Subcontractor mocked my drone photos, then asked for copies

Last month I was on a 40-acre site outside Austin doing progress shots with our Mavic 3. This old electrician walked up, laughed, and said drones are toys for guys who can't read a tape. He told me I was wasting the GC's money. I let him talk, then pulled up the shot showing a pipe trench collision he hadn't spotted. He went quiet, studied the image for a few minutes, and asked for a copy to show his foreman. That interaction stuck with me because it showed the divide between old school crews and new tech adoption. Do you think drone mapping actually creates friction on job sites, or does it just expose mistakes people already made? Has anyone else had a skeptical tradesperson come around after seeing real data?

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the_zara11d ago

The drone didn't expose his mistake, it exposed the pipe crew's mistake, and that's exactly why he got quiet. Old school guys hate being wrong more than they hate the tech. But yeah, it creates friction because nobody likes a camera showing up to their fuckup party. The real divide isn't the tools, it's the ego that can't handle 20 seconds of looking at the truth. Once they see it saves their ass on a rework claim, they suddenly love the toy. That electrician didn't come around to drones, he came around to evidence.