Commercial Use of Drones in the Roofing Industry

A few enterprising companies are beginning to use drone aircraft to assist their businesses, much to the the dismay of the FAA. Until very recently, drones have only been used by the military for surveillance. However, businesses are going wild over the commercial applications, including those in the roofing industry.

White Castle Roofing in Lincoln, Nebraska, uses drones to help them create estimates for their clients. They recently used it on an apartment complex — 11 buildings, four stories high. It took them 10 minutes to do a flyby, capture video and make an assessment. Without the drone, this assessment would have taken them nearly six hours. In addition, they now have a visual record they can refer to throughout the job process.

Of course, the roofing industry isn’t the only one finding drones useful. News crews have used drones to shoot tornado and hurricane damage in areas where vehicles just can’t travel yet after a devastating storm. Real estate developers and agents are using it to give clients a birds-eye view of their properties. Farmers have been using drones for spot crop dustings. The companies who manufacturer drones say they can be used for a multitude of purposes: monitoring power lines, border patrol, surveying land, detecting gas leaks on pipelines, imaging and mapping and so many other functions they haven’t even thought of yet.

Restrictions on unmanned flights have been in place by the FAA for the past seven years, however, the FAA really has no way to monitor and track the flights, and no manpower to enforce the regulations. Generally, they don’t learn about the unmanned flights until they see it on the news or on YouTube. A near miss in Florida between a drone and a commercial aircraft has definitely upped the tension. Drones are typically restricted to altitudes of 400 feet or below for airspace safety. This drone was flying at 2400 feet, and a collision might have resulted in the drone being sucked into the commercial aircrafts engine causing catastrophic failure.

In November, The FAA plans to propose new rules on how small drones could be used legally for commercial purposes. The FAA is hoping to accommodate commercial use while still protecting folks on the ground, but safety is their main concern.