What are drones really used for
in the construction industry?

We had a poor guy who we were showing
some stuff on a project that was

doing some kind of inspection, you
know, a building that was getting

finished up and he was using
binoculars to do it, and, and poor guy.

We showed him some of the kind of
functions within the platform and,

you know, you could, you could
tell his ears and eyes were perking

up, like, this is amazing and.

All right.

I wanna welcome Grant Hagan to the,
your drum questions Answered podcast.

Thanks for coming on, grant.

You bet.

Hey, team, nice to be joining in
with us and, uh, yeah, excited

to answer some questions.

Uh, today's question we're gonna be
addressing is what are drones really

used for in the construction industry?

Um, we hear from people all the time.

They know that drones
are used in construction.

They have some loose ideas.

Grant, do you wanna give just
like a quick, like 20 seconds

on your background now?

You've worked for construction
companies, you've worked for drones,

now you've worked for Jones, and
now you work for DroneDeploy.

We met at a drone conference.

Let everybody know 20 seconds of
why they should, uh, listen to

you, . Probably because I
have more construction spirits

than, uh, than tech experience.

But yeah, I worked, uh, went to school
for construction engineering, uh,

that led me to a construction and
architecture firm for about 10 years.

Kind of worked my way through
project management, virtual

design and construction.

That was kind of where I, uh,
transitioned my time from at that firm.

Uh, and then was a longtime drone
deploy user and just, uh, had an

opportunity to come on the team and
really help them with this idea of,

uh, construction within their platform
and how to make it even better, uh,

from a product side and enablement
side for customers that were using it.

And so have been on the drone deploy
team for, uh, a little, uh, over

a year, um, and have been in the
construction space for over 10 years.

So, yeah, it's been really fun to
kind of see these two, uh, come.

Sounds

like you are the perfect
person for this question then.

Uh, so I'm excited to, to dive into it.

So why don't we just start on a high
level, you know, for those who are

maybe less familiar with drones and
construction, what are just some

quick hits, uh, kind of like right
now, today, the biggest ways you are

seeing construction companies or drone
service providers using drones in

cons.

It's, it's a great question to,
to tackle cuz really there's

a lot of facets to it, right?

Like you can start 50,000 feet, move
down to 30,000 and kind of eventually

get it and land on the ground.

But, you know, a big challenge in
construction, uh, unlike manufacturing,

uh, where you, you know, have a controlled
environment, you're doing a lot of, uh,

small things to eventually, you know, make
a re repetitive, uh, amount of a product.

Construction's very much linear,
meaning like you're building one

product, uh, out in the field.

And, uh, to track that and to really.

As it gets built is very challenging.

Um, and, and not only that,
uh, take yourself outside

of a manufacturing facility.

You know, we're working on, uh, tens
and even hundreds of acres of a site.

And so to track information across
a large, uh, or to track changes

across a large area is just
also really challenging as well.

And, and, you know, drones really
hit this sweet spot, um, for value in

construction is it's a very simple tool.

Uh, it's a really effective tool,
uh, and it's a really safe tool,

which is also just a huge, uh,
added value in construction.

To really perform and do things a lot
safer, uh, which is just really cool.

So that's probably the 50,000 foot view
is really just tracking the changes

that happen on a job, uh, and having
the ability to do that very efficiently,

uh, over a large project site, which
is typically what construction is in.

You know, we were out on a project trying
to do some quality control and inspecting,

uh, just some really challenging scopes
of work, uh, on some roofing conditions.

And, you know, the, the legacy
way of doing that typically in

construction is putting someone in
that position to inspect it, visual.

Either using some binoculars
from the ground, which is just

challenging to see as well.

Uh, and so at the time we were
saying, Hey, you know, maybe, maybe

this drone could, could get us eyes
in the sky and maybe a perspective

that we weren't able to see.

So the kind of 30,000 foot, you
know, value add is quality control.

Uh, there's, there's a lot of
things you need to inspect, uh, in

a construction progress, uh, that
are just really challenging to.

C uh, and the really, the, the
legacy way of doing that is putting

someone in that position, which
can just be really dangerous.

Um, you know, the, a lot of times
you'll either drive by buildings and

see people hanging off what we call
swing stages, which are just, you know,

kind of window or maintenance or, uh,
exterior, uh, kind of elements that

they use to maintenance buildings.

And, and that's really what the kind of
legacy method is, is going and putting

someone in that unsafe condition.

So that's really how I got into drones
and, and really the first place was like,

Hey, Uh, what could we use to put an eye
in a position that maybe we wouldn't have

to, uh, or we didn't have the ability to,
in just a much safer and efficient way.

Uh, we didn't have to put someone
on a roof, uh, didn't have to do

a tie off or any kind of training
for them to be in that place.

Really just to put their eyes and
see what needed to be corrected.

I think that's a challenge with drones
too, is they won't go correct the

issue and it's not really ever going
to completely eliminate the human

in the loop element, but it is going
to remove a part of the element, and

that's really the inspection part of it.

to know what you have to go into then?

Correct.

When you hear drones in construction,
I feel like the two things that pop

up frequently in that conversation
are progress updates, just mm-hmm.

generally wide shots, and then people
doing a photogrammetry, like actually

creating some type of map or, mm-hmm.

topography or like a record
or 3D model of the building.

Of all of those, which is kind
of the most common, the most

difficult, the most useful.

Just thinking through,
you know, what you know.

Drones can be used for, you know,

talk a little bit about.

Having progress documentation from,
you know, the legacy way of doing that

is just having a helicopter service.

You know, that those were pretty prevalent
for a long time, which, you know, they go

fly 30 sites in a, in a day or afternoon
and go take four corners of the site.

Um, just to kind of give that
overall aerial perspective,

and, and that was really common.

You know, thing for a really long time.

And, you know, progress reports and
billing reports are a really big

part of construction, uh, as you're
submitting, you know, for application

and payments and things like that.

And so those progress reports are huge.

They give access to people that aren't
on the site or maybe stakeholders

that aren't in that region that
can't go physically walk the site.

And, you know, I think, uh, kind
of the, if you go down even another

level, the 10,000 foot value add,
that's even really been more.

Hear these last few years from Covid is
just the idea of virtual collaboration.

You know, we're able to have
eyes on a project, um, in more

perspectives, more ways, more media
types than just your standard photo.

You know, we're a lot
of user in DroneDeploy.

Don't just use it for mapping
and modeling, which is a

huge value add in itself.

But, you know, they're doing things like
progress videos and progress panoramas.

Uh, You know, those are consistently,
uh, spotted places throughout the

project that, you know, at the end
of the job they can create a nice

little time lapse and see the changes
from really any perspective that

they wanted through, you know, the
flight controller within DroneDeploy.

So, you know, the mapping and
modeling side of it, you know,

that's a huge value add in itself.

There's some kind of things that happen
to make that, uh, a good deliverable,

but the benefit is, and for many of
who've either used drone ploy or have

looked into it as it's a really easy
thing to do, you're dragging photos

into a photo processing engine.

Gonna stitch together a high resolution
map, and then it's gonna create what

we call a, a photogrammetry model,
which just enables you to kind of, uh,

move around a building as if you're,
uh, in a, you know, a Google Earth

or Apple Maps kind of view, uh, in

3d.

In your experience, you know, on
construction sites, how often are.

They're actually like using drones for
these types of documentation or other

like modeling, are they like, oh, we've
gotta have this on every project, or

is it just like, we're gonna only use
it on projects of a certain size or

like, I guess where do you see the
parameters of when someone is making

DEC as a decision to use a drone,

uh, or not?

Yeah, that's a great question.

Uh, one that we get asked a ton.

Uh, and, and I would say across the
board, the most frequent answer is, is

usually weekly, uh, for a couple reasons.

One in which there's, you know, weekly
meetings that happen, uh, with your

subcontractors and key stakeholders with
your owners or clients that you're working

with, and they just wanna be updated.

You know, construction sites can change so
quickly, even from week to week, whether

it's a, you know, a smaller job or a job.

You know, hundreds of people on it and
all this stuff that's, that's changing.

And so, you know, that weekly kind
of ebbs and flows throughout, um,

uh, the life cycle of construction.

You know, specifically in the
pre-construction phase and earthwork

moving phase, you're for sure wanting
to be documenting it weekly just from

all the changes that are happening.

And, you know, as you're going up
the building and doing a lot of the

exterior work and facade work, you
know, you, you basically need to

have really key milestone capture.

As those different elements are
being installed, so you don't have

to go back and take off any of those
elements or see what was underneath it.

So yeah, just in a general sense,
weekly is, is pretty prevalent.

Um, and then I would say adding on to
that, it's really at key milestones.

So you could be documenting it weekly,
but know, hey, you're gonna be, um,

you know, closing up an exterior wall
or you're gonna have a, a, you know,

a key, um, report to produce, uh, that
you're gonna wanna, you know, have.

Stone, uh, to document an app,
but, which is really surprising.

You know, we used to do these
aerial helicopter photos once a

month and we'd see so much change
that would happen in that month.

And, you know, I think as soon as the
floodgates opened and, and we're enabling

people to capture these more frequently
and automated in that matter, you

know, they're not, Really doing much.

They're just going out and watching
it, uh, go on performance mission, you

know, we've seen people even document
it twice a week, you know, once at the

beginning and, and once at the end.

So, weekly is probably the most
common, but I would say it definitely

ebbs and flows from the size of a
project, the scale of it, and kind

of where it's at in the life cycle.

So, speaking to the.

People are seeking to do kind of a
drone service business and work with

construction companies and they're like
kind of clueless about how to approach

them or what their needs are, like
what's one piece of advice you would

give them on like how to maybe have an
initial conversation with a construction

company or kind of feel that out, see
if that's something that they could do

for them.

Great question.

Uh, I have kind of a funny response and
then more of maybe a practical response.

. Uh, first one fu funny maybe is
just like, Hey, go get yourself

a bear of construction boots
and a, a construction vest.

Yeah.

You know, I, I think oftentimes people,
you know, see a construction fence and

they kind of wonder what's on the other
side of it and, you know, may have a

chance to go engage in a conversation,
but, hey, you wanna, uh, engage

with that community of individuals?

You should, you should look like them and,
and, you know, put on a vest and get some.

To and a hard hat to, you know,
basically show them, hey, uh,

the, the most important thing on
any construction side is to get

people home at the end of the day.

And, and being in looking like
that and having the safety , you

know, attire to do that.

That's why I just say it's funny.

We, we interacted with a lot of service
providers that would just kind of

come with shorts and a t-shirt and
things that you're like, Hey, uh,

there's some things here that maybe,
uh, you could go get a little bit

more, uh, safe, uh, safer attire on.

But,

and

it's like, do they just instantly
stand out as like, that person has no

idea what they're doing.

Yeah.

And, and, and I say that
jokingly, but also serious.

You know, you, you wanna show them
that obviously you, you care a lot

about what is important to them.

And that kind of leads into the second
point is just, you know, construction

has such a, a vast community of people,
whether that's, uh, from big, big

projects to small, small projects.

And more than likely,
I, I could guess that.

Someone on or listening to, you know,
a podcast like this knows someone in

construction at some point or some level,
or a friend of a friend or a family

member, and, and honestly going and asking
them, Hey, what, like what are some of

the pain points you see on, you know,
projects that you've gotten to work on?

I mean, construction people
love to tell stories.

They love to talk about their projects.

You know, it's, I heard it
said once that, you know, they

become a part of their family.

Those projects that they work on are
really, you know, they get to go show

their family members and drive by those
projects and relive that part of life.

And that's really true.

And, um, I, I would say becoming and
educating yourself, whether it's through

listening to things like this or resources
or, you know, reaching out to individuals

that you got to meet at a conference or
you got to hear through a podcast like

this, like, uh, go, go really do the, to.

Due to the due diligence of educating
yourself of, of what those pain points

are to go and engage with, uh, those
potential customers that they may be.

What's kind of your

spiel that you give, like a person
in construction who maybe e either

doesn't know as much about drones
or they're a little bit resistant

to adopting something new.

Like what's your your best pitch
to get them to like take the

pl.

Start simply, simply start, you
know that drones aren't going away.

Uh, they're, they're clearly have been
transforming the way that, you know,

project teams have been, uh, ensuring
a safer project, uh, have been, you

know, completing projects on schedule
and ahead of time and on budget.

Like, you know, there, there's a period,
you know, five to seven years ago that

drones were just kind of continuing to be.

Uh, played out and seeing kind
of how it was gonna all come

together and, and we're past that.

You know, we, we've seen a lot of
just very large sized companies and

projects really embrace this idea.

And the idea of, you know, simply
start and start simply can kind of come

down to really however you want to.

You know, some of our biggest
customers don't own a single

drone, and, you know, they.

They see themselves in truly,
they are construction companies.

They're not drone companies.

And so they've chosen to go down the
path of engaging with a drone service

provider or, um, you know, we have a
data on demand function within our, you

know, platform that you can go and order
flights just as if, you know, you're

ordering something off of Uber Eats.

And so that's cool.

. That's really the encouragement
I would give folks is that, um,

hey, we, we've, we've seen this
technology isn't going away.

That's what we've gotten so excited
about and seeing, uh, how much

customers have really embraced it.

Uh, but it, it's not as complicated
as you would think and, and you

can get as involved, uh, and build
out your own team and pilots and

programs as much as you want.

Uh, or you can leverage really the
expertise of a lot of people and, you

know, folks like you and your community
that you're, you know, building

through, uh, channels like this too.

So just simply start and start.

I

feel like that's a, a motto
that you could use for basically

any area of like work or life.

The biggest

,
it's used

quite frequently.

Other parts too.

. I've

never heard it, but I love it cuz one
of the hardest parts, I mean this isn't

about drones, but just work in general.

If you feel like a project is, is like
too large, at least in my mind, I'm like

always procrastinating or like try to
find something else to do that's easier.

Um, lemme just break it down.

Hey, simply start.

I love it.

What's your favorite recent?

Uh, in the construction world, um,
either something funny that happened or

bad that happened on construction site.

I don't know.

What do you, any good story that you
think people might, uh, enjoy hearing,

uh, in the world of construction?

You know, anytime you show some folks,
uh, just how this can help them, um, you

know, Really at the end of the day due
to their job more effectively or do it

safely or, or save them some time to go
home to their, you know, family sooner.

Those are always fun jobs.

You know, we, we run into all the
time with just different features

and functions within the tool of
like, man, I had no idea that that

was something that, um, that you
guys could offer or that was done.

You know, we, we had a poor guy
who we were showing some stuff,

uh, to on a project that was
doing some kind of inspections.

Uh, you know, a building that was getting
finished up and he was using binoculars to

do it, and, and honestly can't blame him.

I mean, he had a parking deck that
he could sit on and kind of look

and scan up and down the building.

It was great.

It, it was obviously the, the tool
that he felt was best to go and do it.

And, and poor guy, we showed him some of
the kind of functions within the platform

and, you know, you could, you could
tell his ears and eyes were perking up.

Like, this is amazing.

And, and we asked him, we said, Hey,
is, you know, do you think this is,

could be a helpful tool for you?

And he's like, man, No idea what I've
been doing the last week or two of, you

know, sitting out on this parking deck
and it happened to be here in Texas

and it was, you know, super hot out.

And so, yeah, you know, those are
always the, the fun stories because,

you know, you, you hope that that's
the thing that's gonna kind of, uh,

give people an opportunity to, to get
home sooner and again, do their job

safer and with the higher quality too.

So I just love those
stories, you know, poor guy.

He was excited to see some of
the, the functions that, you know,

could, could help him in his job.

But, um, yeah, I just tho those
are really fun to kind of hear and,

and, and find ways to help them.

I wasn't

sure

if that story was gonna go, he was really
bummed that he didn't, he, you took away

his like job where he can chill and look
up and down the, uh, side of the building.

But I guess you're sitting
in a parking lot in Texas.

Maybe that's not as, uh,
luxurious as it sounds.

He probably is dying out

there.

Yeah, he probably had a good
umbrella, uh, next to him too.

But yeah, I was just, you know, those are,
those are hard cuz you're like, man, I, I

really do want to help and, and find ways
to, to kind of maybe make that a little

bit better than it was the day before

Just bring him

a, a ice cold bottle of water
and a DroneDeploy subscription.

Be like, listen here.

That's right.

That's right.

Awesome.

Well, grant, uh, thanks for coming
on and talking about construction.

I appreciate all your thoughts and,
uh, your experience sharing with us.

Uh, so hope you, hope to have you on
again, uh, sometime when we get some

more construction related questions.

But,

uh, appreciate you being here.

Yeah, of course, David.

Appreciate the time and yeah, if
anyone is interested about who we are

as a company or other construction
related questions, uh, feel free to

find us on LinkedIn and excited to
connect with y'all and appreciate.

Sounds good.

Thanks, grant.

See you.

Thanks, David.