PSA: I was wasting hours on site marking by hand until I saw a drone do it in 30 seconds.

For the past year on our subdivision project in Tempe, my crew and I have been laying out foundation points with string lines and spray paint. It took about three hours per lot and the sun would bake the marks off by noon. Last month, a surveyor from another company brought a small drone with RTK GPS to stake a corner. He flew a grid pattern, dropped pin flags from the air, and was done before we finished our coffee. The foreman just laughed and said, 'We've been doing it the hard way.' I bought a basic mapping drone the next week. Has anyone else made a switch like this for basic layout work? What was your experience?

3 comments

3 Comments

jake_patel16d agoMost Upvoted

Saw that happen on a job last summer. Totally get what @eva_moore means about old methods holding people back. My crew fought me on getting a laser scanner for as-builts, said it was a waste. Now they won't go back to tape measures. The right tool just changes everything, doesn't it? What was the learning curve like on your drone?

theajohnson16d ago

Watched my dad run his small carpentry business for years and saw the same stubbornness. He'd spend half a day on measurements a digital level could do in minutes, calling new gadgets a fad. It's not just about the tool, it's about letting go of the pride in the old struggle. That moment when the foreman laughed is the sound of progress finally winning.

eva_moore16d ago

Right? Tech moves so fast. My old boss still uses a plumb bob for everything, it's painful to watch.