Anyone do aerial roof measurements your self? i use

Anyone do aerial roof measurements your self? I have seen all (most) the paid sites and i see that they are great and i’m sure some of you use them all the time. thats one way to do it but if i get 15 or more calls a week that can add up quick. I use bing, google maps and google earth and do great but i know there is a better way or site out there. or at least some tools to help me get better at it. I can’t swallow paying $50 to $100 a report when all i’m doing is biding the job. It only takes me 5 mins to do it my self and i’m almost all ways with in a bundle or 2 the way i do it now. any one have a site or program i should look into. Thank ahead of time for any input.

Also i would like to find or make a chart that has the rake edge numbers per pitch
Example.
If the house is 28 feet wide and a 4 pitch it is 16 foot from the drip to peak
If the house is 32 feet wide and a 4 pitch it is 18 foot from the drip to peak
If the house is 28 feet wide and a 6 pitch it is 19 foot from the drip to peak
and so on

I bought a Pictometry license a couple of months ago. Works great.

Break out your geometry and trigonometry books, what you’re asking for is relatively simple math calculations.

eagleview has website and standard report is good for $30

You can use Google Sketch Up with Google Earth to do take offs.

[quote=“Authentic_Dad”]I bought a Pictometry license a couple of months ago. Works great.

Break out your geometry and trigonometry books, what you’re asking for is relatively simple math calculations.[/quote]

How much is that license? And how long is it good for?

And I know it is simple math. i have a ruff idea in my head but would like to make a chart of some sort so i have exact numbers on the fly.

$30. thats not too bad. But i still think i would prefer to do it my self. I will try a few and see if it is worth it to me. It will save me some time.

ok thanks. I just downloaded that and will check it out later.

This book is about $16.00…it was designed for a framer but can be used by roofers. Has measurements for all pitches for each roof category (hip, gable), overhangs, no overhangs.

Find a pitch for a hip roof…it will tell you the exact measurements for your hip baords (hip meas. for ridge install) for overhangs or no overhangs, valley meas. For gables…rafter meas. and so on.

The point is …Just get the pitch then put your trust in the book and you can measur a roof without getting on the roof!

[quote=“wadman1”]Anyone do aerial roof measurements your self? I have seen all (most) the paid sites and i see that they are great and i’m sure some of you use them all the time. thats one way to do it but if i get 15 or more calls a week that can add up quick. I use bing, google maps and google earth and do great but i know there is a better way or site out there. or at least some tools to help me get better at it. I can’t swallow paying $50 to $100 a report when all i’m doing is biding the job. It only takes me 5 mins to do it my self and i’m almost all ways with in a bundle or 2 the way i do it now. any one have a site or program i should look into. Thank ahead of time for any input.

Also i would like to find or make a chart that has the rake edge numbers per pitch
Example.
If the house is 28 feet wide and a 4 pitch it is 16 foot from the drip to peak
If the house is 32 feet wide and a 4 pitch it is 18 foot from the drip to peak
If the house is 28 feet wide and a 6 pitch it is 19 foot from the drip to peak
and so on[/quote]

wadman, if I understand you correctly, you are talking about a looking into the rake and it the house width you refer to is between the eaves? I must not be understanding you correctly because if the width is 28 ft, 1/2 would be 14 feet. The rise in this case would be 4.667 feet. I’m thinking what you are looking for is the rafter length, that only makes sense. So it is the hypotenuse of the triangle you are wanting to solve for.

Assuming you know the width, then 1/2 of that is the “adjacent” length of the triangle formed between the rafters and the base. You can easily solve for the rise, it would be x/12 x 1/2 of the width (the adjacent) with x being the pitch. Then you would solve for the hypotenuse by dividing the adjacent length by the cosine of the angle formed between the rafters and the base.

Do you have Excel? If so, I could put together a simple excel sheet where you could plug in the width and the pitch and it would automatically calculate the hypotenuse (rafter length) and send it to you. Every pitch has a fixed angle (example: 7/12 is 30.26 degrees) so this is fairly simple.

Here’s another way that is probably easier. rafter length = 1/2 width / cosine of the angle. If you simply look up the cosine values for the various pitches, divide that into 1, you will have the multiplier you want to solve for the rafter length. For example, the pitch angle for 6/12 is 26.57 degrees. The cosine of 26.57 is .8943. If you take your example, if the width of the house is 28, the adjacent or 1/2 of that would be 14. 14 divided by .8943 = 15.65 ft (not exactly 16 feet). The easier way to do this would be to divide 1 by .8943 which = 1.12. If you multiply the base or adjacent by this number, you get the rafter or hypotenuse (1.12 x 14 = 15.65). Just do this math for all the pitches you want and you’ll have a multiplier for each pitch that would always give you the rather length when you know the width and the pitch.

Below are the multipliers you can use to calculate the rafter length when you know the width and the pitch. Just take 1/2 of the width and multiply by the number associated with the pitch below and it will give you the rafter length:

3/12 1.03
4/12 1.05
5/12 1.08
6/12 1.12
7/12 1.16
8/12 1.20
9/12 1.25
10/12 1.30
11/12 1.36
12/12 1.41

I think this is what you’re looking for. If not, let me know. I did this pretty quick but I think I got the numbers correct.

wow. thanks for all that. and yes i am looking for the rafter length. When i go out to a job i get on the roof 90% of the time. but if i get 15 calls in one day (my ads are too spread out and would take a full day or more to look at them all) so i will go on the computer that night and look at the roofs on bing maps. that tells me a ruff size by eye. then i can go to google earth and get the size of the foot print real easy. if it is a ranch that is 26 feet wide with a 4 or 6 pitch then i know the rake is about 16 or so and can give a ruff price before i go out there. this helps me land or weed out some of the jobs i would not have even looked at. Really what i need is another me to run my crew so i can go land jobs all day. but one of them sliding scales would be sweet. like this idcard.com/wheel-charts.aspx

or even a page like this would work for me

…20 25 30 35 foot flat
4 pitch= 16 18 19 21
6 pitch= 18 20 22 26
8 pitch= 20 24

My experince is nothing beats old fassioned way of getting on the roof and looking at it you can’t tell what your getting into from any of thoes programs. What does the chimney look like, are there any problem areas, walls from a roof under another, etc… A couple of our salesmen are not allowed to get on roofs to meas. and everytime they sell a job we get f@#%*d !!!

I always get on the roof for the estimate. I don’t understand how my competition can use a 2010 toyota camry and be taken seriously when they show up. However they have a lot of work and are pretty big…guess I better ditch the cummins! On my iphone I have a app that is called pitch gauge. It works great to find the pitch with the camera.

I don’t think any of this has anything to do with eliminating an inspection and first hand look at the roof. It is about getting accurate takeoffs. It’s about being able to put together an accurate estimate.

i always get on the roof before i commit to the job. all the stuff i’m talking about is for jobs that i would never even go see in person because i’m to busy. I look quick on the computer and call with a close price if they seem interested i take a ride out.

it’s funny you say that, i just lost a job to a guy that is working out of the back of a car. I don’t think the home owner knew what he was getting him self into when he went with the low bidder on this roof. I once lost a job because i showed up to bid the job with my car it was a ranch and i had a little giant ladder (fold up) in the trunk but did not feel the need to pull it out. And i also lost a job because i showed up in a brand new truck. At least that is what these two home owners said was the reason i did not get the jobs.

It’s pretty easy to just look and guess the pitch but a gage or app can reassure your guess. i had one on my last iphone. Whats the one called that you use?

exactly. i can usually get within a sq or 2 just buy looking at a house with google earth. this chart would just make it a little faster and a little more accurate.

And again this is for the hi i was wondering if you could give me a quick ruff quote on what it would cost me to do a roof guys, the relaters that call me and say my client “might” be buying this house (can you drop what ever your doing and waist 2-3 hours of your life for some one that dose not even own this home that wants to know how much it would cost to do a roof on it) and or the old lady that says my sons friend said it can be done for $2500 is that right. some or most of you would not wast your time looking at them but i pull up google maps get a ruff sq and price on it and call them back. I usually get 1 out of 5 of them.

I use assurecalc. Lower costs and they have great reports! I actually know the developers, so I got a copy of the software for my personal use, but you can go to their website and check it out. I love the service!

I tried Assurecalc, didn’t like it. You still have to know the pitches and have 2 reference measurements.

We believe that getting on the roof is best for the homeowner and
for our company. Using a measuring wheel like the ones the road workers
use can make things a little faster. What can also help is
Cougar Paw boots, a hook ladder, cushion,
roof jacks and small planks, etc. We carry all of those things to make sure we
can inspect and collect the measurements from the rooftop.
Run less leads or if you have to or hire an extra estimator.
If I was the homeowner
I might invest my 10,000 dollars with the contractor that spent the most time with
me and did the best inspection and estimate. There would be a lot of other factors,
but this would definetly be at the top of my list. Just my opinion.

Onarooftop

[quote=“onarooftop”]We believe that getting on the roof is best for the homeowner and
for our company. Using a measuring wheel like the ones the road workers
use can make things a little faster. What can also help is
Cougar Paw boots, a hook ladder, cushion,
roof jacks and small planks, etc. We carry all of those things to make sure we
can inspect and collect the measurements from the rooftop.
Run less leads or if you have to or hire an extra estimator.
If I was the homeowner
I might invest my 10,000 dollars with the contractor that spent the most time with
me and did the best inspection and estimate. There would be a lot of other factors,
but this would definetly be at the top of my list. Just my opinion.

Onarooftop[/quote]

i think so too. i would never sine a contract for a job unless i have done all that. It protects me and the home owner. I Never charge extras so i really need to know what i’m biding on. again this is for the “hi i was wondering if you could give me a quick ruff quote on what it would cost me to do a roof” guys or girls, the relaters that call me and say my client “might” be buying this house (can you drop what ever your doing and waist 2-3 hours of your life for some one that dose not even own a home that wants to know how much it would cost to do a roof on it) and or the old lady that says my sons friend said it can be done for $2500 is that right.

That is a good list of things needed to look at most roof. It took me a few roofs to trust that measuring wheel but they do save time. one of my trucks has a 200 foot tape i like too.