Drone roof inspection and Matterport survey for a London HMO conversion

Close-range drone roof inspection and a Matterport digital twin for a European coliving operator converting a Victorian terrace in West London.

Our client creates high-end shared homes across Europe, buying and converting period buildings into HMOs. On a Victorian terrace in West London, they needed hard evidence on the building’s condition before committing money, and a lasting record once the work was done. We delivered both, fully outsourced.

01 · Drone roof inspectionEvery roof plane, without scaffold

Old London roofs hide a lot: slates, flat roof coverings, parapets, chimney stacks and flashings that you cannot see properly from the street. Rather than scaffold a tight residential road, we flew close in and captured every roof plane, stack, coping and junction in high-resolution detail.

That level of detail let the client make the right call at pre-purchase and pre-construction stage, pricing repairs accurately and making sure the building was watertight before the fit-out started. Typical findings included:

Moss and vegetation on slopes, copings and party walls, with signs of trapped moisture
Bitumen patch repairs and weathered cappings to parapets and chimney stacks
The condition of flat roof coverings, dormers, rooflights and cable fixings

02 · Matterport 3D surveyOne scan, many uses

Once the conversion was complete we captured the whole building as a Matterport digital twin. One visit gave the client a measurable, walk-through record of every floor: a time-stamped record for snagging and handover, and immersive virtual tours for marketing the rooms to prospective tenants. The same scan can also produce floor plans and measured drawings on request.

Drone image of a patched parapet coping and moss on slates — **Close range** · patched parapet coping and moss on slates

Close-range drone image of a party wall, chimney pots and weathered capping — **Detail** · party wall, pots and weathered capping

Matterport virtual tour of a finished HMO communal kitchen — **Matterport** · finished communal kitchen, ready to market

Matterport floor plan captured from the same 3D scan — **Floor plan** · layout captured from the same scan

Decide before you spendDefects found and priced ahead of purchase and build

Watertight from day oneRoof issues fixed before the fit-out, not after

One scan, many usesSnagging, handover, marketing and floor plans

Fully outsourcedWe plan, fly, capture and deliver

Questions about this project

Can a drone inspect a roof on a narrow residential street?

Yes. Our enhanced CAA permissions allow close-range flights near buildings and people, so we can inspect terraced roofs without scaffold, road closures or disturbing neighbours.

Is a drone roof survey useful before buying a property?

Very. High-resolution imagery of every roof plane, stack and parapet lets you price repairs before you commit, rather than discovering them after completion.

What is a Matterport survey?

A Matterport scan creates an accurate 3D digital twin of a building’s interior that you can walk through online. It is used for handover records, snagging, marketing and producing floor plans.

Buying, converting or maintaining a building?

Get the condition evidence you need before you commit, and a lasting record once the work is done.

Plan your project Talk to us