That $700 drone mapping package paid for itself in one basement excavation

We bid a small downtown job last month, 40x60 basement pour, and I kept second guessing the dirt takeoffs from the old topo we had. Bought one of those drone photogrammetry setups, the cheap bundle with the mini quad and the software sub. Flew it over the site for about 45 minutes, got the model loaded into our estimating tool, and it showed we were 12 yards short on fill. No way I catch that with a tape and a notebook. The client was ready to go with another GC, but our number came in clean and we got the contract. Setup cost around $700 all in. What are you guys using for quick site models on small residential work? I'm not ready to drop five grand on a full LiDAR rig yet.

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reesel5020h agoOG Member

Man, that's the exact same reason I grabbed one, the math just pays for itself on the first job.