A roof inspection report should do three things: identify exactly what was inspected and when, describe the condition of that roof in specific and located terms, and be clear about what the inspection did not cover. Most reports that get argued over later fail on the second or third point — not because the inspector was wrong, but because a reader six months on cannot work out which part of the roof a photo shows.
Below is the structure of a report that holds up, whether the job is a single house in Melbourne’s south-east or a commercial roof inspection across a multi-building industrial site. At the end there is a section on who writes which part, because that division matters more than most people expect.
1. Property and site identification
The first page should leave no ambiguity about which building the report covers. Full street address, suburb and postcode, and where relevant the lot and plan number from the Certificate of Title. On a multi-building site, name each building against a site plan — “Warehouse B” means nothing without a plan showing where B sits.
Include the client, the party who commissioned the inspection, and the purpose. A report prepared for a pre-purchase decision reads differently from one prepared for an insurance claim.
2. Date, time and conditions at capture
Record the date of inspection, the time window, and the weather at the time. This is not filler. Ponding water photographed the morning after heavy rain tells you something different from ponding water in a dry week. Wind, cloud cover and light all affect what an inspector or a camera can see, and stating them stops the report being read out of context later.
If the roof was inspected on more than one occasion, list each date separately.
3. Scope and limitations
The most valuable section, and the one most often thinned out. Scope states what was assessed: which roof planes, which elements (sheeting, flashings, gutters, penetrations, safety mesh, plant), and to what depth. Limitations state what was not: areas obscured by plant or solar arrays, sections not safely accessible on the day, ceiling spaces not entered, no destructive testing performed.
A report that says “the northern plane was not accessible due to adjacent plant and has not been assessed” is far stronger than one that quietly omits it. Honest limitations are what make the rest of the document credible.
4. Methodology
How the inspection was carried out. Visual from ground level, from a ladder at eaves, on-roof access with fall protection, aerial capture, thermal, or a combination. Name the equipment where it matters, and state the standard or guidance the assessment was made against.
Where aerial capture forms part of the method, the report should say who flew it, under what authorisation, and what was produced — stills, orthomosaic, elevation model. In Australia that means naming the operator and confirming the flight was conducted under CASA rules by a licensed remote pilot. It is a single line, and it closes off a whole category of later objection.
5. Roof plane inventory
Before defects, an inventory. Each roof plane or area listed with its material (Colorbond or Zincalume sheeting, tile, membrane, metal deck), approximate age or generation if known, pitch, drainage arrangement, and any rooftop plant sitting on it.
On commercial roofs this section does the heavy lifting. A large industrial roof is not one thing — it is a set of areas with different ages, membranes and histories of patching. Treating it as one roof produces recommendations nobody can budget.
6. Defect schedule
The core of the report. Each defect gets its own numbered entry with:
- Location — roof plane or grid reference, not “rear of building”
- Description — what was observed, in neutral terms
- Probable cause — where the assessor can reasonably form a view
- Severity or priority — against a rating scale that is defined in the report, not assumed
- Photo references — the image numbers that show it
Defining the scale matters. “Moderate” means nothing on its own; “Moderate — active or imminent water ingress, rectify within 3 months” means something a facilities manager can act on.
7. Photographic evidence with positional reference
Here is the single most common weakness in roof reports: a photo with no location reference.
You have seen it. A page of close-ups of rusted screws, split sealant and lifted flashing, captioned “typical corrosion observed”. Which screws? On which plane? Two years later, when the question is whether that defect existed before a storm or after it, an uncaptioned close-up proves almost nothing. The photo is real. It is just not evidence of anything specific.
The fix is not more photos. It is anchoring the photos to the roof. Two things do that:
An orthomosaic — a single geometrically corrected top-down image of the whole roof, stitched from many overlapping captures, in which every point sits in its correct relative position. It becomes the report’s base map. Defect 14 is not “near the middle”; it is a marked point, with the same coordinates every time anyone opens the file.
Tagged imagery — every individual frame retaining its capture metadata: date, time, camera and position. When a close-up carries its own positional data, it can be placed back on the base map without anyone relying on memory.
Together these turn a photo album into a located record. The inspector can point at the plan and say “this defect, here” — and can do it again on a re-inspection much later, from the same viewpoint, and show whether it moved.
8. Recommendations
Prioritised, costed where the author is qualified to cost them, and tied to defect numbers. Separate immediate safety items from planned maintenance and from end-of-life replacement, and give a re-inspection interval. Recommendations should be written by the person carrying professional responsibility for them — not by the imaging operator.
9. Appendices and raw data
The part most reports skip. Appendices should include the full image set rather than only the images that made the body of the report, the orthomosaic and any elevation or drainage model, a manifest listing every file delivered, and a note on file integrity — checksums or an equivalent ledger, with metadata left intact.
Delivering the raw capture alongside the report means the next person can verify rather than take the summary on faith.
Who writes what
This is worth stating plainly, because the line is often blurred in marketing and it should not be.
The licensed roofing contractor or building consultant writes the condition assessment, the defect classification, the probable causes, the severity ratings and the recommendations. They carry the professional indemnity and the qualification to form those opinions. We are not roof plumbers, registered building inspectors or engineers, and nothing we produce replaces their judgement.
We supply the evidence layer. CASA-licensed aerial capture of the roof, delivered as an orthomosaic, high-resolution inspection stills, and elevation and drainage data where it is useful — and, with our Site Record Packs, a cover sheet, methodology statement, file manifest and integrity ledger, metadata intact. Repeatable, so a later capture can be compared against the first.
A consultant’s report is much harder to argue with when every observation in it points at a located image. That is the proposition: we make the report defensible, we do not write it.
What to look for in a roof inspection report sample
If you are reviewing a sample before engaging someone, check three things. Does the scope section say what was not inspected? Can you tell, from any photo, where on the roof it was taken? Is there a defect schedule with a defined severity scale, rather than prose paragraphs of observations? A sample that passes those three beats one with a nicer cover.
Frequently asked questions
What should a roof inspection report include?
A complete roof inspection report includes property identification, the date and weather at inspection, a scope and limitations statement, the methodology used, an inventory of roof planes and materials, a numbered defect schedule with locations and severity ratings, photographic evidence tied to positions on the roof, prioritised recommendations, and appendices with the raw imagery and file manifest.
Can a drone replace a physical roof inspection?
Not entirely. Aerial capture gives complete, safe coverage of surfaces that are hazardous to walk, and produces a located record of the whole roof. It cannot assess what sits under the sheeting, test fixings, or enter a ceiling space. It works best as the imagery layer beneath a qualified inspector’s assessment, not as a substitute for it.
Who is qualified to write a roof condition assessment?
A licensed roofing contractor, a registered building inspector, a building consultant or an engineer, depending on the building and the purpose of the report. Aerial imaging operators supply captured data and mapping — we do not classify defects or make repair recommendations, and any report claiming otherwise should be questioned.
How is a commercial roof inspection different from a residential one?
Scale and structure. Commercial roofs are usually multiple areas of differing age, membrane type and repair history, often carrying significant plant. A commercial roof inspection needs an area-by-area inventory, a grid or plan reference so defects can be located precisely, and recommendations broken down by area so they can be budgeted and staged.
Why does photo location matter so much in a roof report?
Because an undated, unlocated photo of a defect proves the defect existed somewhere, at some point. It cannot establish where on the roof, or support a comparison against a later inspection. Positionally referenced imagery — anchored to an orthomosaic and carrying intact capture metadata — lets any reader find the exact spot again and assess change over time.