What deliverables do you offer? | Engineers With Drones

Key takeaways

It's ideal to start with the problem you are trying to solve - never with the deliverable or the drone.

Most clients arrive with a specific request- just give us your issue and we can recommend the best solution from there.

Work backwards: outcome, then the data that proves it (orthophoto, LiDAR, thermal etc), then the sensor (drone camera technology).

Sometimes a drone isn't the answer - if a better solution exists, we'll tell you.

Drone deliverables - starting with the problem is ideal.

A drone survey or inspection should never start with the deliverable or the drone type. Start with the problem you're trying to solve. Tell us what you're trying to achieve - we'll recommend the best approach and deliverables that get you a solution.

Clients usually know what they want

Most drone surveys and inspections start with a clear request - a roof checked for defective tiles, a site mapped, a structure inspected for damage. If the request suits a drone survey or inspection, we'll say so. If it doesn't, we'll help to point you in the right direction. If you do need a full list of deliverables that's never an issue, just get in touch and we can supply everything you might need.

Start at the end and work backwards

However a project arrives, the method is the same - start at the end and work backwards. The goal is a real-world outcome, not an output format. So it's not a request for an orthophoto, for example, but a need to stop a roof leaking, to find defective tiles, to check land for ragwort. Everything else follows from that initial problem.

Only then do the technical questions follow. Is an orthophoto a good way to find defective tiles? Would LiDAR or thermography be better for detecting leaks? Does the drone need a particular sensor to capture the data that actually answers the question? Working from the preferred outcome, back to the method - keeps the technology in service of the objective, rather than the other way around.

The best brief is a problem you cannot solve

The best starting point is a problem you cannot solve. Some of the strongest strategies begin with a client that doesn't know how to proceed - flies getting into a building with no obvious entry point, or a huge flat roof full of defects and no practical way to find them. In each case the question is the same - can a drone help? Engineers With Drones can give you the answer, and recommend the correct deliverable from there.

If there's a more suitable method, we let you know

Not every problem has a drone solution, and we will say so. Where a drone is not the best tool, we will point you to a better method for the job - even if it has nothing to do with drones. The goal is to solve the problem.

For clients when enquiring, you can just describe the outcome you need, explain what's getting in the way, and we'll recommend the correct deliverable for your preferred outcome, with the right sensor.

Full transcript

Show transcript

Bob Foley: Engineers with Drones

It's rare. In fact right now I'm actually putting together a proposal for a pharma facility. And because it's an entire facility and you have an awful lot of different people, departments, entities involved, they have asked us just to give them a menu of deliverables. Because then they can pull and choose and pick what they want from that menu, but it's rare that somebody comes in and says, "Tell me everything you can do." They usually are much more, "I want this," and then once they tell me what they want, either I'm like, "Yeah, that makes complete sense," or I give them a slight course correction and say, "Actually, you're better off doing this thing over here a little bit." But that's generally how it works for clients that they either know what they want or I help them out a little bit, and that's it.

But like all things in drones and whatnot, you should never start with the intermediate thing, which is the deliverable or the drone or something like that. You should always start with what you're trying to achieve at the end. And that shouldn't be like, "I want an orthophoto." It should be like, "I want to inspect my land for ragwort. I want to inspect my roof for defective tiles. Yeah, I want to stop leaks on my roof." And then you work back from that. So, is an orthophoto a good way of doing that? Is lidar or thermography or whatever a good way of doing that? And then back to, okay, is a drone-based sensor that captures that particular type of data good for detecting leaks so as I can fix my roof? So working at, starting at the end and working your way back.

The best thing you can do is come to us with a problem that you don't know how to solve. And some of our best work, in my opinion, is when the client hasn't a clue about drones, hasn't a clue about technical bits, but they say, "I have flies inside my building and I need to know where they're coming in. I have an extremely large flat roof with an awful lot of defects, I do not know how to find them. Can a drone help? Can you guys offer a solution?" And as many times as we say yes, we will get you a solution for that, we also say no. "I know what you're trying to do, drones are not the best way to do this. You're better off talking to this guy over here, he has a solution that would be really good for that, nothing to do with drones." Yeah? So that, starting at what is the problem you're trying to solve broadly, then start to look at solutions that fit.

Drone survey FAQs

How do I choose the right drone deliverable for my project?

Start with the outcome you need, not the deliverable. Define what you're trying to achieve - such as finding defective roof tiles or locating a leak - and then we work back to the best data and drone sensor that will deliver it. Bring us a problem you don't know how to solve and we will confirm the right approach, or we'll let you know if a drone isn't the best tool for the job!

Do clients ask what deliverables you offer?