Progress Documentation & Site Monitoring
Construction progress documentation is one of the highest-value applications of commercial drone services. A single drone flight captures the entire site from above — every piece of equipment, every open excavation, every material stockpile, and every structure in progress — producing a time-stamped visual record that is objective, comprehensive, and impossible to replicate from the ground.
For general contractors and project managers working on Florida construction sites, drone progress documentation serves multiple purposes simultaneously. It provides the visual evidence needed for owner meetings and lender draw requests. It creates a defensible record in the event of schedule disputes, change order negotiations, or claims. And it gives remote stakeholders — investors, architects, and ownership groups who may not visit the site regularly — a clear picture of where the project stands without requiring an in-person visit.
Each progress flight produces a high-resolution orthomosaic site map that can be compared side-by-side with previous flights, revealing exactly what has changed between visits. Over the course of a project, this builds a visual timeline that tells the complete story of the build from dirt to completion.
Volume Calculations & Cut/Fill Reporting
Earthwork verification is a persistent challenge on construction sites. How much material has been moved? Does the grading match the design surface? Are stockpile quantities consistent with what the hauler invoiced? Drone volume calculations answer these questions with documented, repeatable measurements that replace estimates and manual calculations.
Our volume calculation workflow uses drone photogrammetry to generate a digital elevation model of the site surface, then compares it against a reference surface — either the design grade from your civil engineer's plans or a previous flight's elevation model — to calculate cut and fill volumes across the entire site. Stockpile measurements follow the same process: the drone captures the pile from all angles, builds a 3D surface, and calculates the volume above the base plane.
For more detail on our mapping and volume calculation methodology, see our drone mapping and orthomosaic services page.
How Drone Data Reduces Construction Costs
The cost savings from construction drone services come from three areas: faster site surveys, fewer material disputes, and more accurate as-built documentation.
A traditional ground survey of a 20-acre construction site can take a full day with a multi-person crew and total stations. A drone survey of the same site takes 30 to 60 minutes of flight time with a single operator, followed by overnight processing. The time savings translate directly into labor cost reduction and, more importantly, into faster access to the data your team needs to make decisions.
Material disputes — particularly around earthwork quantities — are one of the most common sources of cost overruns and contractor conflicts. Drone volume measurements provide documented, timestamped evidence that both parties can reference when quantities are in question. This reduces the frequency of disputes and resolves them faster when they do occur.
Finally, accurate as-built documentation protects the contractor and the owner by creating a permanent record of what was built, when it was built, and the conditions at the time. This documentation is valuable not only during construction but for years afterward when maintenance, warranty, or insurance questions arise.
Who We Work With
General Contractors
Progress documentation, earthwork verification, and stakeholder reporting for commercial and residential construction.
Project Managers
Visual progress tracking, schedule verification, and site condition documentation for multi-phase developments.
Developers
Pre-development site analysis, construction progress reports for investors and lenders, and as-built documentation.
Civil Engineers
Grading verification, stormwater management documentation, and design-vs-built comparison overlays.