Introduction
When it comes to saving money on your construction project, drones are the cost-effective tools that will bring you significant returns. The drone market in construction reached a 5 MillionUSD in 2022, and is expected to reach 12 Million USD by 2028 [1]. As technology evolves, contractors need to keep up to remain competitive. Drones are here to stay, and this is not a trend you want to miss out on.
This article will introduce the benefits and cost saving opportunities to introducing drone technologies to your construction projects. It will outline the major uses for drones and introduce how they can bring significant returns to your company.
Drones have a multitude of uses in the construction industry. The first benefit is improved and more efficient site surveys, which can help you get paid correctly for the work you’ve done, and save time and money when compared to traditional survey methods. Drones also provide a new project monitoring and management tool, literally giving your project managers a new perspective. Drones can reduce labour and equipment costs in many scenarios, and provide highly accurate data to help with improved decision making. Finally drones can lead to cost savings by introducing a new safety management tool.
The Traditional Construction Landscape
Picture a construction site. There are workers, each doing their own job to move your project forward. There are various pieces of equipment all over the site. Maybe there’s an office. There are vehicles transporting people and materials. Then there are the construction materials, which will become the finished product. Finally, there is the work – it could be a building, a grading job, a wind turbine, or many other project types.
Does this sound familiar? This is the average construction site in Canada. While each project is unique, there is one major similarity. All these sites feature carefully coordinated people, materials, and tools, all of which need to be doing the right task at the right place at the right time. With all these things going on, it becomes difficult to manage, monitor, and track what is taking place on the site. A project manager can only be in one place at a time, and needs an effective method to monitor the work. Traditionally, this is done through a “foreman’s report”, where field supervisors provide a daily summary of work done. While these reports provide valuable information, management often needs more.
When a project has many moving parts, not everything needs to cause difficulty. There is one major benefit to the complicated relations between all the action on a construction site. Opportunities for cost savings arise from complexity on a construction site. Completing the work while minimizing costs is a recipe for a successful construction project. Keeping up with technology can provide a more efficient way to reduce costs.
Drone technology brings enormous cost saving opportunities to the construction industry. Using drones, a project manager can effectively monitor an entire site and make use of current, accurate data to make informed decisions. Drones give management a new perspective to find and fix problems.
Drones in Construction: A Cost-Reducing Tool
Drones are becoming a necessity for the modern construction company. They improve efficiency and introduce cost saving opportunities. While all construction projects are unique, they can all benefit from the multitude of uses of a drone. All construction projects go through a series of phases, from pre-construction, through execution, and ending with post-construction.
During the pre-construction and planning phases, drones can be a game-changer. The first use is a pre-bid flight, which can provide accurate, scaled maps and models of the site. An estimator can use this data to make informed decisions when quoting a job. Once the job is awarded, an accurate, up-to-date map can give managers and supervisors a starting point for planning. It can give you an edge in identifying problems, safety concerns, and provides a chance to plan the execution strategy. Making informed decisions early on is one of the best cost-saving opportunities for any construction project manager. As the project progresses through execution and closeout, the cost of change can increase significantly. Knowing the exact site conditions prior to starting work gives you the opportunity to get it right the first time and reduces the need for future changes.
During execution, a drone can help you gain insights into your construction project progress. Daily or weekly aerial photos document exactly what has been done, so you know what still needs to be done. A drone gives a project manager a way to monitor the whole site without ever needing to leave the office. When it comes time to get paid, pictures show proof of the work that has been done. Ground-based photos give you a useful record of work, but you need to predict the future to know what needs to be photographed to settle disputes. Drones can take photos of the entire site, guaranteeing that nothing will be missed. These progress photos also provide a permanent record of installation, which helps you get paid for the work that has been done.
When the project is being closed out, one of the most important deliverables is an as-built drawing. Typically, this is done by marking up the original drawings, using CAD to create new drawings, or through traditional survey methods. Drones can make all these tasks easier. Payloads such as special cameras and 3D scanners can generate a scaled digital model of the entire project, which is often more accurate than a “standard” as-built. For earthworks projects, a drone can measure the total volume in a given area faster and with better accuracy than traditional survey methods. Traditional surveys measure points on a site and fill in the gaps between them. The peaks and valleys throughout the site can easily be missed. A drone provides a model of the site with a resolution of 1-inch, which makes for a much more accurate result.
Finally, a drone can provide real-time data. One of the first places we look for information is often a google maps satellite view. Drones have two distinct advantages: they provide significantly higher resolution images, which allow you to notice smaller details; and they provide real-time imagery. Satellite photos of construction sites show the site before work has started, which is not very helpful since updates can take months or years.
Cost-Saving Benefits of Drones
Improved Site Surveying
Traditional construction survey methods involve a surveyor walking throughout the site, taking measurements at various points. This is both slow and expensive. A drone has the benefit of elevation, allowing it to take in more of the site. It can move much faster than a surveyor and cover more area in less time. For an example, let’s consider a 1-km long road project. The surveyor walks at 4km/hr and needs to walk the road three times to measure all parts. This is 3 km of walking at 4km/hr – it will take the surveyor 45 minutes to survey the road. A drone like the DJI Phantom 4 Pro can map effectively at 36 km/hr, meaning it can fly the same 1km road in 5 minutes. That is 1/9 of the time taken by the surveyor, which, when paid by the hour, translates cost saving by a factor of 9.
Enhanced Project Monitoring and Management
One of the major tasks in construction execution is monitoring and controlling the work. Visiting and checking progress in detail is difficult for busy construction project managers. Drones can take photos of a site quickly and give a detailed view to project managers, supervisors, senior management, clients, or subcontractors.. By providing images of the entire site, more people can see the details, and when more people see the site, there is a better opportunity to notice issues early. Identifying and promptly addressing issues helps avoid delays, reduce liquidated damages, and minimizes the cost of correction.
Reduced Labor and Equipment Costs
Often during commissioning and turnover, photos and inspections are needed to verify the work. Sometimes, inspections require a rope access technician to access difficult-to-reach areas. A drone can access these locations easily and provide photos that can replace visual inspection. Non-destructive testing can be done by attachments, eliminating the need for a technician. Once again, a drone is faster, safer, and more cost-effective than the traditional methods.
Accurate Data for Informed Decision Making
Information is key when making a decision on your construction project, where the right call can lead to cost savings, but the wrong one can cause losses. Drones can generate large amounts of data, all of which can help make informed decisions. Information provided by field staff is useful, but drone-generated data is always superior. The drone collects imagery from the entire site, and always tells the true story. When a worker takes a picture, unconscious bias is introduced, and the story is more subjective. An unbiased machine like a drone flying a pre-programmed path gives an accurate representation of site conditions. By using precise data, we can predict future problems and prevent expensive rework.
Safety Improvements
From 2013 to 2018, workplace injuries cost Albertans an average of $537 Million per year [3]. Employers have had to spend additional money to pay for modified duties, and hiring and training replacements. In 2019, falls were responsible for 9,567 workplace injuries in Alberta [3]. Employees must hold the safety of their employees paramount, and part of that is risk reduction. In the hierarchy of controls, elimination is the most effective way to reduce risk. Drones eliminate the risk of falls from heights when used for work. This also eliminates the need to pay for costs associated with a workplace injury because of a fall.
Best Practices for Implementing Drones in Construction
Starting a drone program for your construction company takes a lot of time and money. There are many factors and requirements that need to be considered before a drone program will be successful.
Selecting the Aircraft
The right drone needs to be selected for your drone program, and a single drone is not suited to all tasks you may encounter. Careful research must be conducted and expert advice is hugely beneficial in selecting the best aircraft. Alternatively, Calgary drone service providers, such as 1st Up Drones, maintain a fleet of aircraft for any task you may have.
Training and Certification
Canadian drone pilots need certification from Transport Canada, and some construction sites require an advanced certificate to fly. To get the basic certificate, take an online exam. For the advanced certificate, pass an in-person flight review. You also need to take an in-person exam to operate a radio. Once this is achieved, the pilot may legally fly, but will still require specialized training such as mapping, thermography, photogrammetry, and inspections courses to perform the mission. Drone service providers like 1st Up Drones employ trained, certified, safe, and competent pilots to control our aircraft. Using a 3rd party drone operator is often more cost-effective for a construction company that needs to focus on the project.
Regulatory Compliance
Drones are considered aircraft and come with significant regulatory requirements. The drone must be registered, flight logs must be kept, maintenance records need to be retained, and pilots must remain current in their skills and abilities. Failure to comply with regulations can result in costly fines, so the regulations are of great importance. 1st Up Drones uses a computer system to track this information, making it easy to access and provide to authorities when needed. Consider hiring a drone service provider to eliminate the cost of noncompliance.
Conclusion
In an ever-changing world, drones are becoming a key piece of equipment for any construction company. They increase efficiency, give accurate and objective information, and can lead to significant cost savings when used properly. A well-established drone program can give valuable information for construction execution planning, reduce labour costs, enhance project monitoring, and improve safety.
With all the benefits that drones provide, there are some challenges and costs associated with implementing a drone program. Expensive equipment, rigorous training, and fines for not following rules could cancel out any savings. Calgary drone service providers, such as 1st Up Drones make it easy to use drones on your project. Our skilled pilots can fly any of our multiple aircraft, and we maintain our own training and compliance systems. Please contact us for more information or to discuss how 1st Up can save you money on your construction project.
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