// Industries / Construction
Drone LiDAR for Construction & Development
Current, accurate site data for GCs, developers, and CM firms — from pre-bid topo to final as-builts, captured without stopping work.
- FAA-Certified Pilots
- Licensed Surveyor Partners
- Serving All 50 States
- 24-Hour Quote Turnaround
01// The Problem
Bad Site Data Is a Schedule Risk
Most construction disputes trace back to a disagreement about existing conditions. The topo in the bid set was flown before the borrow pit next door changed the drainage. The earthwork sub says the site sat two feet lower than the plans showed. An RFI about a grade conflict sits open for three weeks while a ground crew gets scheduled, mobilized, and rained out — twice.
Conventional topographic methods weren't built for construction tempo. A field crew walking a 100-acre site takes days and produces shots every 50 feet; on an active site they're dodging equipment the whole time, and on a wooded parcel they may not close out for weeks. Meanwhile the schedule doesn't stop, quantities get certified against stale surfaces, and every gap in the record becomes leverage in someone else's claim.
02// The Fix
One Flight, the Whole Site, This Week
A drone LiDAR flight captures every square foot of your site — including under tree canopy, where photogrammetry fails — in hours, not weeks. Because LiDAR pulses penetrate vegetation gaps to the ground, the bare-earth surface is real terrain, not the top of the brush line. Typical uses on a construction project:
- Pre-bid and pre-mobilization topo. Verify the bid documents against the site as it actually sits, before the risk transfers to you. Our topographic mapping deliverables drop straight into your estimating workflow.
- Cut/fill verification. Compare the captured surface to the design surface and see exactly where the balance stands — by region, in yards.
- Progress documentation. Recurring flights on a progress tracking cadence create a dated record of earthwork, utilities, and grading for pay apps and claims defense.
- Stockpile volumetrics and as-builts. Quantify material on hand and document finished grades before they're buried under the next phase.
Because our FAA-certified pilots are local to your project — in all 50 states — we can hit a weather window this week instead of penciling in a mobilization next month.
03// Deliverables
Data That Drops Into Your Workflow
You get ground-classified LAS/LAZ point clouds, DEM GeoTIFFs, and CAD contours that load directly into Civil 3D and the machine-control and takeoff platforms your team already runs — no conversion projects, no "we'll get you a viewer license." Cut/fill comparisons are delivered as surfaces and quantified reports, and repeat flights are registered to the same control so date-to-date differences are real movement, not registration error.
04// FAQ
Construction Questions, Answered
Do we have to stop work for a LiDAR flight?
No. Flights typically take one to three hours depending on acreage, fly above active operations, and follow FAA Part 107 rules coordinated with your site safety plan. Most crews never notice the aircraft.
Can drone LiDAR data support pay applications and quantity disputes?
Yes. Repeat flights against a baseline surface produce cut/fill and stockpile volumes that document exactly how much material moved between dates — a defensible record for pay apps, change orders, and earthwork subcontractor disputes. When a deliverable must carry a professional land surveyor’s certification, our licensed surveyor partners provide it.
How current will the topo be compared to the bid documents?
We fly on your schedule, so the surface reflects the site as it exists that week — not a topo flown years before the bid set was assembled. Many GCs fly immediately after award to establish a verified baseline before mobilization.
What does a construction site scan cost?
Most single-site scans fall between $2,500 and $15,000 depending on acreage, vegetation, and deliverables; recurring progress flights are priced lower per flight. Send a KML of your site and we return an exact quote within 24 hours.
05// Start a Project
Get a Quote for Your Jobsite
Upload a KML/KMZ of your site — most construction quotes come back within 24 hours.
- Direct line
- (877) 729-5311
- team@prolidar.com