Embrace the Future by Utilizing Drone Technology on Your Jobsites!

By Kole Moxley. 

Get the job done better, faster and safer by using drone technology. 

The capabilities of technology have grown exponentially in the past few decades. From roll-film cameras to polaroid, digital cameras to drone footage, things change quickly. And in the roofing industry, it’s important to stay up to date on the newest technologies to give you a competitive edge over other companies that offer similar services.  

One such technology that can help you is drones. Drones are classified as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The concept of UAV’s has been around for over 100 years, with the first one being invented in 1939 near the beginning of World War II. Drones are now used for much more than military purposes, but 2006 was the first year the Federal Aviation Administration issued the first commercial use drone permit.  

Drones have many uses, such as taking photos, recording videos and can even transport items. As the leading authority in the roofing industry for information, education, technology and advocacy, the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) shared information from “Safety Takes To the Sky: Drones In Construction” by Jason Hurdis from Caterpillar, about integrating drone usage into your roofing business. Below are two ways you can utilize drone technology in your business to help get the job done safely and efficiently! 

1 - Prevent accidents by replacing people 

In the industry, there are a multitude of day-to-day tasks that are extremely dangerous. By replacing people with drones for tasks like inspections, material measurement and setting survey stakes, you put your team at less of a risk and make the job safer. The drone can also be used to assess the roof’s condition and record any dangerous situations, thus allowing you to create a plan to accomplish the task safely before your crew gets on the roof.  

2 - Gain a birds-eye view of jobsite 

By utilizing a drone’s ability to get up above the jobsite, you can easily monitor the project’s progress to ensure you stick to your timeline. Drones also allow you to identify any new blind spots that may not be easily seen from below to inform your team of potentially dangerous situations.  

Post-project, you can use drone footage as a training tool by taking the week-to-week data and using it to evaluate where any delays might have occurred and address those issues to inform your next project. 

Stay up to date with the latest roofing industry news when you sign up for the RCS Week in Roofing e-news. 

About Kole  

Kole works as an intern for RoofersCoffeeShop, MetalCoffeeShop, and AskARoofer. He currently attends Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon where he studies graphic design and plays football.