AS published IN HOUSEBUILDER MAGAZINE - MARCH 2025
The leading magazine for UK residential development and regeneration
Drone Surveying, the UK’s provider of specialist aerial surveys for the housebuild sector, says it is celebrating a series of new business wins as housebuilders harness the benefits of using drones. The company says it works with some of the country’s largest builders including Taylor Wimpey. Bellway, Miller Homes, Redrow, Vistry and Barratt Homes.
Drone Surveying’s managing director Jim Morris said: “We are experiencing record year on year growth as new builders come on board and existing clients continue to roll out our services to their regions nationwide. Drones are no longer the future, they are the present and the most efficient way to save time and money on the ground.”
Drone Surveying’s services include stockpile surveys, cut and fill analysis, 3D modelling inspection, CAD overlays, as-built surveys, progress monitoring and aerial videography.
Verifying as-built designs (read more)
By overlaying site designs, CAD surfaces and PDFs, clients can verify the positions of roads, driveways and plots to compare the as-built against the design. Our customers regularly report having been able to identify and rectify build errors through this feature before they become costly headaches.
Cut and fill analysis (READ MORE)
Just a few clicks within the software allows accurate cut and fill analysis before commencing construction and after every subsequent survey, ensuring earthwork operations stay on course… and on budget.
Stockpile measurements (READ MORE)
100 million points of accurate data are captured from each survey, enabling the precise measurement of earth and earth movements across an entire site to support the Material Management Plan (MMP).
Checking overland flood routes (READ MORE)
Innovative hydrology tools within our client portal enable teams to quickly visualise how heavy rainfall or flowing water will affect the ground in specific areas, based on the current topography and terrain. This allows them to mitigate the effects of heavy rainfall or flooding on site.
I have worked with DRONE SURVEYING for some years now, from checking a boundary of new land to auditing earthworks. The use of drones on our sites is now standard; we monitor progress and calculate cut and fill via the online software as our sites progress.
The use of regular mass data collection and the latest drone technology and practises will without doubt save us time and money on our sites.
We use DRONE SURVEYING on all of our sites to support our cut and fill strategy, with regular surveys and their cutting-edge software, we are able to manage our sites much more effectively.
Having now worked with DRONE SURVEYING engineering solutions for a number of years, their services have proven to be invaluable conducting our volumetric surveys, progress videos and cut and fill support. The drone data platform has allowed us to get the best from the data with full support and training provided from the DS team
The drone data helps us to make quicker and smarter key decisions to ensure we have budget and time control on our projects. Having monthly surveys on our sites ensures we keep full control of all earth movements.
Using aerial imagery from drone surveys helps us anticipate errors or mistakes in the next stage of development instead of waiting for work to start on the ground. This proactive approach has saved us hundreds of thousands of pounds; a reactive approach can be costly
DRONE SURVEYING’s nine-strong team includes specialist drone operators based in the North, Midlands, South-West and South-East enabling us to survey construction sites across the country, often at short notice. We are fully compliant with the regulations set by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and are in regular contact with them to ensure safe and legal operations.
Our team includes experts who are available to provide ongoing support to assist you in analysing and interpreting the survey data to make informed decisions for your project, often acting as an extension to your in-house team.
