We photograph every tile before we quote a thing
A full drone survey of your roof — ridge, valleys, flashings, the lot. You see the same photos we do. No scaffold, no ladder marks, no taking our word for it.
Book a drone surveyA drone survey is a full aerial inspection of your roof — every slope, every flashing, every ridge tile — photographed in close detail. You get the photos. We quote off what the survey shows, not what we guess from the ground. No scaffold goes up, nobody climbs your roof to take a look, and the quote you get back is built on evidence you can hold in your hand.
You can’t quote a roof you haven’t seen
Most roofing quotes are guesses. Someone stands in your garden, squints at the roof from forty feet down, and writes a number. Or they put a ladder up, look at the one corner they can reach, and quote off that. Then halfway through the job the price changes, because what was actually up there was never on the quote.
A drone survey kills the guesswork. We fly the whole roof — every slope, both sides of the ridge, every valley, every flashing, the chimney, the verges — and photograph it close up. Then we quote off the photos. What you’re paying for is on the screen, not in someone’s head.
What the survey covers
The drone gets close to things a person on a ladder never reaches. On a normal house survey we photograph:
- Every slope and tile course, so slipped, cracked or missing tiles show up
- Both sides of the ridge and every hip, where dry-fix or mortar fails first
- Valleys and the leaf and moss that block them
- Flashings around the chimney, abutments and any roof window
- Lead work — splits, fatigue cracks, the bits that leak before anything looks wrong
- Verges, fascias and the gutter line from above
That’s the whole roof, in detail, without a single ladder against your wall.
You get the photos. That’s the point.
We’re not the cheapest roofer in Cheshire, and the homeowners who call us aren’t looking for the cheapest. They want to know what’s actually wrong before money changes hands. So we hand over the survey photos and a plain-English read of what they show. Cracked tile here. Lifted ridge there. Flashing that’s got two winters left in it.
You don’t have to trust a description. You can see it. We do before-and-after photos on every job we complete — the survey is where that record starts.
How the survey informs an honest quote
Once we’ve got the photos, the quote writes itself off evidence:
- We mark every fault on the photos — so you know exactly what we found and where.
- We separate “needs doing now” from “watch this” — not everything we spot is urgent, and we’ll tell you which is which.
- We price off what’s there — the right number of tiles, the actual run of flashing, the real scope. No round-it-up “allowances.”
- You decide with the photos in front of you — a repair, a section, or a full re-roof, costed against what the survey showed.
No surprises mid-job, because there’s nothing hidden. If the survey says the ridge needs three new tiles, the quote says three. If it shows the whole roof is past saving, we tell you that too — and the photos back it up.
Who books a drone survey
- A homeowner with a stain on the ceiling who wants to know where the water’s getting in before paying for a fix.
- Someone buying a house who wants the roof checked before they commit, without a surveyor scrambling about up there.
- A landlord or seller who wants a clear record of the roof’s condition.
- Anyone who’s been given a vague quote and wants a second opinion built on actual photos.
Three generations, behind every photo
We’re a third-generation Cheshire roofing firm. The team is in-house and fully insured — the same people who fly the survey are the ones who’d do the work, so nothing gets lost between the “looker” and the “doer.” We’re the most-reviewed roofer in Middlewich, and every one of those reviews is five stars. Work we put right is covered by our workmanship guarantee.
We survey across Cheshire and South Manchester — Middlewich, Knutsford, Altrincham, Northwich, Winsford, Holmes Chapel and the towns around them.
Book your survey
Call 01606 537305 and we’ll get a drone over your roof. You’ll have photos of every slope and a quote built on what they show — no scaffold, no guesswork, no obligation.
Phone: 01606 537305 Email: middlewichroofing@gmail.com
Common questions
Do I need scaffold for a survey?
No. The whole point of a drone survey is that nothing goes up. The drone flies the roof, photographs every slope and flashing close up, and lands. Scaffold only goes up if you go ahead with a repair or re-roof that needs it — and then the survey photos tell us exactly how much.
Will I actually see the photos?
Yes. You get the photos from the survey, not a summary of them. Cracked tile, lifted ridge, rusted flashing — you see what we see, in close detail. We do before-and-after photos on every job we complete, and the survey is where that starts.
Can you survey a roof I'm thinking of buying?
Yes. A pre-purchase drone survey shows you the condition of a roof before you commit — slipped slates, worn flashings, a ridge that's coming loose. It's cheaper to find out from photos than from the first winter in the house.
How long does a survey take?
The flight itself is usually 20 to 40 minutes on a normal house, depending on the size and shape of the roof. We send you the photos and a written read of what they show shortly after — not weeks later.
What if the drone can't fly that day?
High wind or heavy rain grounds the drone — we won't fly in conditions that give you bad photos. If the weather turns we rebook. We'd rather wait two days for clear footage than hand you blurred shots that prove nothing.
Does a survey commit me to using you?
No. The photos are yours. If you take them elsewhere, that's your call. Most people who see exactly what's wrong, and a quote built on it, stay with us — but there's no obligation in the survey itself.
Book a free survey
Get a fixed price, not a guess
We come out, run a drone survey, and put a fixed price in writing. No surprises once the work starts. We're not the cheapest — and the homeowners who call us aren't looking for the cheapest.