Absolute no nothing wanting to utilise drone for surveys

[No Gear and No Idea]

Good Morning,
I am hoping some of you guys will beable to advise me.
I am an estimator at a roofing company and for the longest time I have wanted to incoprorate a drone into our kit.
I saw the DJI mini 3 for sale this weekend at a reasonable price and would like to know how one goes about making drones ready for measuring a given area.
Is this something that drones and their pre installed software are capeable of or do I need to then purchase a programme after buying the drone to do this.
A couple of programmes I have seen that look like they are what I need are Propeller Aero, Hammer Missions and Virtual Surveyor.
When I research online there seems to be countless software options but they rarely list the price and I dont want to buy a drone if the software is twice the price of said drone.
Just looking for some pointers and advice really from someone with actual knowledge unlike myself.
TIA

 

[Stu]

I'm not being smart, but I'd advise you learn how to fly before investing in suitable software. No quads don't come supplied with suitable software and I'm not sure if there's any freeware versions. Try sending off a few emails to software manufacturers and ask for prices. Be cheeky and phone somebody in the business of surveying someone in another state may be better. Ask them if they recommend a good package. I'm betting you'll require a license if you're making money from your venture or using it for business.

 

[Brutalwarpig]

For accurate mapping and locating a specific Geospatial location you really need RTK capabilities. This is a special device that some drones such as the Mavic 3E or Autel Evo 2 RTK have. It's usually a very noticeable somewhat large hump on the top of the drone. If you are okay with a GPS accuracy of +/- 16 feet then many drones are capable of giving you their GPS position at any given point of a flight but it's a low resolution position. A drone with RTK capabilities can give you a GPS position that is accurate down to 1 centimeter. Unfortunately a RTK equipment drone will be at least $3000 and probably more like $5000. For doing roof inspections or home inspections a FLIR type thermal camera could be useful for locating cool or hot spots on a home. Of course, thermal and multispectral cameras are fairly expensive too. I hope this information is helpful.