Drone Inspections: A Guide to How Drones Are Used for Inspections

The industry for inspections has flourished lately with homeowners down to recreational vehicle owners wanting to make sure they are not investing in a lemon. The actual inspection can be carried out by a professional inspector or by the individual who is intending on buying the home,vehicle, or recreational vehicle. If you want to hire a professional inspector this can cost money and if you are doing it yourself you would first need to understand what you are looking for and some areas of inspection may become a bit too hazardous to do. That is where the idea for a RVI inspection comes in.

Now what is an RVI inspection you may ask? It is a “remote visual inspection” that is done by using various methods such as video probes, remotely operated cameras, and even video borescopes. This has been done since the 1970s,however,we can now use a vehicle that makes it even easier and better to perform such inspections. That is with using drones. A drone can maneuver up into the air and get a birds eye view of a roof on a house instead of an individual going up a ladder and onto the roof which can become very dangerous. This has become a game changer in our society that at times we may not want to engage in going inside a structure for whatever reason.

The next question you may ask is what kind of RVI inspection equipment does an individual need to complete a job. There are several but the one we want to talk about today is using drones. A drone can be used in areas that might be very dangerous for a person to try to get to and look at. The camera on the drone is used to make a thorough inspection of an area then later a inspector can view the information to determine safety, structural soundness, and this can be used even in areas that require regular maintenance without having to disassemble an area.

There are many benefits to using a drone in situations while a drone can be a person’s eyes there are also RVI inspection equipment that can be used such as sensors. Any kind of sensor that can be outfitted on to a drone are used. There are even HVAC inspections that are done using thermal imaging on a drone to indicate where heat is being lost outside of a structure. Using a drone can help in this scenario by helping a company not lose money on heating or cooling.

In the world of boilers, nuclear plants, and other dangerous areas for a person a drone is the best option to use. These inspection areas are inspected using standards that have to be adhered to by law. A company using a RVI inspection can save themselves money in downtime because a problem can be identified and corrected faster. There are even savings in temporary structures that have to be built for a person to visually inspect an area of a building such as scaffolding which can cost in the hundred of thousands of dollars.

There are many real estate agents as well using drones to create a virtual visual walk through of homes now which saves gas money, prep time of home, and saves a potential customer the time of having to go physically to the home. The best option to save time and money is using a drone. In today’s market drones are not as costly as they used to be depending on the added equipment you may need to complete an inspection.