Drone Inspections in NYC

August 4, 2023

New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that the city is issuing new guidelines that expand the permitted use of drones for various municipal services. These rules include building inspections, infrastructure inspections, and capital project planning. Additionally, the rules ensure that proper safeguards are in place to protect the safety and privacy of all New Yorkers.

Drones are going to allow us to make façade inspections faster and safer, help us inspect and maintain our bridges, tunnels, and critical infrastructure, and allow us to monitor our beaches more easily for unauthorized swimmers and hazardous conditions, among other things. This is how we ‘Get Stuff Done’ for New Yorkers,

Mayor Eric Adams

We’re excited to share that our team has partnered with veteran drone pilots to perform close-up building façade inspections to give our clients an additional layer of visibility on their building. Drone inspection photogrammetry allows for our team to capture images of the building safely, faster and more cost-effectively. Through this, HLZAE can better understand the scale of necessary repairs and make an accurate assessment of the time and costs associated with the project.

Drone Inspection Key Benefits

  • Enhanced access and safety
  • Reducing costs
  • Improved documentation
  • Faster project lifecycle

Drone inspections can be used on a variety of projects including: 

  • Six Stories and higher 
  • Difficult-to-rig Buildings 
  • Buildings on a tight deadline 
  • Buildings Requiring 100% documentation
  • Accurate Detailed Scoping 
  • Buildings with a lot of damage
  • Decorative / Landmark Buildings 
  • Emergency Investigations 
  • Cataloging of Stones, Materials 
  • Structurally Damaged Buildings 
  • Fire Damaged Buildings 

While drones provide outstanding benefits, they won’t be replacing NYC’s Facade Inspection Program (FISP), at least not any time soon. FISP requires owners of buildings greater than six stories to retain a professional engineer or registered architect to physically examine the building’s exterior walls at arms-length every five years, and file a façade report.

How HLZAE Can Help

By using drone photogrammetry, we are able to perform detailed scoping, provide more precise pricing and ultimately, save you time and money. Contact us today to find out if your building would benefit from drone inspection services.

For more on our drone services, click here.

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