Information You Can Use
At Inspect.net, we believe information is the solid foundation for making good decisions. A home inspection is an objective evaluation of your home’s current state. Every piece of information we collect helps you make a better decision about whether to buy or sell a property.
Tools help evaluate various points in the comprehensive inspection. For example, a receptacle analyzer detects if an outlet is working properly. One outlet out of many may show an electrical fault.
We pioneered using Google Glass to create images of findings that go directly into the home inspection report. We don’t just mention a problem. We show you how it looks.
Now we’ve added drone technology to our arsenal of tools to help you understand your home’s condition.
What Is A Drone?
A drone, also called an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), is a small unmanned aircraft that is flown both recreationally and commercially. You may have seen kids out in the park flying drones for recreation. But drones carrying a camera work to visualize places that are hard to reach or inaccessible.
Home inspectors use drones commercially to augment their knowledge of your home to inspect a roof, rather than climbing a ladder and walking it; to get a closeup view of the upper exterior, when placing and climbing a ladder to do so may be difficult; and to get an aerial view of the entire property, including foliage, drainage, and fencing.
Commercial Drone Use Regulation
While kids can order a drone online for recreation and go out to the park to play, home inspectors must comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules and regulations in order to use a drone commercially.
These regulations require any person operating a drone outdoors for a commercial purpose to obtain a Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC), register their drone, and follow certain requirements when operating the drone.
The test involves 60 questions, and many are the same as those for commercial pilots. The regulations center around the safety of the community.
Safety in Place for You and Your Neighbors
Part of using a drone for inspections requires hours of practice operating the drone to avoid accidents. Attention to use requirements and control of the device are essential for safe operation. The FAA requires licensed operators to report any accident causing serious injury or more than $500 in property damage.
If necessary, alert neighbors to the fact the inspector will be using a UAV as part of the home inspection. Neighbors can think the drone is spying on them, letting them know may help prevent unnecessary calls to the police or even the downing of a drone being used to inspect a home.
More Detail Equals More Knowledge
At Inspect.net, we aim to give you thorough and impartial information about the condition of your property. The more details we can provide, the more you know. Every bit of information we provide helps in our overall evaluation. Most importantly, those details help you make an informed and wise decision about your next steps.
Drones facilitate gathering details that might otherwise be inaccessible because they can go to and see places a human cannot. That means more comprehensive information about places like valleys in a steep-angled roof or close observation of fascia, eaves, soffits, and parts of the structure that hide under the edge of the roof.
A drone can also help “see” drainage patterns on the ground from an aerial position, that can alert to exterior drainage conditions negatively impacting the foundation of the structure.
When we say, “We inspect everything,” we mean it. If you need a home inspection that delivers objective, impartial details so you can make a wise decision, call Inspect.net (510) 200-7555
