The competition amongst construction companies and in particular roofing contractors to win new business is as healthy as ever, so how can you use drones and thermal imaging data to gain an advantage when bidding for new roofing contracts?
When a new job comes to market it is not unusual for the client to not fully know what they need. How much of the roof is damaged, and to what extent? Is it water damaged or is there another issue that needs attention?
As an expert you are asked to investigate to find an answer to these questions and submit your quote accordingly, and it is likely that there are another 3 or 4 companies doing this in readiness to submit their quote. In a competitive market you need to be able to demonstrate that you know your trade and that you price your work fairly.
How can drones and thermal imaging give you an advantage?
To answer this, put yourself in the shoes of a local business requesting a quote to fix a roof which has been leaking. They ask two roofing companies to provide a quote.
Your competition visits the site, climbs up on to the roof, prods and pushes the surface a bit, takes some measurements and then goes on their way. They submit a quote to recover the whole roof at a cost of £10,000.
In contrast, you arrive on site with your trusted drone thermography partner and together carry out a full analysis of the roof condition. Firstly, the drone operator flies over the roof and takes a series of thermal images and videos which clearly indicates the areas of the roof that are suffering with water ingress. If you would like to know how this is done, please read our other article which explains the science of this and also how drones and thermal imaging are helping with energy efficiency.
The thermal images might show that only 30% of the roof has been affected by the water damage.
Whilst capturing the thermal imaging data we are also able to take high-resolution images of the roof and create a 2D or even 3D map of the surface. This allows you to accurately create dimensions for the areas of interest. It also allows you to inspect other aspects of the roofing, such as guttering, skylights etc. and potentially quote for additional work. You quote £7,500.
Why does all of this help you to win business?
All this data can be provided to the client at the point you submit your bid. A well-produced written condition report complete with images, 2D models, and thermal imaging data will give any prospect confidence that you are the best qualified business to carry out this work. It shows that you take time to fully understand the extent of the work required and that you are prepared to put yourself above your competition by embracing new technology and methods to make these decisions. It is 2022 and data tends to win every time.
In addition to all of this you can do it for 25% less money because you are only focusing on the areas that actually need replacing. Yes, you could have charged £10,000 and replaced the whole roof but this is not cost effective for you either because of materials and labour costs, that is if you had won the business in the first place. Everybody in this situation is going to benefit.
Can you fly a drone yourself and provide this data?
Yes, but you will need to undergo training to become licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority for commercial drone use. You will also need to invest in specific liability insurances for unmanned aircraft use and you will also need to ensure that you work with local air traffic control and other authorities to ensure you are operating legally. These are just the basics, there are other things to consider on top. Drones and thermal imaging sensors do not come cheap so expect to invest up to £20,000 to get started.
Or you can partner with an already established drone operator who can take this headache away from you.
Hopefully this article has provided some useful information about how you can improve the chances of winning new business by combining drone captured data as part of your bidding process.
If you would like to discuss a partnership with Skyball Visuals as your drone-based thermography provider please do get in touch.
Why work with Skyball Visuals?
Skyball Visuals is equipped with commercial grade drones and the latest radiometric thermal imaging sensors. We love drones and we love thermography and we’re quite nifty at it.
We are licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to carry out commercial flight operations and we adhere to very strict safety standards to ensure that all our flights are low risk and do not pose a danger to your employees, your property and uninvolved persons.
We are fully insured with industry specific public liability insurance of at least £5m, although I am pleased to say we have never needed it.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help your business win new contracts, please do get in touch as we like talking about this kind of stuff!
Call us on 0800 774 7140 or use the form below and we’ll get back to you.