A drone survey firm covering Newton Abbot

Newton Abbot is about twenty five minutes from the Exeter base on the A380, and it is the point where the southern corridor opens out: Torquay, Totnes, Teignmouth and Dawlish are all a short hop from here. A job in this town is the easiest anchor on the whole southern run, and pairing it with one in Torbay makes a straightforward day.

That closeness also means short-notice work is realistic here in a way it is not at Plymouth or Ivybridge further down the same road.

The town has two quite different sources of work. The trading estates carry large-span industrial roofs, and the enquiries from them are commercial: a landlord, a facilities contact or an agent who needs a condition record before a rent review, a sale or a repairing obligation gets argued about. Those instructions usually want the insurance certificate and a method statement in advance, and both are available at quote stage.

The other source is the Victorian railway-era terraces, which exist here in very large numbers, along with an ornate town centre of the same period. Terraced roofs share stacks, valleys and party-wall abutments with their neighbours, and those shared details are the hardest thing in domestic roofing to get a proper look at. From the air you can follow a valley across three properties in a single frame, which is a much better basis for a conversation about who pays than three separate opinions from three separate ladders.

The town sits on the flat floodplain where the Teign becomes tidal, ringed by hills, with the Bovey basin clay workings to the north west. It is low-lying and damp, with mist coming off the Teign, so shaded slate holds moss and lichen readily.

That has a specific consequence for a survey report. Heavy organic growth photographs dramatically and is frequently mistaken for damage. On a north-facing slope in this town it is close to normal, and a report written by somebody unfamiliar with the area can turn an ordinary roof into an alarming one. Knowing the difference is the part of this work that has nothing to do with the aircraft.

The estuary funnels easterlies in winter, which is the main thing that moves a date here. Otherwise conditions are more forgiving than on the coast a few miles away.

Two large sites shape the edges of this town. The racecourse on the Teign floodplain brings crowds on fixed dates, which is a scheduling consideration for anything nearby, and the former Great Western railway works left a legacy of large industrial buildings and yards that are still in commercial use.

Stover Country Park and the Bovey basin clay workings to the north west round out an unusually mixed local picture, with industrial, agricultural and residential instructions all within a few miles of each other.