5 WAYS DRONES ARE DISRUPTING THE CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRY (MORE THAN JUST A TOY)

A Marketing Masterpiece

High-quality aerial imagery and video footage captured by UAVs can be combined with drone-generated sensor data to create accurate 3D BIM models and renderings. These tools are often used to help community leaders and clients see the viability of a project.

Additionally, they can be used to promote a project to potential investors by helping them visualize the finished development project. From a marketing perspective, we get compelling photographic collateral that would entice even the most resistant investors. After all, perception is reality. In giving potential clients a complete picture of how their vision would be executed, they are more likely to commit.

Infrastructural Improvements

Since the inclusion of drones, land surveying has become more efficient and cost-effective. Companies no longer have to rent expensive equipment and hire a dedicated team of contractors to map out an area or property. This makes the planning stage less time-consuming and inexpensive without sacrificing on quality or quantity of data.

We can learn how to build more sustainable structures, manage time more effectively, and reduce resources in the meantime.

Remote Monitoring

Remote monitoring is probably one of the most obvious applications of drones in the construction industry. Supervisors might not necessarily work on-site and clients can be halfway across the world from the construction site of the building they are financing.

The use of camera drones can give investors and clients an up-close and personal view of the ongoing project while they are off-site, which helps significantly to improve customer relationships and make managing projects remotely easier for project managers.

Improving Safety

Accidents are inevitable, which is why safety is extremely important when working in construction. UAVs allow construction project managers to oversee sites in great detail from a remote location ensuring workers are never put at risk. The information gathered from these inspections can be used to enhance workflows or develop new site logistics plans that identify areas of interest.

The construction industry operates in high-risk environments, and although there will always be lapses in safety, drones give us the ability to greatly reduce these lapses by catching safety violations as they happen and delivering that information to supervisors. From there, supervisors can discourage the behavior from reoccurring and use the evidence however they deem appropriate.

OSHA reports that nearly 40% of the total injuries in the construction industries can be attributed to falls. By using drones, we can better understand why incidents occur, taking the measures to reduce the number of incidents per capita.

Machine Learning

Drone-generated data allows construction managers to create more accurate 3D BIM models and high-resolution orthomosaic maps that measure true distances and elevation. By overlaying drone-generated point cloud data over the 3D BIM model, project managers can track up-to-date progress on projects, trim costs, and identify mistakes before they can produce costly setbacks.

In most cases, drone software can be integrated with in-house programs currently in use, as well as with popular Autodesk design tools like AutoCAD, InfraWorks, Civil 3D, Navisworks, and Revit for construction companies, the return on investment (ROI) is enough of a reason to support the adoption of drones.

UAVs cost less to fly and take faster, more accurate measurements than a human survey team. They can be operated remotely to collect additional data on a site as many times as needed while removing any risks associated with sending workers to a potentially dangerous location.

So…where do I go from here?

You come talk to us! The use of drones in construction is becoming heavily adopted by contractors all over the world. Goldman Sachs reports the estimated global spending on drones in construction for the next two years is approximately $11.2 billion. Such significant growth only proves that drones and UAVs are shaping the industry and are just the beginning for what's to come.

The intelligence generated by drones allows construction project managers to distribute their resources with greater efficiency, increase safety, and reduce overall project costs. The benefits of such cutting-edge technology are endless, which is why heavy consideration on what software to implement is important.

Chetu develops custom drone software technology to streamline project time by building a solution intended for any contractor's specific needs. Drone management and automation software can be seamlessly integrated by experienced programmers familiar with popular drone adapters and inspection time is reduced with precise drone inspection software.

Request a consultation to build your own custom drone software and begin the process of transitioning from traditional methods and implement a more effective one.