How Can Drone Surveying Aid Your Next Project?

How Can Drone Surveying Aid Your Next Project?

The role of drone surveying in architecture, construction, and commercial real estate projects continues to evolve and is one of the most promising technologies in the building industry. As a relatively new reality capture tool, many professionals don't yet fully understand how to utilize drone technology to the fullest.

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The Future is Now

Utilizing drone surveys is the most beneficial use of time to capture rich, accurate, color data rather than old methods of trying to capture existing conditions by just looking at the square footage. People are investing in this cutting-edge technology to elevate their projects while creating transparency for all key stakeholders.

Existing Conditions’ Drone Services provide fast and accurate drone video, imagery, and mapping, for architecture, engineering, and construction projects. With high-resolution cameras and LiDAR sensors, our drones capture video and images of buildings, sites, and infrastructure, facilitating real-time collaboration and decision-making.

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How Does Drone Surveying Work?

Here at Existing Conditions, all of our pilots are 107 certified and are registered with the United States government and the FAA. Getting certified by the FAA allows us and our clients to have peace of mind that we are going to operate safely on a job site. Our drone survey process is controlled by a software program called Pix4D, which automates the flight process and allows the drone to fly up and capture a plethora of aerial photos of the site and the buildings around it. We then use these photos to create an orthomosaic, which essentially is taking these multiple drone images and creating one overall image. We do this by taking the drone images and stacking them all together and, with the overlapping data and massive amounts of information that we’ve gathered, it will provide you with the exact image and the exact conditions of your building. We are also able to provide clients drone videos of their site. You are able to pivot around the property, take measurements and see what your property accurately looks like without having to step foot on it. These drone videos will show the multiple cardinal directions, to capture every angle of the existing conditions of the area around their project. The flying process takes under 10 minutes to fly and capture these photos and gets developed in our software system in under an hour, making this process the fastest service we provide by far.

The next step in our drone survey process is to plug the data into our software PIX4D and Revit Modeling and create accurate 3D Models of the properties we scan. These models are one of the most accessible tools we produce here at Existing Conditions. They are very easy to use, will show you what your property looks like, and can even be used for future project planning.
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Why is Drone Surveying Important?

There are several reasons why drone surveys can serve to benefit your projects. One reason being asset management, a preliminary drone survey shortens time spent on site and allows for an additional, aerial viewpoint of your building. As the drone is surveying the exterior, a team can also be 3D laser scanning the interior. Drone surveying is a quick method to get the approximate square footage of a building by determining the perimeter dimension. It allows for quick and seamless documentation of the surrounding buildings as well, helping provide an overall understanding of the broader site conditions. This documentation will provide an in-depth view of what’s happening in the surrounding areas of your project with color photos and videos.

Drone surveying is a good solution for sites that are in unsafe conditions, which don't allow for typical 3D laser scanning. These sites can include; inaccessible elevations, fire destruction, or active construction sites. There are many benefits of drone surveying, but the most important point to understand about the process is that it’s not relying on the last time a satellite flew over, it’s what was happening that day, giving you the most up-to-date information about the property. This cutting-edge technology will give you the richest detailed information of your site and helps you to start accurate and stay accurate on your projects.
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What are the Benefits of Drone Surveying?

Drone surveys can benefit architects, builders, and commercial real estate professionals in many ways. As a cost-effective asset management tool, a drone survey enhances the due diligence process by reducing errors in capturing data for a building or property. We define our drone survey as the newest valuable addition to getting the accurate existing conditions of their property.

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Insurance Companies

When it comes to insurance companies, we understand the importance of capturing the current state of the building during the due diligence phase of a project. With our drone survey services, we can capture detailed imagery and video not only of the exterior built environment and aerial views of the property but also what's surrounding it. Insurers can get a clear picture of the current state of the property. Unfortunately, most project teams cannot depend on the imagery produced from the last time a satellite flew over the property. Using drones, we can provide what is happening on site at an exact moment in time. Insurance companies can utilize our drone services by making it a necessity for property inspections, which will inevitably reduce risks on their end and ensure that they truly understand what the property consists of.

Real Estate Developers

Real-estate developers can utilize our data when pitching to investors by demonstrating what is surrounding their property and explaining the immediate context from a birds-eye view. Developers can trust that they know what they are really working with, and our services will help investors trust real estate developers with their property documentation, ensuring they know the ins and outs of their properties. High quality drone services not only provide eye-catching imagery but can also help show the value-add a proposed project could bring.

Architects

As a large portion of the Existing Conditions team has an architecture background, we know how useful our drone surveys can be for architects. Drone surveying can be a tool for large construction projects for mapping and aerial documentation. For example, it can help build a portfolio displaying how construction progresses for clients, projects, and RFPs. This kind of drone footage can be a huge asset to projects, as you can physically see how the building has progressed from inception to completion with an as-built scan to leverage for any future projects in your scope.

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Existing Conditions Drone Services

Drones provide instant and updated site documentation, so that clients can get accurate data to make decisions and approve next steps. They are a safe, cost-effective tool for as-built reality capture, remote inspections, and project monitoring. By integrating drone services with 3D laser scanning, clients can receive detailed 2D maps and 3D models that enhance project planning and execution.

Drone surveys add a tremendous amount of value and utility without delaying your project or requiring a burdensome cost. Contact us today about how we can aid your next project with drone surveying.