We thought the pinnacle of new roofing technology had been reached with Elon Musk’s new solar panels. However another recent development has still managed to surprise us.
DPR have years of experience in repairing and installing roofs in on both commercial and domestic properties. When we carry out a survey and give an estimate, thanks to our experience, it is always a very accurate estimate and we rarely deviate from it.
However, other firms do not have our experience, and have found a very novel way of working around this. There are two firms across the pond who are now using satellite imagery to give potential customers estimates of cost for having a new roof installed.
The two companies, Roofr, based in Toronto Canada, and Viirt in Portland Oregon, uses google maps, coupled with a very clever algorithm, to give very accurate estimates for a new roof installation.
The customer finds their home using google maps on each company’s websites, they then draw an outline around their home and input whether it is shallow, medium or steep pitched. Some very clever things happen and then an estimate is presented. This estimate can then be floated to a few contractors, if they wish to proceed with the job.
The process is quite accurate, with contractor’s bids usually coming in within 5% of the estimate amount, however it is far from perfect. If trees are obscuring the view, or if the roof in a particularly odd shape then the software can have trouble processing it.
It is a very interesting way of doing things, and Viirt has attracted $900,000 worth of investments from venture capitalists. However here at DPR we know that nothing beats our experience. All our roofing engineers have years of experience and are fully qualified. Something extremely surprising has to happen for us to revise our estimates.
If you would like to learn more about any of our estimates then just give us a call on 0113 335 0043.