For contractors, developers & owners

Drone Construction Progress Photos

Construction site flights from $150 near you

Aerial view of a building under construction with a tower crane
Aerial view of a building under construction with a tower crane
Overhead view of a building frame and foundations under construction
Overhead view of a new building's roof and plant beside a road
What do you need?
Where's the site?

Free to post · Usually a reply the same day

210 construction pilots listed · Pay the pilot directly, no commission

Independent FAA Part 107 pilots who cover your area quote and fly the job.

Free to post

Two minutes, no card, no commitment.

Pay the pilot directly

No commission or markup on their price.

FAA Part 107 pilots

The license all paid drone work requires.

Usually a reply the same day

From a pilot, or from our team if no pilot has answered.

How it works

Three steps, and the first one is free

  1. Describe the job

    The form opens with this page's answers already filled in. Add the location and anything specific to your site.

  2. A pilot near you sends a price

    Pilots whose service area and services match are emailed. Usually a reply the same day, from a pilot or from our team.

  3. Book them and pay them directly

    Check their certificate, kit and sample work, then pay the pilot. SkyLog takes no cut and adds no markup.

What to know before you book

Choosing a cadence

Monthly suits most projects and is by far the most common choice: it is frequent enough to show meaningful change and infrequent enough not to become an administrative task. Fortnightly earns its place during periods of rapid visible change — superstructure going up, envelope going on — and daily or weekly capture is generally reserved for a specific reason, such as a critical sequence or an active dispute. Milestone-based capture is the other sensible pattern: fly at foundation, at topping out, at envelope completion and at handover, which produces fewer, more meaningful sets. Whatever you pick, book the whole run at once rather than job by job — it is cheaper, and it means the same pilot flies the same pattern rather than a different one each month.

Setting up the first flight properly

The first visit is worth more attention than the rest put together, because everything after it is a repeat. Walk or map the positions you want: the classic set is four obliques from the corners at a fixed altitude, one nadir over the centre, and any specific views your client or lender asks for. Record the coordinates, altitudes and headings so any pilot can reproduce them. Decide the deliverable — stills, a short edited clip, a nadir orthomosaic, or all three — and the file naming, because twelve months of consistently named folders is a usable archive and twelve months of inconsistent ones is not. If the project has a marketing use as well as a record-keeping one, say so up front; the shots are different and it is cheaper to capture both on the same visit.

Who actually uses the imagery

More people than commission it, which is worth knowing when you scope. Project managers use it for progress reporting and for the monthly report pack. Owners and lenders use it as independent verification that the draw request matches the site. Marketing wants the hero shots, and will ask for them at handover whether or not anyone planned for it. Safety uses it to look at site layout, access routes and where plant is positioned. And claims and delay analysis use it after the fact, which is the use nobody budgets for and everybody is glad of. A single monthly flight can serve all of these if the brief covers them; retrofitting a use in month nine cannot recover month one.

Site logistics, briefly

Expect to arrange induction, PPE and a launch and recovery area clear of the crane's slew radius and of active lifts. Timing is a real constraint: concrete pours, deliveries and lifts all compete with the flight, and a slot agreed in advance beats a pilot standing around. If the site sits under controlled airspace, an FAA authorisation is needed and has a lead time, so a recurring booking should have that sorted once rather than monthly. Flying over people who are not part of the operation is restricted, which on an active site usually means coordinating a brief window rather than clearing the whole place.

What a recurring run gives you

  • The same four corner obliques and centre nadir, at fixed altitudes and headings, flown the same way every visit.
  • Independent verification for owners and lenders that a draw request matches the site.
  • Material for delay analysis and claims after the fact — the use nobody budgets for and everybody is glad of.
  • Marketing hero shots from the same visit, if the brief says so up front.

What it will not fix later

  • Recover month one if you retrofit a new use in month nine.
  • Produce a usable archive from inconsistent naming and drifting flight positions.
  • Fly over people who are not part of the operation, which on an active site means coordinating a window.
  • Beat the site's own schedule. Pours, deliveries and lifts all compete with the flight, and controlled airspace needs lead time.

Book the whole run at once rather than job by job. It is cheaper, and it means the same pilot flies the same pattern rather than a different one each month.

Why post it on SkyLog

Repeatable vantage points

Agree a set of positions and altitudes on the first visit and fly them every time. Identical framing month to month is what makes two images comparable, and it costs nothing to set up if it is decided at the start.

The record that settles arguments

Dated aerial imagery of what was on site and when is the cheapest documentation a project can hold. Most of the time nobody looks at it; when there is a dispute about sequence or conditions, it is the only version nobody wrote afterwards.

Priced per visit, not per project

Recurring work is normally quoted per visit at a lower rate than a one-off, because the pilot is not re-planning the site each time. Say the cadence and the duration when you post and you will be quoted on that basis.

Free to post

Posting and receiving quotes costs nothing, and SkyLog takes no commission and adds no markup. You pay the pilot you hire, at the price the two of you agree.

Pilots who list construction work

Real published profiles. Open any one to see credentials, kit, service area and sample work before you post.

Construction pilots by state

Before you post

How much do drone progress photos cost?

Recurring capture is priced per visit, and the rate drops with the length of the commitment — a twelve-month monthly booking is quoted differently from a single flight. Construction quotes on SkyLog have been too few to publish a meaningful range, so rather than invent one: post the project with the cadence and duration and compare real quotes, which costs nothing.

How often should we fly?

Monthly is the default and suits most projects. Go fortnightly during periods of rapid visible change, and consider milestone-based capture if the programme has clear stages. What matters more than frequency is that it is regular and that the flights are identical.

Can we get the same shots every month?

Yes, and you should insist on it. Fix the positions, altitudes and headings on the first visit and record them so any pilot can reproduce them. Consistent framing is what turns a photo set into a time series.

Do we need the same pilot each time?

It helps — they know the site, the access and the constraints — but it should not be a dependency. If the vantage points are documented properly, a substitute can fly them. Ask for that documentation as a deliverable rather than assuming it exists.

Can the same flight produce a site map?

Often yes. A nadir grid flown for an orthomosaic is a different pattern from oblique progress stills, but both can usually be done in one mobilisation. Ask for it when you scope, because it changes the flight plan and the processing.

What happens to the imagery when the project ends?

Whatever you agreed at the start, so agree it at the start. Settle ownership, delivery format and how long the pilot retains files before the first flight, not at handover when you need the archive.

From a job poster

The jobs nobody else would quote

“I was not expecting to have a response so quickly after calling countless different companies.”
Jared OlroydOwner, Specialty Cleaning Agents
Quote in under 2 hours

Set up progress capture free

Post the project with its cadence and duration. Pilots quote per visit, and we take no commission.

Overhead view of graded earthworks with plant and haul roads