Project managers in the construction industry have major responsibilities. Monitoring the environment, ensuring everything is on schedule and under budget, and making sure workers are safe is a job that requires constant vigilance.
With so much on the construction project manager’s plates, anything that can be used to help lighten their load while maintaining the efficiency and safety the project requires should be considered. One such tool that does this is drones in construction.
Drones for project management in construction grew by 239% from 2017 to 2018, and the use of these innovative tech pieces promises to only increase. Innovation that cuts costs and streamlines efficiency eventually becomes the norm in any industry. This is what is happening with drones.
There are many reasons drones in construction are growing in popularity. They offer a seamless and easy way to augment the project manager’s role with improved processes. Here are some of the reasons why innovative project managers are using drones to enhance their business practices.
Table of Contents
What Types of Drones are Used in Construction?
There are three main types of drones used in construction surveying: multirotor drones, fixed-wing drones, and fixed-wing/VTOL drones.
- Multirotor drones, like the DJI’s Mavic 3 Enterprise and the DJI Phantom 4 RTK, have a central body and multiple rotors. Many of these drones have four rotors, so you’ll likely hear them referred to as quadcopters. They operate much like a helicopter, with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities that make them maneuverable and easy to fly with limited space. These are often used to survey sites that require more horizontal movements in comparison to the vertical movement that fixed-wing drones specialize in for things like road-building projects.
- Fixed-wing/VTOL drones fly much faster and can stay in the air much longer on a single charge than quadcopters, so they are best suited for large worksites. On certain projects, like long corridor road projects, flying a VTOL drone over the site is much more efficient than flying several quadcopters, as you can survey a larger area in a shorter amount of time. You wouldn’t fly a helicopter from LA to New York, and the same principle applies to fixed-wing/VTOL drones and quadcopters.
- Fixed-wing/VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) drones, like the WingtraOne and Quantum-Systems Trinity F90+, combine elements from both multirotor and fixed-wing designs. They take off and land vertically like a quadcopter, but act like a fixed-wing drone in flight to enable longer flight times and larger-scale mapping.
Benefit of Drones for Project Management in Construction
- Worker safety: Drones can monitor job sites for potential safety concerns, such as loose or unstable structures and scaffolding. They can also be used to take measurements in hard-to-reach places so workers don’t have to climb on dangerous platforms or navigate hazardous conditions.
- Progress reporting: Aerial views can serve as progress reports for clients and contractors who can’t visit the job site in person.
- Building inspections: Operators can fly drones around buildings to check stability and take high-resolution photos for structural analysis. Drones can also be used in the planned maintenance of roofs, towers, bridges, and scaffolding, accomplishing tasks in a fraction of the time it would take surveyors.
- Equipment tracking and repair: Keeping track of equipment on job sites is one of the biggest challenges contractors face. Drone flyovers allow project managers to quickly determine whether equipment is where it’s supposed to be. Drones can also identify equipment malfunctions remotely, allowing operators to send visual representations to technicians for fast and accurate diagnostics.
Suggested article to read: The Importance of Drones in Construction: 7 Key Reasons
How are Drones for Project Management in Construction Changing the Industry?
Across the construction industry, companies use drones in slightly different ways, but in general, they have already improved project reporting clarity, project timelines, and the inspection process to deliver a faster, more efficient, reliable construction operations process. Even though they are a relatively new technology, drones have already had a significant impact on changing the construction industry. Expectations around surveying and project timelines have been significantly raised, and more accurate and accessible data has made communication and dispute resolution easier between external teams that can sometimes be at odds with each other.
1. Improved Timelines
Accurate data is essential to the planning process of any major project. With traditional surveying, data can be gathered but it often comes in slowly and requires everything to pause on site to achieve the highest level of accuracy possible. With drone surveying the speed and accuracy of surveying are significantly increased, which enables a much quicker and better-informed decision-making process that can significantly reduce project timelines. This also significantly reduces the amount of confusion when tracking project progress and verifying different project elements are correctly in place. The increased efficiency, accuracy, and security that drone surveying provides has already gone a long way in the construction industry to improve project timelines and ensure that clients’ expectations are consistently met.
2. Clarity
Any significant construction project tends to involve multiple subcontractors who are hired to complete specialized tasks that are a part of the larger project. Some subcontractors are more focused on finishing their part of the project, without keeping the bigger picture in mind. With the digital files and project updates that drone surveying and Propeller provide, project managers receive a new level of clarity and reporting accuracy to monitor the project progress as a whole more closely.
This increased accuracy and more comprehensive reporting allow construction companies to keep detailed records without having to rely on costly and time-consuming traditional surveying methods that could potentially lead to project delays and increased variable expenses. With this added benefit, conflicts can be more quickly resolved and clarified to avoid project mismanagement and delays with drone survey data. With this improvement, many companies can continue to manage their reporting requirements on the fly and reach critical decisions on any conflicts that help to avoid major project delays and miscommunications.
3. Protected Areas
Technology, like drone surveying, can play a key role in promoting and advancing environmental sustainability in construction. When worksites function efficiently, projects not only progress with fewer errors but also produce less waste. This makes for a more environmentally friendly construction process, benefitting both the business and the local surroundings. Drone surveying and processing your data through the Propeller Platform allows you to identify protected areas more easily and proactively address the impact on natural resources (e.g., wildlife migration corridors, natural water drainage features, protected forests).
Case study: Petillo Inc., an excavation and site contractor in the greater New Jersey area, worked on a two-phase project where they were required to keep all of the material on-site for environmental reasons. This 500-acre job site was once used to cast giant motors for boats and airplanes, and after years of ongoing production, the process tainted some of the soil on the site.
Potential Challenges with Drones in Construction
Any technology tool is only as good as your ability to use it, and drones are no exception. When it comes to drone surveying workflows, here is where we most often see teams run into trouble.
1. Manual Flights
Automated drone flights work best, as manual flights can introduce errors. Automated flying provides steady, consistent flight, which is crucial to gathering high-quality images. Low-quality images yield low-quality survey data, so automated flights help pilots in more ways than one. We would recommend that most companies avoid using manual flights unless some special circumstances require it. The increased risk of errors is not counteracted by enough benefits to justify it in most situations.
2. Airspace Regulations
Research restrictions on your local airspace before investing in a drone program. If you’re close to an airport or other restricted airspace, you may find that you cannot legally fly a drone where, when, or how you’d hoped. A bit of up-front mission planning can help ensure the long-term success of your drone surveying program. Most countries have different sets of rules so doing some research online for your specific area is usually the best route to avoid accidentally breaking rules you were not aware of. In general, the most common occurrence of this being a problem is people flying near airports or any government-restricted airspace, just make sure to check your local regulations before flying.
3. Data Silos
Another potential problem with regularly collecting site data is that the right people won’t see it in time, or at all. Choose a cloud-based solution that opens up access to anyone who needs to see survey data as soon as it’s available, from project managers and engineers to subcontractors and clients. Across multiple different departments and sometimes multiple different subcontractors, worksite communication enabled by cloud-based solutions like Propeller can be the difference between a smooth project with few errors and an over-budget and behind-schedule project. Avoiding data silos and miscommunication is perhaps the biggest unforeseen benefit that drone surveying software like Propeller can provide.
4. Self-processing
We highly recommend choosing software that will automatically process the data your drone collects, using smart ground control and other checkpoints to augment manual QA. Choosing to self-process your data will tie the results of your flights to the work of a small handful of qualified individuals, creating bottlenecks and aging the survey results before anyone can use them. Also, most modern drone surveying software like Propeller has safeguards in place and specific personnel like our customer success engineers whose sole job is to make sure that our customers are given the resources they need to accurately and effectively take advantage of all of Propeller’s capabilities. Similar to manual flights there really are not many incentives for self-processing data relative to the risks that it introduces.
FAQs
What kinds of drones are typically used in construction surveying?
- Answer: Construction projects usually rely on three types of drones: multirotors, fixed-wing drones, and fixed-wing/VTOL drones. Multirotors, like the DJI Mavic 3, are perfect for tight spaces and precise flying. On larger sites, fixed-wing/VTOL drones like the WingtraOne are better suited for covering big areas quickly and efficiently.
How do drones speed up construction project timelines?
- Answer: Drones make surveying faster and more accurate. Rather than waiting for traditional surveys to be processed, drones can gather data quickly, which helps project managers make decisions faster. This speeds up the whole project and helps avoid delays, keeping things moving smoothly.
What are the potential challenges when using drones for construction surveying?
- Answer: Potential challenges include manual flights, which can introduce errors and affect data quality; airspace regulations, which may limit where and when drones can be flown; data silos, which can prevent critical survey data from reaching the necessary people on time; and self-processing, which can create bottlenecks and delay the use of survey results.
What challenges come with using drones in construction?
- Answer: While drones offer many advantages, there are some challenges to keep in mind. For example, manual flying can lead to inconsistent data, which can be problematic. There are also airspace restrictions that can limit where and when drones can be used. If the data isn’t shared properly or has to be processed manually, it can delay important decisions and slow the project down.
Conclusion
Drones for project management are changing how construction projects get done. They’re not just high-tech gadgets; they’re practical tools that help with everything from site surveys to inspections and tracking progress. In the past, getting an aerial view of a site meant hiring a helicopter or using slow, traditional methods.
Project managers can benefit enormously from drone technology. For example, the ability of a drone to provide real-time images of construction projects offers a quick and easy way of communicating progress to clients and stakeholders. Whilst there are benefits to drones there are also risks that are important for project managers to consider. And without adequate knowledge of these risks, you may inadvertently fall foul of existing regulations – or industrial espionage on an epic scale.
Resources:
TheDroneLifeNJ | CrainsGrandRapids | DemboJones | HammerMissions | InDrones | Propelleraero | Commercialuavnews | RockAllProjects
For all the pictures: Freepik
