There are three realistic ways to inspect a domestic roof in Scotland: someone goes up a ladder, someone erects a tower or scaffold, or a drone flies it. They cost very different amounts and — more importantly — they leave you holding very different evidence afterwards.
The ladder inspection
Often free, usually offered by a roofer who would also like to do the repair. A ladder only reaches the eaves, so the inspection covers the gutter line and whatever can be seen leaning sideways. The output is a verbal description and a quote. If the diagnosis is wrong, or the price is high, you have nothing to compare it against.
The scaffolded survey
The gold standard for hands-on work: a surveyor can lift tiles, probe timber and test mortar. It is also the most expensive and slowest option once scaffold hire, erection and dismantling are counted, and it is rarely justified purely to find out whether a roof needs attention.
The drone survey
A drone photographs every elevation, ridge, valley, chimney and gutter run at close range in roughly twenty minutes, with nobody leaving the ground. The output is a set of high-resolution photographs with each defect circled, described and graded by severity. It is non-contact, so nothing can be lifted or probed — but for the question most homeowners actually have, which is "what is wrong and how urgent is it?", it answers better than a ladder and far cheaper than scaffold.
Side by side
- Cost: ladder free-ish, drone fixed £99 residential / £149 commercial, scaffolded survey typically several hundred pounds plus scaffold.
- Time on site: ladder 15 minutes, drone about 20 minutes, scaffold a day or more including erection.
- Coverage: ladder eaves only, drone every visible surface, scaffold whatever the scaffold reaches.
- Evidence: ladder verbal, drone photographic report with graded defects, scaffold written report plus photos.
- Independence: a drone survey from a company that does not do repairs has no incentive to find work.
Where a drone is the wrong tool: suspected structural movement, rot in hidden timber, or anything requiring a tile to be lifted. In those cases a drone survey is still useful first — it tells you where to put the scaffold.
What to insist on, whoever you use
Ask for photographs of every elevation, not just the damaged one. Ask for each defect to be graded, so you can separate "fix this month" from "keep an eye on it". And ask whether the person inspecting also wants to sell you the repair — not because that is disqualifying, but because you should know.