Benefits of Drones In Construction

The construction industry has been around for many many years, however, the tools we use have changed the way we’re able to do construction. Some design principles for buildings have stayed the same for millennia, but the process has evolved. One of the biggest game changers to the construction industry has been the use of drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). 

In seemingly no time at all, they have disrupted the industry and vastly changed what is possible for the construction process. This includes roles in the process for data capture, surveying a construction site and planning.

Drones in the Construction Industry

Many industries have been revitalized by putting drones to use. There really is no limit to their application, and the construction industry really has been majorly impacted by drone use. We still haven’t seen drones used for the actual building stage of a construction project, but wouldn’t be surprised if it happens in the future. However, they play a large role in the planning and analysis phases.

One popular use for drones in the construction process is gaining an aerial view of a construction site at a significantly lower cost than ever before. With this easily obtained bird’s eye view, it’s simple to develop a construction plan, track the progress of a project and monitor any issues that may come up during the building process. Previously, these sorts of things were only possible with a manned aircraft such as a helicopter. This low-cost lean improvement for getting a real-time aerial view of a building site is one big reason why drone use has become so popular for the construction industry.

Below are a few more places that drones have made an impact on the construction process:

Construction Site Mapping

Previously, it was a difficult, time-consuming process for mapping a construction site. That’s no longer the case thanks to the use of drones. Not only did it used to take a long time to map a construction site, but it was also costly. It would require hiring a pilot to fly over a construction site and taking a lot of photographs.

Now, for a fraction of the cost, you can have a fly a drone over a site in just a matter of minutes to do the same job. It makes it much easier to obtain the necessary images for your construction site. Additionally, projects with a small budget previously couldn’t afford the images required to get needed data. That problem is eliminated with the use of drones.

So not only is the cost barrier eliminated, but you could even get real-time images of a project each and every day if you needed. This data can also be synced to the right software on your computer so that it can be processed in real-time and sorted for the use in numerous solutions.

Inspections of a Construction Site

There are safety concerns that come along with inspections on a construction site, but they have been significantly reduced thanks to drone use.

Your construction workers don’t have to be put at risk when a drone can achieve the same tasks with greater ease. Your site manager can review the footage while safely seated in their office, whether it be in real-time feed or recorded video.

Surveying of a Building

Accessing the roof can be a difficult part of surveying a building, but drones can make the process much more safe, easy and quick by allowing the surveyor to access the roof without having to get up there. Again, this also comes at a reduced cost, without the need for scaffolding or ladders to access the roof.

Aside from the three previous advantages of drone us on a construction site, it does not come without its challenges. We’ll review them for you quickly:

• Commercial drone use generally requires two people to operate them. The operators need experience in drone control and a vast understanding of the route. It’s also imperative for a drone operator to be experienced with the specific type of drone being used and especially its sensor.
• Weather can also be a problem for drone use. Some conditions may prevent drone use entirely, or at the very least add some additional challenges. Heavy wind can prevent a drone from safely traversing a site and cloud coverage can limit the correct images from being taken entirely.
• While there are cost savings to be had, drones themselves can be expensive and include a big cost initially. The long-run savings are still there for most in the construction industry, but the up-front cost is enough to turn some off of drone use. However, like most technology, the cost should reduce as the tech improves.

The use of drones in construction projects is sure to grow over the next few years, as more and more businesses the value drone use brings to a project. Some data suggests that drones will be used by more than 25 percent of the construction industry as soon as 2020. As technology for drones improves, the use should continue to grow.

You can have a look at TRIK's full infographic to have a general overview of the drones in construction.