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360 site documentation per construction phase

On a construction site half your work disappears from view: pipes go underground, rebar into the concrete, connections get walled in. Whoever records each phase does not have to break things open later to prove what is where.

Why this matters

The most expensive disputes on a site are about things you can no longer see. Where does that pipe run? Was that crack there before our phase? Was the rebar placed as specified? Without documentation it is your word against someone else's. With a dated capture per phase you simply have the evidence.

What you record, and when

The skill is capturing at the right moment — just before something disappears:

• Before backfilling: pipes, cables and connections in the trench.
• Before pouring: rebar and formwork.
• At each milestone: an overview of the whole site, dated and on coordinates.
• At handover: the final state as an as-built reference.

Every capture is dated and georeferenced, so you can find exactly what was in place at which moment. How often you fly for that ties into your monitoring schedule — see Construction monitoring: how often to fly?

Avoiding later disputes

A well-built phase dossier is an insurance against disputes. If someone contests the placement of a pipe, the state at takeover or the cause of damage, you open the images of that phase. That saves not only discussions but also the cost of exposing something to demonstrate it.

Letting the client look for themselves

Documentation is only useful if the right people can reach it. Through a branded client portal such as DronePortal, the client, architect and engineering office view each phase behind a single link, measure for themselves and add annotations — without sending folders full of separate files. Handover becomes a shared, searchable dossier.

Common mistakes

• Capturing too late. Once poured it is too late; record before anything disappears.
• Loose photos without date or location. Without context an image is not evidence.
• Leaving everything with the contractor. Make sure the client can access the documentation too.

Why with a drone (and why Droneview)?

A drone records a whole site and the hard-to-reach zones in one go, from above and dated. Droneview operates EASA-certified with the Matrice 30T and delivers the images in a structured way. How we monitor and document sites, you can read on construction monitoring by drone.

Frequently asked questions