Spent $800 on a drone for site surveys and I'm still not sure it was worth it.

My crew was doing a big grading job on a 5-acre lot outside of Phoenix. The boss pushed for us to get a mid-range drone with mapping software, arguing it would save time on initial layout and cut down on rework. We used it to make a 3D model of the site, which was cool, but the learning curve was steep. I spent two full days just figuring out the flight patterns and processing the data. On one hand, the topo map was more detailed than our old manual shots. On the other, a guy with a GPS rover could have gotten us 90% of the way there in half the time for this specific job. Now it's sitting in the trailer most weeks. For smaller residential lots, it feels like overkill. Has anyone else made the drone jump and actually found it pays off on normal sized projects, or is it just for the huge commercial sites?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant38024d ago

Give it more time to earn its keep. You bought a tool for big jobs, so wait for the next one that really needs it. The payoff comes when you avoid a major mistake on a complex site.

williamhenderson24d ago

I used to think that was silly until my own laser caught a huge error last month.

gracethomas24d ago

My buddy almost lost a client over a bad measurement on a tricky corner lot. His new laser measure caught the error before they poured the foundation. That one save paid for the tool three times over.