Right now, we just take up some grid paper, draw the roof measure it out and start to calculate it. My gut tells me there is some way to do this with a tablet. I have a Samsung Galaxy S tablet, and I would think with a stylus I could draw this out on roof, and measure some things up. Even if I still calculate by hand…
I had a customer tell me about a carpet guy that basically drew the house on an ipad, and calculated up the sq footage etc on the spot. There has to be something like that for roofs…
Nothing out there I’m aware of. The difference with the carpet is that it doesn’t have a pitch to it.
I’ve been told Pictometry is working on their iPhone and Android App. Pictometry would work well with true Windows powered tablet and an air card. Anyway, once their iPhone/Android App is available, you will be able to calculate the roof area and get your measurements/takeoffs as well. I developed a rather robust and automated Excel Workbook for doing cash bids in conjunction with getting our takeoffs from Pictometry.
The problem that I can see using pictometry or something is that a report takes a day or two to get doesnt it?
I was looking for a way to simplify the process on the roof at a home. I do a lot of door knocking…in fact…I have not sold a roof that was not from door knocking. So I go up on a roof, if there is hail damage, then I sketch it and do an estimate.
I am pretty new, so my sketches are bad sometimes…lol. Also, sometimes takes me a while to figure out the measurements (on odd, cut up roofs etc…just not enough experience I guess)
Just looking for a technological way to help out that process some. Like you said, with pitch…may not be available yet.
Pictometry provides two services. One is the roof reports from the company they purchased which used to be known as Geoestimator. The other is to provide aerial imagery from which you can get your own takeoffs. That is the service I am referring to. You can either purchase it on an hours used basis or get a full time license. Log in, type in the address and get the aerial image. Now you can get both straight line takeoffs (eave, rake, ridge, hip, valley) or you can get the area(s). Now keep in mind, what you get are the flat lengths and areas so you have to apply pitch multipliers for the rake, hip and valley as well as the areas. I took care of that in my Excel Workbook. I’ve compared this to sketches in CAD now (RoofCAD or Xactimate) multiple times and found it very accurate. Bottom line, I can create a cash bid in less than 15 to 20 minutes as long as I have the pitches and roof penetrations. That’s a ton faster than taking physical measurements then doing trigonometry to come up with the area of each roof slope.
The report itself is not a complete solution but utilized in conjunction with and on-site walk on and a full set of site pictures
it works very well to quickly calculate most of the more time consuming issues. Beware though that occasionally they miss
a dormer roof, garage, etc. I always double check their reports against my on-site photos.
The report itself is not a complete solution but utilized in conjunction with and on-site walk on and a full set of site pictures
it works very well to quickly calculate most of the more time consuming issues. Beware though that occasionally they miss
a dormer roof, garage, etc. I always double check their reports against my on-site photos.[/quote]
You’ve apparently had much greater luck with Eagle View than I have, they are consistently short and I’ve seen several hundred of them within the last year. Probably doesn’t have anything to do with their Customer being the insurance companies.
Regardless, Eagle View doesn’t solve his need of wanting to do on the spot estimates.
I’ve seen the carpet program used in conjunction with a laser tape measure. The tape uses bluetooth to the tablet and “draws” the floor to scale. Calcs the square footage of carpet needed based on the width of the roll and waste. It should work with roofing but it does mean you would have to walk the roof to get the measurements. I called the manufacturer of this system and they would adapt it to roofing if there was enough demand. It would be fantastic for flat roofs. There was a system that used a GPS antenna with a tablet computer or iPod…my experience with that system (I bought it) was not good and returned it. As you guys know, the system needs to be compact so it can easily be carried on a ladder. Maybe one of our visiting vendors that work in this arena can design a program that will work with a laser tape???
That looks kind of neat. I am going to see if they are going to do an Android version. The other thing that I would want to know is if they are just using like a google earth picture or something? If so that might work…if they are using something else who knows…I work in a lot of small towns…
So I talked to the roof snap guys via email a few times.
They said that it uses google earth or Bing images for the roofs, so there should not be too much of a problem with locations in rural areas…but that sometimes they run into images that are just not high enough quality to use.
They are working on an Android version, but it will be a few months. Said they do not publish any kind of accuracy numbers but that someone with experience using it will usually be within 2% of the actual measurements. They did mention that there is a bit of a learning curve and so they give you the first couple free while you learn how to use it.
I am really interested…I need to either buy an iPad or wait for them to come out with Android.
No i have not, but I know the ipad does wonders. There is a great app for drawing out everything for it too. Try looking it up… I know android has the same type of apps, but it doesn’t compare to apple… in my mind anyways. I believe it is the AppliCad. Check it out!
Im too new to have a signature!? what a forum…egh i will be back. I would link it too but it wont let me. Just look it up.
For quick estimating of total squares, Measure Map is an awesome app. Only costs a buck or two, one time fee. Footprint the house and multiply by pitch factor. Unfortunately, it’s only iOS. No Android version yet.
That’s a pretty nice app (measure map) considering what it is. My main critique would be it won’t let you zoom in very far on a roof so your accuracy is somewhat limited. It certainly is good enough for a rough estimate. I don’t know if the pro version gives you more capability like zooming in. If so, it would be worth the $33 price tag.
I sent an email to the developer to see if there was a way to zoom in so you could more accurately place the pins. Very nice app though, it will useful even if the zoom can’t be implemented but more so if more zoom can be had.
hey guys I know that this is an old thread but we have just developed a full purpose app for this called Site Visit. I am a roof estimator myself and I designed it to fit my needs… it has taken longer to develop than I thought but it is almost done… please check it out at anymonkey.ca
we are not selling it as a subscription like most companies do. (there is an annual server fee of $159 though) but this is a server based app which means that you do not lose all of your information if you lose your ipad. check out some of the how to videos on the site… sorry site is not 100% yet either but it is close.
I checked out your site last night. Only 2 of the videos had sound. The first two.
Also, it said “5 applications in 1” or something like that…but I didnt see anything that said what those 5 things were. Other than that, it looks pretty cool. I would like to see more pricing info on the site.
I used RoofSnap on an Ipad this summer some. Your roof measuring seems similar. What I like about yours is that you have us manually put in one length and then from there using comparison data it calculates the rest. In RoofSnap it figures all the measurements just based on the scale and pitch data alone. Seems like yours would be more accurate. My season has not started up here in Nebraska yet (33 todays high) but I will probably look into it more when time comes.
I used Roofcad for over a year. Not the easiest program to master but not too bad. Expensive and you have to have their stupid USB Key plugged into the computer when using it.
It is a sketch tool only, has nothing to do with any other part of the business. That’s Roof Logixs or something along those lines. Again, quite expensive for what they offer and seems more geared towards Commercial versus Residential.
[quote=“anymonkey”]hey guys I know that this is an old thread but we have just developed a full purpose app for this called Site Visit. I am a roof estimator myself and I designed it to fit my needs… it has taken longer to develop than I thought but it is almost done… please check it out at anymonkey.ca
we are not selling it as a subscription like most companies do. (there is an annual server fee of $159 though) but this is a server based app which means that you do not lose all of your information if you lose your ipad. check out some of the how to videos on the site… sorry site is not 100% yet either but it is close.
Ken[/quote]
since posting this a while back a few things have changed. There is no longer an annual server fee and we just have 1 buy it forever price for a company and a lesser amount to add users to the company network. have a look at it at anymonkey.ca
[quote=“anymonkey”]hey guys I know that this is an old thread but we have just developed a full purpose app for this called Site Visit. I am a roof estimator myself and I designed it to fit my needs… it has taken longer to develop than I thought but it is almost done… please check it out at anymonkey.ca
we are not selling it as a subscription like most companies do. (there is an annual server fee of $159 though) but this is a server based app which means that you do not lose all of your information if you lose your ipad. check out some of the how to videos on the site… sorry site is not 100% yet either but it is close.
Ken[/quote]
since posting this a while back a few things have changed. There is no longer an annual server fee and we just have 1 buy it forever price for a company and a lesser amount to add users to the company network. have a look at it at anymonkey.ca[/quote]
Do mention that the set up fee is $999.00 for one iPad according to the site.
