Astral Pic

Updated October 2026

Drone roof inspection for $229, flat

A Part 107 pilot photographs every slope, ridge, valley and penetration of a residential roof from the air for a flat $229, then writes a short note on what they saw. You get 30 to 50 stills on a private page within 48 hours. No ladder on your gutters, no stamped report, no pitch for a new roof.

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You pay only after a pilot accepts. We open city by city.

What is a drone roof inspection?

A drone roof inspection is a photographic survey of a roof taken from 20 to 100 feet above it instead of from a ladder. The pilot captures each slope straight down and at an angle, plus every ridge, valley, vent, flashing and skylight, so hail bruises, lifted shingles, cracked pipe boots and clogged gutters show up in sharp, dated images.

Who orders it

Homeowners after a storm, before calling the insurer or a roofer. Buyers before closing, when the home inspector will not walk a steep or tiled roof. Roofers who want photos before they quote. Property managers checking a portfolio once a year. Sellers who want to show a sound roof in the listing. In Dallas-Fort Worth most of this comes after hail: State Farm paid more than $5.6 billion in hail claims in 2025, $1.4 billion of it in Texas (State Farm newsroom, as read in our October 2026 market notes), and contractors describe April to August as peak hail season.

What it is not

The pilot is a licensed remote pilot, not a roofer, home inspector or engineer, unless they tell you otherwise. The note describes what is visible from the air. It is not a repair estimate, a certified inspection report or a claim document. There is no thermal imaging at launch, and commercial roofs go through the quote path instead of this package.

What does the Roof Check include?

Every Roof Check follows the same six-point shot list, so a roofer, adjuster or buyer sees the whole roof in a fixed order: an overview, each slope from two angles, every ridge, hip and valley, every penetration, the gutters and eaves on each side, and a short note. That is 30 to 50 stills, delivered within 48 hours.

  1. Overview of the whole roof from about 100 ft
  2. Each slope straight down and at 45 degrees
  3. Every ridge, hip and valley
  4. Every penetration, vent, flashing and skylight
  5. Gutters and eaves on each side
  6. A short note on what the pilot saw

The note is 20 to 1,000 characters written by the pilot before delivery: what looked lifted, cracked, missing or pooled, and what looked fine. The pilot cannot deliver without it.

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What do you receive, and when?

The stills and the pilot's note arrive on a private page within 48 hours of the flight, and only you, your pilot and Astral Pic staff can open it. You have 48 hours to approve or ask for one round of changes; if you say nothing, it is approved and your pilot is paid. Send the files to your roofer or insurer.

The files

Stills as plain image files you can download one by one or all at once, with the delivery date and the pilot's note on the same page. The pilot uploads within 24 hours of the flight. Nothing is watermarked. Download your copies; the page is for delivery, not long-term storage.

Who owns them

The pilot owns the copyright. Once payment is confirmed and you approve the delivery, you hold a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, edit and publish the files to market, sell, lease, finance, insure, inspect, repair, build or document the property, including sharing them with agents, contractors and insurers. Astral Pic shows a delivery as a sample only when you tick the consent box. Read the footage license.

If a slope is missing

Ask for changes once, within 48 hours of delivery, and say which slope or detail you need. The pilot re-edits or, if the shot could not be taken without another flight, says so, and you can talk it through in the job messages. When the pilot delivers again, a new 48-hour window starts and you approve. After that round you approve, and your pilot is paid within 7 days.

When can the pilot fly?

Daylight only, below 400 feet, with at least 3 miles of visibility, no rain, no sustained wind over 20 mph and no flight restriction over the address. Near a major airport or a Class D airport the pilot gets LAANC authorization first, usually in minutes. The pilot decides whether it is safe and legal to fly.

The rules behind that

The 400 foot ceiling and the 3 mile visibility rule come from FAA regulation 14 CFR 107.51. For a roof the pilot flies much lower, usually 20 to 100 feet above the ridge. The rain, wind and temporary flight restriction limits are ours, written into the weather policy.

After a storm

The day after a hail storm is often still windy. Give a window of three days or more and the pilot picks the calm morning inside it. If the pilot calls it off for weather or airspace you pay nothing extra and you pick a new window within 14 days.

Controlled airspace

Much of any large metro sits under Class B, C or D airspace around its airports. The FAA's LAANC system gives near-real-time authorization at 726 airports (FAA LAANC page, updated September 29, 2026, as read in our October 2026 regulatory notes). Where the facility map ceiling is low, the pilot files a further coordination request at least 72 hours ahead. We flag likely controlled airspace when you type the address.

How does booking work?

Booking takes about two minutes. You choose the Roof Check, type the address and a window of days, and confirm a few facts about the property. A verified pilot based nearby accepts, and only then do you pay $229 through a Stripe payment page. The pilot flies inside your window, uploads the files, and is paid after you approve them.

  1. Choose the Roof Check

    One package, one price. The $229 price, the $183 pilot payout and the six-point shot list are printed next to the package.

  2. Give the address and a window

    Type the address and press Find this address. Choose the property type, add access notes such as a gate code or dogs, give a phone number for the pilot, and pick an earliest and latest day up to 14 days apart.

  3. A pilot accepts, then you pay

    A verified pilot near the property accepts your job. You then pay through a Stripe payment page. A person at Astral Pic confirms the payment, usually within a few hours, and the pilot does not fly before that.

  4. Flight, files, approval

    Your pilot calls the day before and flies in daylight inside your window. The stills and note reach your private page within 48 hours. Approve them, or ask for one round of changes, within 48 hours. Your pilot is paid within 7 days of approval.

Cancel free until 5 pm the day before your window starts. If no pilot accepts by the end of your window, you were never charged. Cancellation policy.

How does the price compare?

Published US prices for a residential drone roof inspection run $150 to $400 in Drone Launch Academy's guide, $140 to $430 in HomeGnome's 2026 cost survey and $150 to $400 at Clever, against $85 to $220 for a walk-up inspection and $400 to $600 with infrared. Astral Pic charges a flat $229, and your pilot earns $183 of it.

The price includes a 20% platform fee. The rest is the pilot's payout, paid within 7 days of your approval. No travel fees, no rush fees, no size tiers, and the pilot does not set the price. The published ranges above were read in October 2026 and are listed with their sources in the drone roof inspection cost guide. The full menu is on the pricing page.

Questions homeowners and roofers ask

The short version: this is a set of dated photographs and a plain note, not a certified report; after a storm the limit is wind and how many pilots are free; and your roofer and insurer can use every image. The details are below. For a question about one address, book and put it in the notes for the pilot.

Is this a certified roof inspection report?

No. You get 30 to 50 photographs and a short note from a licensed drone pilot describing what was visible. It is not a stamped or certified report, a repair estimate or an insurance claim document. Roofers use the photos to quote without a ladder, buyers use them to decide whether to call a roofer, and adjusters can look at them, but your insurer will still run its own process.

How soon after a hail storm can a pilot fly?

As soon as a verified pilot near you accepts and the wind drops under 20 mph, which is often the day after. Give a window of up to 14 days and the pilot picks the first calm, dry morning inside it. After a large storm many roofs need photos at once, so windows fill faster; if no pilot accepts by the end of yours, you were never charged. We are recruiting our first Dallas-Fort Worth pilots now, so early bookings may wait longer.

Can my roofer or insurer use the photos?

Yes. Once payment is confirmed and you approve the delivery, you hold a perpetual, non-exclusive license to use, copy and share the files to inspect, repair, insure, sell or document that property, including handing them to contractors and insurers. The pilot keeps the copyright and may show the work in a portfolio without the address.

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We open city by city.

Now recruiting founding pilots. If no pilot accepts by the end of your window, you were never charged.

Book a Roof Check See prices