When working with GPS-enabled heavy equipment, CAD services are necessary to get the machine working. Some of the major benefits are increased accuracy, reduced waste, faster time to completion, and improved safety. ECI’s CAD Services include earthwork takeoffs, linework, 3D models, and as-builts. Each service is offered a la carte and delivered to our clients promptly to help avoid digging delays on the job site.

How many bids are you currently working on? Would you like to bid on more? Competition for construction projects bids is as fierce as ever so finding ways to speed up your bidding process should always be top of mind. The more projects you bid on the higher the chances that you’ll win more bids.

There have been many advances in the technologies used for creating precise maps for use in earthwork projects. However, have you struggled with getting your point cloud into your takeoff software? You are not alone!

Rovers have many different uses in the construction industry and elsewhere because they're small, can be attached to almost anything, and provide very accurate information about your project. Depending on which device you're connecting your rover to, the level of accuracy will vary.

The main purpose of an as-built drawing is to record any changes made during the building process that deviate from the original plan. As-builts are useful for many reasons, one being the value they bring to water lines which in our opinion are some of the most troublesome proposed utilities on a job site.

The Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and great Roman roads were all built in ancient times. Today, it’s nearly impossible for us to consider moving dirt and stones without the use of heavy equipment. The Romans were known for building perfectly straight roads and were able to do so without the modern surveying tools or machinery used today.

The primary advantage of CIM is the benefit it provides to our client partnerships. We seamlessly integrate our modeling work into their workstreams, which allows them to plan their resources and their projects most efficiently. When CIM processes are incorporated into civil engineering workflows, the result is far better than when it is not, including higher profits for contractors!

Cut & Fills (aka takeoffs) are among the topmost critical components of bidding, planning, and executing earthwork projects. For an inexperienced person, it can be a very time-consuming task. Additionally, it is a process that has little room for error. Mistakes in cut & fill analyses result in extra time, resources, and expenses.

Both LIDAR and Photogrammetry share the same primary purpose: to determine the 3D relationships between other locations; however, their methods differ. Both ways accomplish their task by locating and measuring natural and people-made land features' elevations, angles, and boundaries. These surveying methods are fundamental in construction and civil engineering. Understanding their similarities and differences will help you decide which to invest in and deploy for your projects.

Residential subdivisions have steadily grown in popularity since their development in the 1940s. They require careful and thorough planning. To obtain the required approvals for construction to begin, it is also necessary to gather site plans, topo surveys, diagrams, and any other relevant project data. Included within the site plan is the layout and grading plan for the site, and that’s where we can get involved to assist with your data prep.

Some of you may already be flying a drone over your worksite during the preconstruction phase and have recognized how beneficial it is to have incorporated this into your standard process. Some of you have not. We’ve identified a few key reasons why everyone should.

Over the years, we have come across different reasons for suboptimal bids. The most common reasons are all related to, you can probably guess it, changes! Many changes occur throughout a project's lifecycle. Sometimes they start as early as the bid phase. Changes to the project's scope that happen pre-bid are usually referred to as addendums. A few of these pre-bid changes come to mind.

A construction project’s success factor begins with accurate survey data and the coordinate system it is based on. The coordinate system is the source for obtaining the precise survey data. Coordinates are necessary when laying projects out, whether it’s a highway, bridge, site work, utilities, or another type of construction project.

Drones have proven to be an excellent tool for collecting mass data. Despite the obvious upfront cost for purchasing the drone, it is an inexpensive way to collect the data compared to conventional means. This method has many advantages, including speed, reliability, accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and more.

Without a thorough takeoff (cut and fill) process to accurately quantify the materials needed for your project, your estimates can be way off. Whether you're using a manual process or a digital process, errors in takeoffs result in inaccurate bids and additional expenses.

Drones can survey a site very quickly, efficiently, and safely. The drone is taking aerial photos through photogrammetry to stitch together the images on the ground while also using GPS and ground control to tie those images down. After the flight, the data is processed through a software program (i.e.: Propeller or Pix4D) which renders everything in 3D.

So, you’ve invested in some GPS machine control technology. You’ve weighed the option of training or hiring an in-house person versus hiring an external service provider to handle the data prep. Based on your research, you’ve decided to partner with an external company that specializes in data prep and want to know what the next steps are.

We love watching stuff blow up – what a rush! Blasting in construction is an efficient way of getting a job site prepped. Using controlled explosives in the excavation has been a popular method for breaking rock for over a hundred years. The size of the rock you’re demolishing will dictate the velocity of the explosives. The harder the rock type, the higher the velocity.