Every day, drones are used to make people’s lives easier. They have a number of applications across dozens of industries, and are used to make tasks more time efficient, financially efficient, and in some cases, to save lives. Drone’s have the capability to change how we work for the better. To put it simply - drones are tools, not toys.
For almost a decade, the construction industry has been struggling with labor force shortages. In large part related to the 2008 recession and the housing market reaching bottom around 2010. Workers are getting older and construction firms are in competition with rising industries like technology, healthcare and engineering for young skilled workers.
A 2020 Outlook survey by the Associated General Contractors of America (ACG) stated that 81% of firms are struggling to fill hourly and salary positions; and 40% anticipate projects taking longer than expected.
This labor shortage is contributing to a decrease in productivity, quality and safety of overall projects. About 35% of workers get injured their first year on the job and contractors can’t afford to have inexperienced project managers potentially cause greater delays.
With numbers of challenges like this, we need to think of new solutions and work with what we have. That’s where drones come in to save the day.
“Work smarter, not harder” is a phrase I'm sure you’ve heard before. Drones have the capability of just about anything. With the combination of an automated drone surveying workflow and appropriate software, you can dramatically improve your daily efficiency on sites.
Justin Russell, Fiore’s Head of Survey, went from topo-ing one site a day to up to six, solely by implementing drone surveying technology into his workflow!
Some benefits to drone technology in the construction industry are improving communication and accuracy, eliminating unnecessary wait around time, creating tech-savvy culture and most importantly keeping laborers safe.
Drone technology in the construction industry clearly has advantages in improving workflow efficiency by creating a central and accessible source of accurate information. Over 30% of contractors state they are making initiatives to invest in cutting-edge technology like this.
So if your workflow is already behind, how do you expect to compete with competitors taking on this new technology? The question now becomes whether you can afford NOT to invest in this groundbreaking drone technology or be at will of the competition.
Source: The State of the Construction Labor Shortage in 2021