This week I want to discuss the use of drones in the construction industry.

I know what you’re thinking, drones have been around for so long, and this is no new tech.

But how often do you make use of drones on your construction sites? If you do use them, what tasks are they used for?

To me, drones can offer many benefits to making the construction process more efficient. In this week’s newsletter, I want to discuss those benefits and why I think we can expect the use of drones to increase over time.

I want to start by saying that using drones has its place. For my company, it does not make sense to utilize drones. Even companies working on renovation projects might have difficulty using a drone.

Drones are best suited for new construction on medium to large-scale projects. You’ll also need to consider the zoning requirements and if you will be allowed to use a drone at your job site.

Many factors come into play here, so do your homework before purchasing a drone for your project.

The Benefits

Topical Surveying

Utilizing a drone to scan and gather information about a construction site can significantly increase surveying efficiency. One company that is actively using drone technology to do this is TraceAir.

​If you want to check out TraceAir, click here. ​

Their drone technology allows you to take a 3D scan of the job site for referencing and planning. This can be incredibly helpful when preparing for work on the job site.

During the design phase, engineers also require a survey to complete their drawings. Having drone technology complete this task can most likely save money in labor but also deliver results much faster than conventional surveying methods.

Now, I’m not knocking conventional surveying, but if you want to stay ahead, you must adopt new technology. If this is one way to reduce your costs, you can give customers a lower price and obtain more jobs.

After all, the contractor with the lowest price is typically the one who will win the project.

There are likely some limitations when using a drone as well. Even though they may be able to produce a 3D image, they still rely on what can be seen by the camera on the drone.

So you might be able to question the accuracy of the surveying results from the technology, but I think we’re heading in the right direction.

On to the next benefit!

Construction Monitoring

The best use case for a drone is monitoring the work in progress. If you want to get a quick update on a project, you can walk the job, but why not let the drone do the walking for you?

I know it’s lazy; we can use our feet to walk the job site. But in this industry, you need to be all about efficiency; if not, you’ll get buried in work.

Utilizing drone tech to zip through a job site is much more efficient than walking alone. It’s even faster than if your company provided you with a vehicle to get around.

When I look at some of the high-end drones on the market, these have a range of 7+ miles and can travel about 40+ MPH. You don’t want to drive a vehicle around that fast on a job site, but a drone is not a big deal.

You’ll need to become skilled at using a drone to get around a job site safely, but once you get it down, I think it will help you immensely.

As project managers, we’re most efficient at the office. Sure, you should be on-site to solve problems with construction as they arise, but for the most part, you’ll do most of your coordination from an office.

So, by using the drone you can save a lot of time from walking.

Trust me; there are days when I want to get an opportunity to step onto a job site to change the work pace. Yet, I know I’ll need to return to the office after because I will have a lot of work that was created from my site visit.

Personnel Safety

The last benefit I want to cover is safety. This can tie into construction monitoring in a sense as well, but your intent is to monitor the workers.

You’ll likely be looking to see if they are performing any unsafe acts or identifying potential safety issues.

I could see a safety manager doing their rounds with the drone and listing any safety violations they saw.

Also, if you had to choose to use a drone for monitoring construction versus site safety, I would spend the money on safety.

As I mentioned, you can get around a job site much more efficiently with a drone. Depending on the project size, numerous crews can work on the job.

Safety managers are responsible for making sure each person goes home to their family safely.

To effectively do that, they almost need to be in all places at once, but realistically they can’t. Having access to a drone would improve how quickly they could get from one construction activity to the next.

I harp on efficiency constantly, but it should be the focus behind your actions. You will have a bad time if you’re not thinking about improving your efficiency.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it. Drones are just one more tool in your arsenal that can be used on the job site.

While there are limitations on where you can use drones, I hope exceptions can be made for construction projects.

Maybe require a permit for use on the project, but that time spent obtaining the permit can save you a lot of time on the project, improving your margin.

I am one for adopting tech use on any job site, especially drones.

So, what do you think? Have you had any experience with drones on your job site? Did the tech help?

I would like to hear your thoughts on using drones for construction.

Respectfully,

Alex