A sub told me his crew uses a drone for daily site checks, not just the big reports

I was on a job in Tacoma about eight months ago, wiring up a new office block. The concrete sub, a guy named Ray, was showing me his iPad. He said, 'We fly the drone every morning, takes 15 minutes. Lets us spot a bad pour or a missing anchor before the foreman even walks the site.' It stuck with me because I always thought drones were just for the fancy final progress videos. Now I'm wondering if that's the new normal for catching small problems fast. Do you guys use drones for the day-to-day stuff, or is it still a special project tool?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona9852d ago

Forget catching problems, the real win is stopping arguments cold. We send the morning drone clip to the client and every sub, so nobody can claim they didn't know about a site condition. It turns daily updates into a shared fact instead of a blame game. Has that cut down on disputes for you?

nina_campbell2d ago

Honestly thought it was just extra paperwork at first. Seeing the same video proof really does shut down the "he said, she said" stuff before it starts. Changed how we handle all our site meetings now.

wesley_adams2d ago

Ray's totally right about catching the small stuff early. We started doing the same thing on our last two projects after a rebar issue cost us three days. The morning flyover caught a misplaced form panel before the concrete truck even showed up. It's not about fancy videos anymore, it's just a basic tool like a tape measure now. That daily look from above saves so many headaches.