I am a storm restoration sales person. I look for houses that have hail and wind damage to siding, roofing, and windows. My question is- 1. Is it legal to do roof inspection in Minnesota with a drone if I have the home owners consent. 2. Is it worth it? It wont be free to get one obviously so would I save time. 3. Any suggestions on which drone to buy? It needs to be stable, take video and pictures. My price range would be $1000-$2000. I have experience in flying drones so that won't be a problem. Let me know whay you think.
Only question the FAA will have is "are you using the drone for commercial applications". This will be your biggest hurdle with the new proposed regulations (do you really want to go through all this and spend the money it will cost?). As to state laws, your going to have to ask your state officials. Then liability insurance, what if your drone causes property damage or personal injury. You will need this too.
Definitely a bit of a gray area at this point - legit and legal can be two different things - or they can be the same thing! You are certainly not going to be arrested and in most (99.9%) of the USA there are no laws against flying....even more so when over private property (although the FAA makes no distinction, some towns do - for example, Austin TX. does not allow even launching)....in these cases, the town may be breaking the law themselves, but it's really the Wild West now in terms of drone use. The "non-commercial" use is very strange for this reason. Every journalist as well as those who write about, make little modifications and sell them, etc. are using them for "commercial" use. I make income from this site - so my drones are used commercially, although I don't charge money to end users. If I buy and fly a drone and write a book - that's commercial use! Many fire departments already are using drones informally. They are using it in a similar fashion to your use - "roof inspection". Book could be written about this - and, in addition, things are changing as we go...so it's probably better to address just the drone models, etc.. Building and roof inspections are one of the first larger scale uses likely to take hold. Lots of people are already doing it: http://www.advantagesocal.com/service-drone/ http://abihomeservices.com/louisville-ky-drone-inspections/ As to whether it would be worthwhile - that's something for the business person or contractor to figure out! If your area has lower slope roofs closer to the ground it may not help too much. If you have to inspect slate roofs 50 feet up that's another story. Drones not only cost money initially, but you are likely to lose or crash them relatively often. How often is up for debate.....but flying around close to buildings and trees can certainly cause problems to occur - especially if you are not a top-notch pilot. Sorry for not being more specific in terms of advice. I suppose if I was in the home inspection business I'd probably have one....but not use it exclusively nor specifically charge for it. It would be more a matter of a "hobby" so that I would be ahead of the game when the FAA finally admits that they don't control the airspace 1 inch above a blade of grass.
^^^^^^^ X 2 on Webman's advice ^^^^ To the OP: You will have a difficult time getting close enough to see hail damage through a camera, not impossible but rather difficult. You would need something at least as stable as a Yuneec Q500+ Typhoon or DJI Phantom. Your use of the drone will be limited to days of < 12 MPH winds to maintain stability. I can see it being beneficial on large 60> square roofs or steeper 12/12 style roofs, but you will still have to climb the roof at some point (when the insurance adjuster arrives). The end result is you would have a tool that many of your competitors don't have but it will not totally replace the need for you to do a "physical-climb-the-ladder-get on-the-roof" inspection.
