4 Reasons Drone Interest is in High Demand for the Construction Industry

Drones are one of the next big things in the construction industry. Why? The reasons are many and varied. These minuscule aircrafts, through the use of on-board cameras, can assist contractors with a multitude of jobs. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why there is so much demand for drones in construction — and what regulations need to be followed in order to fly a drone at your Boston construction site!

4 Benefits of Drones in Construction

1. Drones in Construction: The Design Phase

One of the top reasons why drones are becoming popular in the construction sector is that they are incredibly helpful when it comes to mapping and land surveying. Through the use of a drone, contractors and architects can get a bird’s eye view of the property. Architects use the aerial footage to plan new structures and data collected during the drone flight is useful for land surveys, which means that contractors will not need the manpower that is traditionally used to go in on foot and survey a property prior to the start of construction.

2. Drones Can Help You Market Your Project

As any contractor knows, marketing is essential. It is what sells the finished projects and it is what attracts new clients who are interested in your services. Many drones in construction work are currently being used to create some of the marketing materials that contractors require in order to outshine the competition. Aerial imagery and video footage of land, jobs underway and completed projects give you unique visuals to use with your current marketing strategy.

3. Drones Help You Keep Tabs on the Job Site

Once the job is underway, drones are helpful in several different ways. First, they’ll help you keep an eye on the job’s progress — a notoriously difficult task for supervisors that would normally need to travel to multiple job sites in order to keep track of progress at each site. Drones can also help keep insurance costs down. Through real time monitoring of workers and procedures, you can ensure that safety equipment is being used properly and that the jobs themselves are being done correctly, which helps to eliminate potential liabilities before they happen.

Finally, drone footage is useful to clients as well. Most clients will want to see frequent updates on the job’s progress, something that you can easily deliver through video imagery streamed directly to a laptop or desktop computer.

4. Use Drone Footage to Make Mandatory Inspections Easier

Inspections are a fact of life in the construction industry with federal, state and local agencies requiring them. Through the use of drones, you’ll be able to deliver footage of every part of the project if you so desire — including the rooftops of new high-rises or other hard to reach areas. With this footage, you’ll be able to complete inspections more quickly, easily and with less cost to you since you’ll be able to avoid potential delays as inspectors move through the job site.

Boston Drone Laws: What You Need to Know

As of right now, there are no Boston drone laws that you will need to be aware of but as drones become more commonplace, that stands to change. The basic requirement for commercial drone use is to obtain a permit from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly an unmanned aircraft, otherwise known as the Section 333 exemption. In order to receive this permit, drone operators must have a pilot’s license and certain safety measures for drone operation must be agreed to.

You will also need to keep in mind that even though Boston and Massachusetts do not currently have laws for drone flight, a few municipalities do. For example, Newton, a suburb of Boston, currently prohibits drone flight over public and private property without written consent.

Once you’ve seen the various ways that drones can be put to work on the job site, it is easy to see why they are in such high demand. Use a drone to accomplish some of the tasks listed here and your construction business could end up saving a lot of money on manpower, lost time, marketing costs and even potential liabilities.