Earle Companies, a staple in the New Jersey construction space, has spent the last 54 years developing communities and transforming landscapes while cultivating the Northeast United States. As a heavy civil construction business, Earle believes in driving progress with emerging technology – investing in rigorous safety protocols, ongoing training, and meticulous data analysis to ensure the highest-quality deliverables.
Table of Contents
The Drone Life, then, was a natural fit for Earle Companies’ commitment to cutting-edge solutions for real-world, everyday construction challenges. Paired together, the two companies pioneered the monitoring, evaluation, and measurement of stockpile yards with drone technology.
What's included in YOUR GUIDE...
A Proven Roadmap of Success for Implementing Drones in Construction.
A List of Red Flags to Avoid When Hiring Drone Service Providers.
How to Persuade Your Leadership Team to Leverage Drones on Every Jobsite.
Calculating Stockpiles with Drone-based Surveys
Stockpiles are critical to Earle’s core business function as part of their asphalt and aggregates division, and it supports material sales to local companies for road construction. With multiple stockpile yards in New Jersey, Earle historically spent a significant amount of time assessing inventory and calculating usable aggregates.
Prior to exploring the use of drones, Earle utilized third-party airplane-based surveying companies – a time consuming and expensive process. The images from airplane photogrammetry often took weeks to develop and analyze, and significant lead time was needed to schedule out available crews.
Related Article – The Truth Behind Drone-Based Volumetric Surveys: How Accurate Are They?
Although Earle Companies had never used a drone before, they urgently needed an accurate count of material volume across all of the piles in their yard. To make matters more complicated, their facility rested within restricted military airspace – sitting close to the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, NJ. Accounting for these obstacles, the expertise of a drone service provider quickly became necessary.
Navigating FAA Restricted Airspace
As a Class D controlled airspace, KENL (Lakehurst Maxfield) required a special FAA waiver and military air traffic control approval prior to takeoff. After The Drone Life submitted a request on the FAA’s website, military personnel promptly verified flight details, including the time, date, and flight path. With years of experience operating within FAA guidelines, The Drone Life’s pilots navigated these questions with ease, and were able to communicate the restrictions to Earle Companies.
HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT droneS? START HERE.
When it was time to fly, The Drone Life arrived on-site with verified FAA approval. In just a few hours, an orthomosaic map was captured and processed. Due to project constraints, Earle requested The Drone Life survey data be analyzed and completed as soon as possible. With this in mind, The Drone Life delivered the map, reports, and stockpile calculations the very next day. Insights gleaned from the report revealed validated stockpile volumes of the following aggregates:
- Broken Asphalt
- Fine Wrap
- Gibraltar Man Sand
- Silvi ⅜”
- Tilcon ⅜”
- Trap Rock ½”
- Trap Rock ¾”
- Trap Rock ⅜”
- Trap Rock Course ¼”
- Trap Rock Fine ¼”
- Trap Rock Screenings
From beginning to end, the entire survey project was completed in a three day turnaround, and with only one on-site visit required.
Drone Photogrammetry Map of Walter R Earle Corp Aggregate Facility
Finding the Best Drone Service Provider for You
The Drone Life’s services cost Earle Companies 50% less than previous airplane-based photogrammetry. With shorter lead times and faster processing, drone technology eliminated the need for other third-party surveying services. Measuring these massive stockpiles by hand no longer makes sense in an increasingly digital world, and particularly for an organization dedicated to furthering technological innovation in construction like Earle Companies.
At The Drone Life, we offer personal consulting and tailored aerial service solutions for construction owners, project managers, engineers, and technicians. Our drone experts can assist on anything from hardware setup to standalone FAA waiver submissions. If you’re interested in learning more about drone technology for material reporting, or how to find the best drone service provider for your business needs, schedule a free consultation with us today.
What's included in YOUR GUIDE...
A Proven Roadmap of Success for Implementing Drones in Construction.
A List of Red Flags to Avoid When Hiring Drone Service Providers.
How to Persuade Your Leadership Team to Leverage Drones on Every Jobsite.
