Who turns up
One person, from the first phone call to the report
Sam Hembury, Exeter
Sam Hembury runs this and flies it. Base is Exeter, which is central enough to reach most of Devon inside an hour and a good part of Cornwall, Somerset and west Dorset inside two.
The background is construction rather than photography, and that shows up in the reports more than anywhere else. Knowing what a lead soaker is supposed to look like, or why water is standing in one corner of a flat roof, is the difference between a photograph of a problem and an explanation of one.
The qualifications are a CAA operator registration with both an Operator ID and a Flyer ID, and an A2 Certificate of Competency, which is what allows closer flying to buildings and to people not involved in the work. There is no General Visual Line of Sight Certificate, so anything needing one is turned down rather than flown and hoped for. Commercial insurance is with Coverdrone and the certificate goes to anybody who asks before a visit.
The aircraft are a DJI Mavic 4 Pro, with a 100 megapixel Hasselblad camera and 6K video, and a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced carrying a 640 by 512 radiometric thermal camera for the jobs where the answer is a temperature difference rather than something you can see.
On the record
Registrations, kit and cover
CAA registered operator
Operator ID and Flyer ID both held and current with the Civil Aviation Authority, which is the baseline for flying commercially in UK airspace.
A2 Certificate of Competency
The A2 CofC, which allows closer flying to buildings and to people not involved in the flight than the basic qualification does. It does not extend to flying over crowds, and nothing on this site suggests it might.
DJI Mavic 4 Pro
A 100 megapixel Hasselblad camera and 6K video. Enough resolution that one flight can produce both a photograph fit to print and a frame close enough to read a hairline crack.
DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced
A 640 by 512 radiometric thermal camera for the jobs where the answer is a temperature difference rather than something visible: trapped moisture, heat leaving a building, a warm shape on cold ground.
Insured with Coverdrone
Full commercial cover, and the certificate goes to anyone who needs to see it before a visit. Managing agents and site managers usually do, and asking is sensible rather than awkward.
A construction background
The person flying has worked in construction, which is why the report says what a defect is and where it sits rather than only that something looks wrong in a photograph.
Fixed price, agreed first
The price is set before the visit and travel inside the coverage area is part of it. No hourly creep, no mileage added afterwards.
Written report within 48 hours
Where the job needs a report, it lands within 48 hours of the flight. Photograph-only jobs have their delivery date agreed at booking instead.
DJI Mavic 4 Pro
A 100 megapixel Hasselblad camera and 6K video. It is the aircraft that does most of the work here, because the same flight can produce a photograph good enough to print and a frame close enough to read a cracked tile.
DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced
A 640 by 512 radiometric thermal camera alongside the visual one, for the jobs where the answer is a difference in temperature rather than something you can see: damp under a flat roof, heat leaving a building, a warm shape on cold ground.
How we work
How the work is approached
The name of the service is our problem
Nobody should have to learn a vocabulary before they can ask for help with a leaking roof. Describe the problem however it comes out and the right service gets matched to it at this end.
Turn work down where it does not fit
Some jobs need a ground survey with instruments, a roofer with a ladder, or a qualification that is not held here. Saying so on the phone costs five minutes and saves a wasted visit and a bad report.
The weather decides the day
A survey flown in the wrong conditions produces photographs you cannot use, so flights get moved rather than forced. That is inconvenient once and useful every time afterwards.
Report what is there
Reports say what was found and where it is. They do not price the repair, because pricing work off a photograph is guesswork, and they do not pad the list to look thorough.
Hand over to the site that fits better
This is the front door of a group of sites, each built around one job. If a missing dog, a thermal reading or a storm claim is what you actually have, the specialist page is linked rather than buried.
See which one fits
Tell us what you need with Drone Services Devon
Tell us the address and what you need looking at. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price and the next available slot.