Blog · Roof reports · November 2026
Desktop roof reports: roof measurements without a flight
Sometimes you need roof numbers before anyone can get to the house: to price a job, check a quote or think about solar. A desktop roof report measures the roof from public lidar and aerial photos, for $20, usually within one business day.
Who it's for
- Roofers pricing a job from the office: squares with waste, pitch on every slope, and the trim list, before driving out.
- Homeowners checking whether a roofing quote's measurements add up.
- Anyone thinking about solar, who wants to know how many panels fit and what they'd really save, from someone who doesn't sell panels.
- Agents and buyers who want the roof's size and shape during a sale, before an inspection is booked.
How it's measured
Florida has been scanned from the air with lidar: a laser that records millions of points, each with its height, across the whole state. The scans are public, through the US Geological Survey. From those points we can tell where a roof is, where each slope begins and ends, and how steep it is. The Florida Department of Transportation also flies the state for aerial photos, which show the roof from above.
- You check the address. We look up which lidar scan and which aerial photo cover it, and show you the years before you pay.
- You click your roof on the photo and fit a box around the building, so we measure the right one.
- We draft the roof from the lidar. Each slope is outlined and its pitch measured from the scan's heights, not traced from the photo. Aerial photos lean roofs a metre or more to one side, so outlines drawn on a photo straddle the ridges; the lidar doesn't lean. We line the photo up to the measured roof so the two match.
- We check it before you see it. An AI check looks for trees hanging over the roof and for separate roofs that were joined, and the roof is drafted again with those fixed. Then we look over every report ourselves before it's released to you.
- You get it in your own client portal, with a link by email.
What's in the report
- Roof area in squares, measured along the slope (what roofers price on), with a suggested waste allowance.
- Every slope numbered on the photo, with its pitch, the direction it faces, and its flat and sloped area.
- Edge lengths: ridges, hips, valleys, eaves and rakes, drawn on a roof diagram, plus a trim and flashing list to order from.
- A solar estimate: how many panels fit on the slopes worth covering, the shade from nearby trees and buildings, what they'd produce each month, what that's worth at the home's own utility rate, and the payback. You can change the panel, the price per watt and the home's usage, and check an installer's quote against it. We don't sell or install panels, so it's a straight answer.
- The map itself, with the lidar relief and the aerial photo, where you can measure anything else you need.
- Downloads: a printable report (or save it as a PDF), a CSV of the numbers, the aerial photo, and the elevation model as a GeoTIFF.
How accurate it is, and when a drone is better
For a typical single-family roof with a clear view from above, the lidar gives dependable pitch and area. But it's a scan from a past year, at a resolution made for mapping a state, not for one house. A desktop report is the wrong tool when:
- Trees hang over the roof. The scan can't see under branches, so slopes there are estimated or missed.
- A porch, carport, patio cover or pool cage is attached. Low or flat roofs next to the main roof can be merged into it or measured short.
- You need more than one building, such as a detached garage or a shed. Only the building you click is measured.
- The roof has many small slopes, dormers or steps, or solar panels. Small pieces and panel rows blur where one slope ends and the next begins.
- The roof has changed since the scan, or you need its condition: damage, missing shingles or wear. A desktop report measures shape; it can't see what the roof looks like today.
It also isn't a survey, and it isn't an inspection. We show the scan's year when you order, so you know how old the data is before you pay.
Start with the desktop report, then fly if you need to. If you book a drone roof report for the same property within 30 days, the $20 comes off it. The drone report adds current, close-up photos of every slope, a map and elevation model made that day, and an optional AI condition review that one of our pilots checks. The credit applies if it's a property we can fly; the desktop report is a finished product on its own, so it isn't refunded if we can't.
Ordering
Enter the address on our homepage. You'll see the lidar and photo years for that property, click the roof, fit the box, and pay. The report usually arrives within one business day.