Dropped $900 on a drone for site inspections, the ROI shocked me in 3 weeks

I run small commercial builds and used to climb scaffolding for progress photos every Monday. Bought a DJI Mini 4 Pro after a subcontractor in Phoenix recommended it. First real use was catching a parapet flashing issue on a 40k sq ft roof before the crew finished. That one find paid for the drone by avoiding a tear out. My supers still do their own walks, but now I get 20 minutes of my day back. Has anyone else had a tool purchase that paid for itself fast, or did I just get lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

kai5641d ago

...and that's exactly the kind of thing that gets you chasing shiny toys instead of fixing your real problem. You spent 900 bucks to save yourself 20 minutes a day and catch one issue, but what happens when the drone battery dies on site or you need a repair? Now you're waiting on shipping and still climbing that ladder anyway. Plus, that parapet flashing thing, any decent super with a decent pair of eyes would've caught it on their walk, you just paid to see it from a different angle. I've seen guys drop serious money on fancy tools and then miss the big picture, like the fact that their crew is still doing sloppy work because nobody's actually watching them face to face. Seems like you got lucky once, not like you built a better system.

logan_thomas877h ago

That 40k sq ft tear out would've cost way more than $900, and the drone gives me eyes on stuff like parapet flashing before my supers even get there. I see it as a cheap insurance policy, not a replacement for walking the job.