Gone are the days when assessing a building meant putting yourself in possible dangerous situations, like:
- climbing onto potentially unstable rooftops
- using scaffolds in order to inspect property elements high off the ground
Drone technology is becoming more common and has transformed the building assessment industry in many ways, but one of the biggest is safety.
Drone Technology for Building Assessments
From identifying water intrusion to improving the accuracy of repair efforts. Drone technology can examine your building, up to 400 feet. This without you physically walking more than a few steps, remaining safely on the ground.
Most buildings can be completely examined in 20 to 30 minutes and the footage can be live-streamed to the architect or engineer at the office, creating a more efficient and cost effective process.
Benefits of Infrared Drone Technology for Building Assessments
Drones can also reduce time and manual labor when it comes to identifying problems behind the walls, like water intrusion. Instead of tearing down walls to identify the full extent of the damage, infrared drone technology can provide critical information on the location and complexity of the issue.
Schemmer - Design with Purpose. Build with Confidence.
Schemmer uses advanced technology with drones to create detailed 3D models. Drone footage is converted to a point cloud, a precisely scaled 3D digital replica, which can be imported into Revit and used for Building Information Modeling (BIM). Information can be added to the model bringing everything together for a seamless review of your project.
Friley Hall
Schemmer utilized this method when tasked with Iowa State University’s Friley Hall roof assessment project. Friley Hall is known as one of the largest dorms in the U.S. The massive 80,000 SF building presented an incredible amount of roofing to assess.
Safety issues were noted because of the steepness and slopes of certain parts of the roof, and the unknown condition of the roof materials. Schemmer was able to solve the problem by utilizing our drone technology for the building assessment.
By creating a model of the building with a point cloud in Revit, we were able to document:
- existing conditions
- determine square footage
- accomplish the task at hand accurately, efficiently and safely
