Drone leak detection. The whole property, measured from above.

By measuring the thermal fingerprint moisture leaves. Water has high thermal mass and evaporative behaviour: wet insulation re-radiates heat after sunset, saturated soil lags the daily temperature swing, seepage exits at stable ground temperature against a weather-swung surface. A radiometric sensor measures those differentials to better than 0.05 °C across the whole property at once, and analysis separates real moisture signatures from shading and material artifacts.

A radiometric camera records an absolute temperature value per pixel, calibrated, preserved in the raw file — so anomalies can be measured, thresholded, and independently re-analysed later. Non-radiometric cameras render relative colours for visual effect. For leak evidence that has to survive an engineer, an insurer, or a dispute, radiometric is the only grade that counts.

Roof and deck moisture under membranes and overburden; buried water main, irrigation, and heating-loop leaks via their surface expression; dam, dike, and pond seepage; tank and standpipe weeps and wet insulation; envelope water paths; and storm damage across portfolios. The common thread: water changing the thermal or visual behaviour of a surface the drone can see.

Plenty, and pretending otherwise is how this industry earns distrust. It cannot see a pinhole inside a wall cavity with no surface expression, read through standing water or fresh snow, work reliably through ballasted or inverted roof assemblies (case-by-case), or 'X-ray' anything — it reads surfaces. Deep leaks that haven't expressed upward yet can hide. That is precisely why aerial findings are screened, ranked, and then confirmed by ground methods before anyone digs or cuts.

When the search area is the problem: big roofs, whole portfolios, kilometres of buried line, full dam faces, entire irrigated properties. When the search area is already small — one bathroom ceiling, one unit's wall — skip the aircraft and book the ground crew directly; we'll tell you so on the phone. The honest decision rule is search-area-to-symptom ratio, and it is the first thing we assess in the free consult.

Because thermal contrast is the signal. Wet roof insulation is most visible in the hours after sunset while it re-radiates stored solar heat; buried hot loops contrast best on cool evenings; irrigation leaks read cleanest pre-dawn after a dry-down; seepage contrast peaks when ground and air temperatures diverge most. Flying at the wrong time produces beautiful, useless imagery — survey design is most of the craft.

Fully legal when flown properly: Transport Canada RPAS certification (our pilots hold advanced-operations capability), airspace authorizations where required — controlled zones around airports, harbours, and heliports included — plus liability insurance and WorkSafe BC compliance for the site itself. A provider who can't produce all of the above on request shouldn't be over your property.

A mapped, ranked report: moisture zones outlined on scaled plans or orthomosaics, quantified areas, radiometric evidence per anomaly, RTK coordinates, and — where ground confirmation ran — pinpointed leak locations ready for repair. Engineering-grade jobs add GeoTIFF/CAD/GIS exports and raw radiometric files for independent analysis.

Yes — time-stamped, georeferenced, methodology-documented imagery is strong evidence, and annual baselines are even stronger: they establish pre-event condition, which is the exact point of contention in most storm claims. We format reports for adjusters and pair them with our insurance claim support service where the file needs it.

Two different accuracies, both stated honestly: positioning accuracy (where the anomaly sits on the map) is centimetre-grade with RTK; diagnostic accuracy (is it really a leak, and exactly where does it enter?) is what ground confirmation provides. Aerial alone ranks suspicion; aerial plus acoustic/probing confirmation produces dig-grade certainty. We quote both layers together for exactly this reason.

Typical single-site surveys run $750–$3,500 depending on area and complexity; corridors and portfolios are scoped by kilometre or building count and improve rapidly with scale. Pricing is province-wide with no regional premium. Compare against the alternative being displaced — scaffolding, blanket excavation, full overburden lifts, or a season of undetected water loss — and the survey is usually the cheapest line on the project.

Because the aircraft is the easy part. The value is in survey design (flying the right physics window), anomaly screening (killing the false positives), and above all confirmation — acoustic correlation, probing, flood testing — which drone-only operators simply cannot do. Leak.ca has pinpointed BC leaks on the ground since 1999; our aerial program exists to aim that expertise, and the result is one accountable answer instead of a maybe-map.