutters, flashings.
  5. The façades and the ground around, if they help to show the event.
  6. Before leaving, check that you have all the roof slopes.

Common mistakes

  • A forgotten roof slope: the loss adjuster asks for a second flight, when the repair may already have been done.
  • Close-up photos without an overall shot: nobody can tell where the damage is.
  • Photos retouched or annotated on top of the original: the original is kept intact, the arrows go separately.
  • No date and position on the images.

What to deliver

  • The report: list of damage slope by slope, each with an overall photo, a close-up photo, position and a line of description.
  • The original photos, not retouched.
  • The annotated photos, separate from the originals.

What evidence to keep

  • The originals with their metadata (date, time, position).
  • The flight in the logbook: drone, pilot, place, time.
  • Who received the report and when.

How it works in Dronetrake

  • The quote is built line by line: site visit, flight, report.
  • Every damage is an inspection finding of the mission: title, severity, description, recommendation, position and the photo it comes from.
  • Annotations on photos are a separate layer: the original photo is not touched, and every version of the annotation stays with the photo's fingerprint, the author and the time.
  • Every uploaded file has its fingerprint and its upload time.
  • The report and the photos are delivered through the client portal, with its own link.

Sources

The rules cited were read at the source on the date shown. The official text prevails. This chapter is information, not legal advice.

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