Drones provide 4D visual insights that can revolutionize construction site visibility. That amounts to big business: Goldman Sachs forecasts that drones will be most successful in the construction industry, with a total addressable market of $11,164M. PwC found that infrastructure companies could save up to $45.2 billion through drone usage. And now, as contactless work becomes the default in every industry, drones are set to take off more than ever before.

Drones capture high-precision imagery that allows construction professionals to monitor their jobsites from all angles and identify issues that would have previously gone undetected in a typical site inspection. By automating flight paths and data management, construction companies can capture high-precision images and turn them into meaningful data types, including 360-degree photos, orthomosaics and multi-angle image series. These images provide construction professionals with greater visibility into jobsites that allow them to spot and resolve issues quickly, thereby reducing re-work.

Time is money—and re-work is time. Roughly 5% of most projects' overall contract value is made up of re-work activity, and time overruns are even costlier at around 7% of total work hours. Re-work also extends project timelines, which prolongs any existing safety hazards and exposure to risk.

The good news is that re-work can be avoided when errors are pinpointed and resolved quickly. By using drone captures to identify errors and report on productivity pitfalls, construction companies can ensure that a project meets predefined standards. The result is less re-work, less risk, fewer expenses and safer jobsites.

There are various tools to avoid re-work, but not all are created equal. Simply using drones to capture videos or progress photos from various angles across construction sites isn’t enough. Those captures do not always include the necessary context that allows data processing software to repeatedly deliver business insights at scale. The best drone operations and data automation platforms automate high-precision image capture and deploy smart data processing in order to generate insights. They prioritize airspace safety and ensure that every drone mission is conducted in compliance with all public airspace regulations and with enterprises’ corporate policies. They are integrated with widely-used project management tools.

Effective platforms facilitate information-sharing across teams, and are easy to use for construction companies and Drone Service Providers alike. These features empower construction firms to maximize value from their drone operations.

ANDRES Construction Services offers a powerful example of how conducting drone operations with the right platform can reduce re-work and generate valuable business insights. The Dallas-based firm manages major commercial, institutional and developer construction projects across Texas and uses an integrated drone operations and data automation platform to manage its drone program.

On a recent build, the ANDRES team was preparing to drill piers, the load-bearing supports that hold up a building, but something didn’t look quite right. The team consulted their drone captures, which offered a multi-angle view of the site through various data types, and determined that the piers were laid out to be drilled in the wrong place. They overlaid their drawings onto an orthomosaic image of the site and determined the correct placement for the piers, saving the company an estimated $10,000.

The lessons from the ANDRES story are clear: an integrated drone operations and data automation platform provides a powerful way to track projects and create a comprehensive system of record. High-quality drone captures deliver business insights, and the right solution makes it easy for construction companies to save time and money and maximize value from their drone operations. Information is power and better work is the clear result.