Drone Construction Monitoring: 3 Advantages That Every Project Manager Should Know

With technology growing more rapidly than ever, building sites have looked very different in the last decade. Meanwhile, drones are becoming a staple tool on construction sites and for good reasons. And as such, building projects with drone construction monitoring is an effective and efficient alternative to traditional and manual ones. However, if you’ve been hesitant to invest in this ideal tool, here are three massive reasons you should reconsider:

1. Employee Safety and Inspections

Compared to on-foot inspections, drones can streamline site inspection processes for safety, saving hours or even days of laborious work. A simple drone flyover can provide consistent imaging for site inspection documentation. You can also use drones to conduct on-demand assessments in response to employee concerns, such as those raised following a severe storm or a construction accident.

In addition, drones can also aid in tracking equipment, a problem that nearly every project manager has encountered. An on-site manager can use a drone to conduct a flyover and quickly assess whether the equipment is in the correct location. They can also determine whether a piece of equipment that needs to be terminated is still on-site.

Furthermore, you could also use drones to diagnose problems remotely, and operators could easily send recorded data to repair technicians for a more accurate and timely diagnosis. Drones can also inspect hazardous or unstable structures, such as rooftops or aging structures, without requiring an employee to scale them.

2. Overall Cost-Savings

A suitable drone solution can help you save money in various ways. For instance, building inspections using drones are typically faster and require less preparation time, equipment, and labour.

This way, general contractors can:

• Eliminate large ground crews and access equipment costs.
• Eliminate helicopter and pilot fees by having a drone monitoring system.
• Identify additional project savings by collecting accurate data on-site.

The accuracy of commercial drone data can help reduce the need for change orders, allowing project completion faster and on time, if not under budget. They can also perform more frequent inspections, which results will be more accurate and up-to-date data.

Meanwhile, although purchasing drone technology requires a significant initial investment, the long-term benefits outweigh the costs.

3. Remote Monitoring and Reporting

Finally, the most convenient part about drone construction monitoring is its streamlined visibility. Drones can produce stunning aerial views and provide clients with an understanding of how the project progresses, especially if they cannot be present on-site.

Remember: a construction project requires multiple personnel to finish. But these people wouldn’t be successful without a centralised system that communicates every detail of the project. And with many teams involved and short timelines, frequent record updates are required to drive decisions and align multiple stakeholders.

Fortunately, drones can help teams collaborate internally by transmitting data to connected software during flyovers. All construction teams can access the data simultaneously, allowing them to monitor the project’s progress and identify any errors that may have occurred. Drones can also leave a trail of critical documents for your team to access later.

So if you’re a project manager or close to that sort, you understand how the construction industry is constantly under pressure to complete projects on time and within budget. And with reliable technology partners, you can now create an environment where everyone would thrive, safely, and effectively operate.