# How a roof measurement report is made

> A RoofQuery roof measurement report is produced by a trained technician from high-resolution aerial imagery, not by an automated model. Every roof plane is traced, its pitch established, and every edge classified into one of ten categories. The result is normalized into per-structure and combined totals, and the PDF, XML, Xactimate ESX and diagrams are rendered from that one parse. Residential reports take about two hours, commercial about eight. Unmeasurable properties are cancelled and refunded as credit.

Category: How it works. Last updated 2026-09-09.
Canonical: https://roofquery.com/guides/how-roof-measurement-reports-are-made

A roof measurement report turns a street address into a measured model of the roof and the numbers a contractor, adjuster or estimator prices from. Here is what happens in the hours between your order and the completed webhook.

## How does the address become a location?

Through coordinates you supply. An order carries the address and a latitude and longitude, and the coordinates are required rather than geocoded on our side. The property your customer means and the property a geocoder picks are not always the same one, and a report on the wrong roof is worse than no report. The `scope` field says which structures to include: the primary building only, primary plus a detached garage, or everything on the parcel. Fields are listed in the [order reference](https://roofquery.com/docs/place-an-order).

## Who measures the roof?

A trained technician, working from high-resolution aerial imagery that includes oblique views from several directions. Each roof plane is traced, its pitch is established from the imagery, and every edge is classified: eave, rake, ridge, hip, valley, step flashing, wall flashing, parapet, a bend where two slopes meet, or other. This is the step that takes the time. Residential reports are typically ready in about two hours and commercial in about eight, because a person is looking at every facet.

Remote measurement has tolerances, and every RoofQuery PDF says so on the page: completeness and precision depend on the age, resolution and coverage of the imagery, and on obstructions such as trees, shadows, snow and rooftop equipment. No off-site measurement, from any provider, is exact.

## What if the roof cannot be measured?

The order is cancelled with a reason and the cost is refunded as account credit. That decision is only ever made on review, never at order time, so a rejection at placement is always a problem on our side to retry, and a `cancelled` webhook is the one that is really about the property. The [lifecycle reference](https://roofquery.com/docs/order-lifecycle) spells out the difference.

## How is the geometry normalized?

The raw measurement document is XML describing points, lines and faces. Different measurement tools label the same edge differently, so RoofQuery parses the document into one shape: per-structure and combined totals, ten edge categories always present and zero-filled, pitches snapped to a reporting ladder, and every face with its own area, pitch and edge list. The PDF prints from the same parse, so a number on the report is the same number in the JSON. The fields are documented under [report data](https://roofquery.com/docs/report-data).

## When are the files made?

When you ask for them. The completed order carries the measurements in its own body, and the PDF, the Xactimate ESX and the four diagrams are rendered on request rather than stored. That is why a branding change re-skins reports you ordered months ago, and why a correction simply starts serving the corrected document at the same URLs.

## What if something in the report is wrong?

Open a revision from the API or the dashboard. It is free, one open revision per report, and the original files stay available while the technician re-measures. When the correction lands the order returns to `completed` and a `revision_completed` webhook fires.

> Every part of this pipeline runs in sandbox too, on recorded real roofs, with the timing compressed to seconds. [Testing in sandbox](https://roofquery.com/guides/testing-in-sandbox-before-you-spend) covers how to exercise it. For what the finished report contains, see [what's in a roof measurement report](https://roofquery.com/guides/whats-in-a-roof-measurement-report).

## Frequently asked questions

### Are RoofQuery reports measured by people or by AI?

By trained technicians working from aerial imagery. Every report is human-measured.

### Does anyone visit the property?

No. Measurement is remote, from aerial imagery, and the PDF states the tolerances that implies.

### How accurate is an aerial roof measurement?

Accurate enough to order material and price labour from, within the tolerances of remote measurement. Precision depends on imagery age, resolution and obstructions, and no provider guarantees a fixed tolerance. Revisions are free if something is wrong.