A guide to UAVs and drones in construction

Capture as-built conditions from every angle
The basics of construction drones
Construction drone challenges
Construction drone benefits
UAV/drone mapping services
Capturing multiple perspectives
How are drones used in construction?

UAVs/drones capture as-built conditions from every angle

What is the role of UAVs/drones in the construction industry?

effectively managing and reviewing reality capture data is a significant challenge. As-built records must be kept updated and utilize accurate visuals in order to properly assess and measure site conditions. Additionally, there can be many unsafe and hazardous areas on a given jobsite throughout the course of construction. Traditionally, manual assessments would need to be made requiring a person to observe and be present in these challenging spaces.

However, with innovative tools and processing, determinations can be made on whether it’s necessary for human assessment and intervention. Nowadays, teams have access to more tools, including UAVs/drones that are driving the industry forward, and can not only provide observations better than the human eye alone can see, but also enable measurements to be made from reality capture data on cloud-based platforms and key updates are shareable from any device with an internet connection.

As construction documentation experts, UAVs/drones are another essential tool that Multivista offer as part of our full solution of professional services tailored to vertical and horizontal projects of any size and complexity.

But what makes UAVs/drones a good fit for construction sites? How do they function, and what kind of results can you expect from UAV/drone-powered documentation? Let’s dive in.

The basics of construction drones

UAVs/drones are remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) that carry sensors to capture construction site data from the air.

How do UAVs/drones capture photos on construction sites?

In the context of construction documentation, UAVs/drones can be equipped with sensors — like high-definition cameras, LiDAR, thermal, multispectral, gas detection, and other sensor payloads — to capture construction site data from the air in 3D space.

They operate aerially to provide perspectives of construction sites that are often unreachable by typical cameras.

With the images and/or videos they capture, you can use the reality capture data for:

3D mapping
Topographic modeling
Accurate measures of terrain
QA/QC and inspection
Promotional marketing efforts such as photos and videos

Does UAV/drone-powered documentation come with any challenges?

UAVs/drones are a reliable additional support solution for documenting site conditions, but aren’t flawless on their own — that’s why we recommend pairing their use with other documentation methods.

Luckily, many of the challenges associated with drone-enabled construction documentation can be remedied by collaborating with an experienced construction documentation partner.

Construction drone challenges

Data management. While UAVs/drones can accumulate a vast amount of data, it’s crucial to manage this information effectively. To avoid data silos, ensure your data is easily accessible via a cloud-based service.

Legal and regulatory constraints. There are numerous regulations around piloting UAVs/drones, their registration, flight restrictions, and data privacy — and they can all vary by location. Thorough research on your specific region’s regulations (or collaboration with an informed vendor) is necessary to prevent legal consequences for noncompliance.

Weather-related challenges. Rain, high winds, and other adverse weather conditions can make it difficult to fly UAVs/drones. In these cases, manual documentation methods may be necessary.

Limited access in tight spaces. The physical size of UAVs/drones and any attached equipment can make it challenging to navigate narrow corridors or tunnels. In such situations, alternative methods like 360-degree photography may be helpful.

Need for specialized training. Leveraging UAVs/drones for construction documentation requires not just technical flight training, but also specialized knowledge about how to interpret captured data. Working with an experienced drone services provider can reduce the need for in-house training.

Why use UAVs/drones for construction documentation?

Including UAVs/drones as part of your documentation-capturing process will add even more accurate, up-to-date data for stakeholders to review.

Construction drone benefits

Improved safety and reduced liability. UAVs/drones can be used to check safety structures for proper installation, monitor site conditions, and reach dangerous areas, reducing liability.

Streamlined progress documentation. UAVs/drones can capture a lot of information in a short period of time, making them a highly efficient way to create up-to-date visuals.

More advanced visuals. UAV/drone cameras made for mapping photogrammetry allow for the creation of advanced 3D models that feature linear, area, and volume measurements like fence lines, hardscapes, slab areas, and more.

Coverage for large areas. Walking a large construction site to survey it is labor and time-intensive. UAVs/drones can reduce the effort and time required to document conditions by flying over the entire site in less time than other processes.

Enhanced site security. Getting a birds-eye view of your site means you can more easily identify security risks.

Why use UAVs/drones for construction documentation?

Including UAVs/drones as part of your documentation-capturing process will add even more accurate, up-to-date data for stakeholders to review.

Construction drone benefits

Improved asset and material tracking. UAVs/drones can monitor the movement and location of equipment, tools, and materials on a site.

Supplementary auditing. UAVs/drones can confirm OSHA-compliant safety markers and flag any safety concerns from aerial data, to be double-checked by auditors on the ground.

Accessible documentation. With cloud-based platforms like Multivista’s Documentation Software, drone-captured images can be shared amongst team members and accessed anywhere with an internet connection.

Repeatable processes. Pre-programmed drone flights and geolocation tech allow you to capture the same areas of your site from the same angles at regular intervals, allowing for easy comparison and monitoring over time.

Better resource utilization. By taking on documentation work, UAVs/drones can help create more efficiencies within documentation workflows, enabling your team to reinvest saved time into other work.

Take a deeper dive into each of these benefits

UAV/drone mapping: unlocking a new level of on-site visibility

With comprehensive UAV/drone documentation solutions, you can interact with reality capture data in new ways, giving you more visibility into the progress of your projects from all angles.

Interactive 3D aerial map of site

Topographical map

Measurable project footprint

Capturing multiple perspectives

Construction UAV/drone technologies deliver the actionable project intelligence you need at every step. Multivista’s construction UAVs/drones capture multiple perspectives at varying elevations of your project, so no detail is missed, flying 10x closer than standard aerial photography.

Let us capture your project straight down, at oblique angles, through project flyovers, or with sweeping panoramas so that all major details are documented properly and accurately.

Use UAV/Drone-captured video for progress and inspections

The most obvious use case for UAV video is for marketing purposes. However, UAV video is also regularly used for broad overviews of progress and for inspections.

Site perimeters can be flown much quicker and safer than doing a full walkaround and can capture a lot more detail over what can be seen from the ground. The resulting product can then be viewed by multiple people for more clarity of the condition and progress or provide value for multiple teams with different checklists in mind.

No matter the requirement, including UAV/Drone reality capture data as part of your planning, monitoring and construction processes will benefit you and your teams greatly.

Enhanced site management

Having a birds-eye view of the site can help immensely with logistics coordination, materials storing and overall site workflow.

Identify where potential safety hazards are, bottlenecks for vehicle and heavy equipment paths, and optimize onsite workstations.

Improve collaboration and decision making

Adding UAV/Drone reality capture data as part of weekly meetings, sub-trades coordination efforts and plan adjustments can help provide planning teams with even more information of current conditions and progress.

UAV/Drone reality capture data can help designers specifically understand where key components of the project will be placed, and how they interact with the surrounding space or even provide opportunities for optimizations to the structure based on real-world conditions.

Case study

British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)

The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) is set to grow and modernize its six campuses in Metro Vancouver. For this plan, BCIT required comprehensive visual documentation of their facilities, covering 56 buildings and 3,000,000 square feet — one of British Columbia’s largest documentation projects.

Multivista accepted the challenge, utilizing a combination of 360º cameras, Leica RTC360 laser scanners, and Phantom 4 RTK UAVs to capture terabytes of 3D point cloud data.

56 buildings and 3,000,000 square feet documented over 6 campuses
Captured 40k images
1,500,000 images used for 3D models
Dozens of hours of UAV flight time, all viewable online on our secure, cloud-based platform

Read full case study

How are drones used in construction?

Initial land mapping

Equipping UAVs/drones with high-definition cameras can greatly speed up initial site and land mapping.

By combining aerial data and images captured by UAVs/Drones, you can create comprehensive, high-resolution topographic maps of land surface and man features, and vegetation. These maps illustrate elevation changes to better understand the landscape and how man-made features and structures fit within it. These greatly assist architects, engineers, and project managers with essential planning and risk assessment. As well, the reality capture data is a great communication tool for stakeholders including site ownership to reference.

Construction progress monitoring

UAVs/drones can capture varied angles and perspectives with high precision and comprehensive coverage.

They can also be set to document the same angles each time, so you can easily see updates over time — and in near real-time.

Performing regular documentation throughout all project stages provides stakeholders with a clear and accurate picture of progress while also providing a great communication resource for guiding stakeholders, materials tracking, equipment logistics and meeting updates.

Tracking equipment and materials

With a birds-eye view, you can quickly assess the location and quantity of materials and equipment on site. Rather than performing time-consuming manual audits by walking around the site on foot, aerial images, maps and videos can streamline the process.

With additional technology like radio frequency identification tech (RFID), UAVs/drones can identify materials from the air, eliminating the need for manual identification.

Safer inspections in dangerous locations

UAVs/drones can help you perform inspections in hazardous situations and locations (e.g. heights, unstable terrain, toxic materials, heavy equipment, power lines, and damaged/incomplete structures), so you can gather vital project data that’s accurate and reliable for assessment — without endangering lives.

Creating marketing content

In the construction industry, visuals convey value and quality. UAVs/drones can contribute significantly to your promotional toolkit, generating stunning visual content — from aerial footage and exterior images to time-lapse videos and beyond — to attract potential clients or investors.