Airffic Inspect — Service
AI facade inspection service
Bring the photographs; AI finds cracks, delamination, efflorescence, rust and spalling and rates each one. No scaffolding, no surveyor on site.
What it does
- Finds defectsCracks, delamination, tile loss, efflorescence, rust staining, spalling, soiling, sealant failure — anything visible in the photograph.
- Rates themHigh, Medium or Low for each finding, with a recommended action. You know where to start.
- Keeps the recordEvery review is kept. Photograph the same face in six months and compare.
How it differs from a site-visit inspection
Search for facade inspection and most of what you find is a site-visit service: a crew comes with a drone or rope access, captures the building and delivers a report. Airffic Inspect is a different product — photo-upload. Which is right depends on the job.
| Site-visit service | Photo-upload (Airffic Inspect) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who captures | Their crew | You, or your drone contractor |
| Who reads | Their surveyor | AI |
| Timing | Book a visit, wait for the report | As soon as you have photographs |
| Cost structure | Travel, labour, equipment, report writing | Free tier; paid plans by subscription |
| Best for | One building, one time, a formal report required | Many buildings, repeated checks, a first screen before a full survey |
| Statutory inspections | Yes, if performed by a qualified professional | No. A screen before one |
Site-visit prices and lead times vary widely by provider and building, so no figures are given here.
Plainly: if you need one building, once, with a formal report, a site-visit service is the better fit. Airffic Inspect earns its place when you have many buildings, want to look repeatedly, or want to know where to look before commissioning a full survey.
How it works
- 01PhotographBy drone or by hand. Face-on, at a distance where cracks resolve. One face at a time keeps things tidy later.
- 02Sign inWith a Google account. No card.
- 03Name the building and upload"Riverside Court — south elevation". Drag in up to twenty photographs.
- 04Run the reviewAnalysis runs immediately and the report appears on screen when done. It stays in your history.
Which buildings it suits
A good fit
- A portfolio where you need to decide which building to deal with first
- Before a major repair programme, to map where the deterioration is
- Between statutory surveys, as a dated record of change
- Tile, render and painted facades, where defects show on the surface
Not a fit
- The statutory inspection itself
- What a photograph cannot show — voids behind the surface, the depth of tile lift that only tapping reveals
- Buildings you cannot photograph — no drone permission and out of reach by hand
If you photograph by drone in Japan
Facade work in a city almost always means a Densely Inhabited District (permit) and flight within 30 m of a building (approval). The steps are inHow to fly a drone in Japan. What to look for on the wall is in thefield guide to facade defects.
Pricing
The free tier gives three reviews a month, no card. Paid-plan prices are published on ourlegal notice page(Japanese) and not repeated here, so that there is exactly one source of truth.
Questions people ask
What photographs can I use?
Drone photographs or photographs taken by hand with a camera or phone. JPEG, PNG and HEIC, up to twenty per review. Face-on shots at a distance where cracks are resolvable give the best results.
What do I get back?
For each defect found: the type (crack, delamination, efflorescence, rust staining, spalling, soiling, sealant failure and so on), a severity rating (High, Medium, Low) and a recommended action, on screen as a report. Reviews are kept as history so a building can be revisited later.
Does anyone come to site?
No. This is a photo-upload service: you (or your drone contractor) take the photographs and AI reads them. If you need someone on site with a report in a particular format, the comparison table on this page is honest about when a site-visit service is the better choice.
Does it satisfy a statutory inspection?
No. Statutory facade inspections — Japan's Building Standards Act Article 12 periodic report, or facade ordinances elsewhere — require a qualified professional. AI review is a first screen before such a survey, a record between surveys, and a way to prioritise repairs.
What does it cost?
Sign in with a Google account and the free tier gives three reviews a month with no card required. Paid-plan prices are published on our legal notice page (in Japanese) and nowhere else, so that there is exactly one source of truth.
Do I need a permit to photograph a facade by drone in Japan?
Usually. Urban areas are Densely Inhabited Districts, which need a permit, and flying within 30 m of a building needs approval; facade work almost always triggers both. The procedure is in our guide to flying a drone in Japan. Within arm's reach of the ground, you can start with a handheld camera.
Three reviews, free
Photographs you already have will do. Sign in with Google, upload, and see the results on screen.
Start an AI review →