Prior to the pandemic, facility management and maintenance departments were exploring ways to use drone technology at their buildings. Inspections of roofs, ceilings and other hard-to-reach areas were all great uses of drones that alleviated the time needed to set up scaffolding and the cost of renting lifts. And of course, drones could do these inspections without the risk of a fall or other operator injury.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many staffs worked either remotely or minimized the number of employees that could be present in order to maintain social distancing. Once again, drones could be utilized to improve productivity.

In this video, Amr Raafat, Vice President of VDC and technology for Windover Construction, describes a case study during the pandemic in which drones were used for thermal scanning. In a short 20-minute flight, the drones can quickly detect sources of water leaks or heat loss.

Here’s a preview:

This is another way we use drones on our sites. We see thermal scanning. It's very helpful for existing facilities and buildings to help guide our team.

Wherever there are red areas, this is where there would be potential water damage or a heat leak. So what we did in a 20 minute drone flight, we can detect where there is a potential water leak here or a heat loss.