A thermal camera detects the rate at which different surfaces emit heat energy — not what is beneath them. Wet insulation under a roof membrane retains heat from the day's sun and gives it off more slowly than dry insulation. The thermal camera sees that temperature differential at the surface. What you receive is a georeferenced map showing exactly which areas of a roof, panel array, or structure are behaving differently from their neighbours — and a report explaining what that difference means.
For building envelope surveys, we fly approximately 2–3 hours after sunset on a cold, dry night. At that point solar radiation has fully dissipated and wet or damp areas retain heat visibly longer than dry areas. Daytime surveys — even on overcast days — are typically unreliable because residual solar reflection masks defects. Pre-dawn surveys miss the window because cold-soaking has equalised all temperatures. Timing is the most critical variable in thermal building surveys, and getting it right is what separates a qualified operator from someone just flying a drone with a thermal camera attached.
Find and fix air leaks to preserve your building's performance, energy efficiency and air quality.
Find and eliminate moisture intrusion to prevent rot and health problems associated with mould and mildew.
Reduce your energy costs and do your bit for the environment by finding and eliminating gaps in insulation.
Find delamination in concrete structures with little to no downtime. Quick, reliable and cost-effective.
Identify and resolve potential problems with electrical distribution equipment before they lead to failure.
Cold bridges can be responsible for up to 30% of a building's heat loss. With drone technology, they're easy to find.
Keep your photovoltaic array running safely and efficiently by finding and fixing issues in your solar cells.
Using thermography, it's easy to detect gas leaks which are harmful to human health and the environment.
The applications of thermal imaging in domestic and industrial environments are almost limitless. Ask us what it can do for you.
The 2–3 hour post-sunset window on a cold, dry night is when retained heat differentials are most pronounced. We plan every survey around ambient temperature, cloud cover, and the thermal mass of the specific roof material — not a fixed schedule.
Standard GCPs are not visible in thermal imagery. We use in-house thermal-compatible GCPs detectable in both RGB and thermal simultaneously — giving you a georeferenced orthomosaic usable in CAD and GIS alongside other survey data.
PID, bypass diode failure, soiling hotspots, and delamination all appear as temperature anomalies. A single sortie covers a full array with every panel documented — at a fraction of the time and cost of ground-level inspection.
No scaffolding, cherry picker, or traffic management required. Large commercial roofs, multi-building estates, and high-rise envelopes are fully imaged from the air — no part of the roof needs to be physically accessible.
Moisture under a membrane, missing insulation, thermal bridging, and air leakage are invisible to standard photography. They only appear thermally — and only when surveyed at the right time and in the right conditions.
The deliverable is a report with every anomaly located by GPS coordinates and marked on the georeferenced orthomosaic — not a folder of raw images. Facilities managers, surveyors, and insurers can act directly from the output.
Thermal imaging is incredibly versatile, and we use it in various types of inspections serving multiple industries.
Ensure solar panel efficiency from precise data collection
Get critical data on cell and telecommunication infrastructure
Assess damage quickly and with pinpoint accuracy
Keep production running while collecting instant critical data
Safer, more precise data collection at a fraction of the cost
Clearer, faster results without the risks
Fast, actionable data without the risks of traditional inspections
Inspect and maintain energy assets without risk or downtime
Instant, actionable data with no downtime
Record and document reliable visuals without safety concerns
Get fast, usable data from a safe distance
A more cost- and time-effective way to receive critical data
Efficient, fast and safe.
Instantly view complex structures, keeping risks to a minimum
Instantly usable data via a safer and more cost-effective process
Accurate, safe and instantly actionable data collection
Actionable data from a safe distance, with less downtime
Get actionable data on quality and operational health
Thermal building surveys are only reliable if flown in the correct window. The optimal time is approximately 2–3 hours after sunset on a cold, dry day. At that point the day's solar radiation has fully dissipated and areas of retained heat — wet insulation, damp patches, thermal bridges — are giving off their stored energy more slowly than dry surroundings. That differential is what the thermal camera records. Daytime surveys, even on overcast days, are typically unreliable because solar reflection at the surface masks the underlying differentials. Pre-dawn surveys miss the window because cold-soaking has equalised temperatures again.
The specific timing depends on ambient temperature, cloud cover, and the thermal mass of the roof material — a heavy slate roof holds heat differently from a lightweight metal deck. We plan survey timing around the site conditions rather than a fixed clock rule.
Thermal imaging does not see through materials. It detects the rate at which different surfaces emit heat energy. Wet insulation beneath a roof membrane retains heat from the day's sun and gives it off more slowly than dry insulation — the camera sees that temperature differential at the surface, not what is physically beneath it. Managing this expectation clearly is part of how we work: the output tells you where the surface is behaving differently, and an experienced engineer interprets what that means.
For thermal orthomosaic work on large flat roofs, standard ground control points are not always detectable in the thermal dataset. We use in-house thermal-compatible GCPs that are visible in both RGB and thermal captures simultaneously, enabling the thermal orthomosaic to be precisely registered to survey-grade coordinates. This makes the output directly usable in CAD and GIS environments alongside other survey data.
Complex surveys and inspections require more than just a pilot. Our engineers can help you scope your requirements and indentify the right approach.