3DR Inks Drone Scanning Deal with PCL Construction

A coalition of independent construction companies is looking to drone company 3DR to deploy the firm’s drone software for unlimited use across worldwide projects.

PCL Construction is one of the largest contracting organizations in North America with annual construction volume of $7 billion.

The group will use Site Scan, a software suite that includes an iPad app for drone flight planning and a web application for turning drone photos into precise maps as well as 3D models of construction sites.

PCL started working with 3DR in 2016 to leverage drone technology for site documentation, quality control and progress reporting. Site Scan project teams to share updates with owners and project stakeholders. It’s been used on more than 30 PCL projects across North America, and with this agreement, PCL is standardizing Site Scan as its drone software platform across the company.

“Site Scan has changed the way teams communicate on the jobsite,” said Deron Brown, President and COO, PCL’s U.S. operations. “Using this straightforward tool has improved our on-site documentation of existing conditions, work in place, and as-builts. Site Scan’s workflows are efficient and produce repeatable results that easily integrate into our existing software and systems.”

“As the construction industry looks to innovate and improve collaboration, efficiency, and safety, PCL has set the bar for how construction companies leverage drone technology to achieve these goals. As a customer from the earliest days of Site Scan, PCL has helped shape our software, and I am excited about formalizing our partnership, and the value they see in standardizing on 3DR,” said Chris Anderson, CEO, 3DR.

For 3DR, construction drone projects are becoming a meat-and-potatoes revenue stream. In a 2017 interview, 3DR CEO Chris Anderson said his company’s decision to integrate Site Scan software with DJI drones may push more construction companies to use drones for aerial job-site tasks.

“For a construction company, there are three dimensions that matter — time, cost and quality,” Anderson said. “You can only manage what you can measure, so if you could measure a project better, then you could manage it better and therefore it would be faster, cheaper and better. Drone scanning is just one of the tools that allows you to measure that site better.”