Went with a drone over a total station for site surveys on my last job in Austin

I was dead set on using a total station for layout, I've used them for years. But my buddy convinced me to try the drone for just the rough grading phase. Rented a DJI Phantom for a weekend and mapped a 5-acre lot in under 3 hours. That would have taken me two days with the older gear. The accuracy was close enough for the dirt work, and I saved almost $400 in crew time. Has anyone else made a similar switch for bigger projects?

2 comments

2 Comments

kai_brown231mo ago

Take that further and you'll see the drone is a real game changer for the rough stuff. I did a similar thing on a 6-acre lot outside Houston, mapped it before the rain hit and had the cut/fill numbers ready the next morning. The total station still wins for anything where you need tight tolerances, like setting foundation bolts or checking final slab elevations. But for anything involving dirt, I'm grabbing the drone first and saving the old gear for the fine work.

charlesanderson1mo ago

Made the exact same switch last year on a job in Dallas. Mapped a 10 acre commercial site in one morning with a Mavic and haven't touched my old total station since for anything but finish grade work.