Drones are result of automation in construction business. Drones benefit surveying and inspecting difficult areas faster and accurately.

One of the biggest challenges in the construction industry was related to inefficiency. Studies state that large construction projects typically take 20% longer than expected to complete and are up to 80% over budget. And this is an alarming situation.

In comparison with other industries, the construction sector was least bothered about technology and the outputs were visible – delayed projects cost over runs, worker inefficiency, and labor shortfall. The initiation hesitance to technology delayed automation in the construction business for a very long period. Despite experts pointing out the benefits, puritans were hesitant to adopt automation in the construction business.

However, things have changed now and the major visible change is the introduction of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). By launching drones, construction has already led to many changes in the way buildings are made. In the last couple of years, drones have helped make several improvements in construction, from increased accuracy in reporting to improving safety conditions, to cutting costs and increasing efficiency. There are reports of construction firms witnessing about a 200% jump in the adoption of automation, which is no more a minor achievement.

Benefits of drones at construction sites

The use of drones throughout a construction project provides an unparalleled record of activities. It cuts planning and survey costs, augments efficiency and accuracy, and eliminates disputes over the status of a project at a given point in time. It is not surprising that a drone program is currently a terrific investment for construction companies.

How is drone data used in the construction industry?

Drones are majorly used to survey and inspect construction sites. They are equipped with downward-facing sensors, such as RGB, multispectral, thermal, or LIDAR, and can capture a great deal of aerial data in a short time.

It gets real-world insights with photogrammetry

While performing an aerial survey, drones with an RGB camera, the ground, its features, and buildings are photographed multiple times from different angles, and each image is tagged with coordinates. These highly detailed geotagged images are utilized for assets and inspections, such as building roofs or hard-to-reach areas. Also, these images can monitor areas across long distances, such as vegetation rows, roads, and railroads.

Who benefits the best from drone technology?

Here are some of the ways you’ll find people using drones in construction right now:

  • Pre-planning
  • Reporting to customers
  • Identifying safety concerns
  • Tracking progress and identifying potential problems/delays
  • Creating 3D and orthographic maps to measure stockpiles of various materials on the construction site

Drones are highly helpful to construction firms that build and manage large infrastructures such as roads, railways, bridges, dams, water reservoirs, airports, industrial complexes, oil and gas operations, and power complexes with considerable potential to use drone data to optimize their operations.

Because of the severe complexity involved, these huge projects have a high risk of challenges and drone technology can resolve them efficiently. Using drones, the projects can do long and costly surveys, early identification of construction mistakes, and avoid penalties for missing deadlines, miscommunication between stakeholders and contractors, and volumetric assessment. When you have construction business automation technologies like drones, stakeholders can efficiently survey to avoid financial liabilities post-construction caused because of the lack of maintenance and resultant damage to the environment.

In addition, drones also open up new applications that were previously very difficult or expensive to access or closely monitor. Drones have made it possible to inspect or monitor many challenging areas and it also paves the way to analyze and optimize the highly and fast-changing construction environment. By automating the construction business, the industry has revolutionized itself and maybe soon new inventions will happen for good.