I am a roofing contractor located in Brighton, Michigan. Part of my job is climbing onto a residential roof and providing the homeowner with a free estimate for their roof. Some roofs are very easy to climb, some are very steep and dangerous to measure. Until now, there has never been a service to aid in measuring steep roofs.
In 2008, Eagle View Technologies invented a service that would work along with Google Earth that would measure residential roofs. They created measurement software that would give an entire material list for supplies necessary to complete the job at a specific address. This service costs between $20-60. When you figure the costs involved in driving to the house, and the time spent measuring, this is a very valuable service to my business. This gives an alternative to climbing onto a roof to provide a free estimate to the homeowner.
Many of us roofing contractors have always looked for an affordable alternative to climbing steep roofs. This service will provide us a safer and less costly way, to measure steep roofs. This service says that it is 98% accurate. I would not lose very many jobs for adding 2% to my estimate.
This product seems like it would help out alot when you have to make a fair estimate on the roofs, it would be able to make your job safer and easier to look at a roof and make an estimate without climbing up there yourself and risk and injury.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds very useful and interesting, especially since I got my roof redone last summer and my contractor (who happens to be a family friend) joked about home difficult my roof was to climb. I feel that technology like that could provide you as a roofer with the ability to service more people at a given time. Your service speed, measurement accuracy, and budget may all benefit as well.
ReplyDeleteAs a customer, if my roofer is benefiting from technology, I must be able to as well. If you're able to assist me faster and provide me with a better estimate, the price can only be more affordable. And as a customer, cheaper is always better.
Using something for contracting for roofs is a great idea it would seem that it would be easier to estimate the cost of the roof. The accuracy seems to be pretty reliable too.
ReplyDeletePretty amazing stuff. I love Google Earth, it's getting so good that you can actually view the street you're looking at as if you were there. I can see this application being very useful in your profession. I wonder if they'll eventually map the whole earth out this way?
ReplyDeleteThis technology must really help cut down on the amount of roofing accidents there are. The less time spent on a roof, the less time you have to fall off of it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they will eventually come up with the technology to gage the quality of the roof. This would also help you save money by being able to find your target market better, seeing who needs new roofs without having to drive around through neighborhoods.
This software is so useful that it reduce the time to do the work and ensures relative security. And it gives faster way to finish work.
ReplyDeleteI did not know there was such a thing but it seems really cool. First off, it's only $20-60 like you say, so it's not anything too expensive and can really help out this business. You don't have to worry about people climbing on roofs and falling off and getting hurt while doing an estimate. It seems more efficient as well because now you guy's don't have to waste time driving out to the house and can possibly get more business because of the fact that your not tied up driving out to different places and you can just take phone calls, punch in their address and boom. Overall, it seems like something that would work very effectively and efficiently and it seems like a good tool.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! i have friends that are in seasonal roofing and i havent heard much about this yet. But anything that dramatically increases safety and saves some money is ideal! I think its really cool that its a joint venture too, just goes to show that when you're dealing with something on a more gloabl level(satellites) you need to work with other firms/people.
ReplyDeleteWow. I didn't know that they had anything like that out there. That is such a good price and a pretty good accuracy, with less risk of empolyees getting hurt. It sounds like a really good product.
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