Customer Success Stories

As projects in the construction industry become more diverse and complex, technology is playing a more prominent role in problem solving and troubleshooting. Drone surveying platforms like Propeller that can be used in partnership with other software programs, such as those from Autodesk, are helping to provide more accurate data that can be used to develop solutions for issues […]

With more than 20 years of experience in heavy civil construction to guide them, Rickabaugh Construction focuses on large-scale projects across Oregon. From humble beginnings in the owner’s barn, they’ve since expanded to a new base of operations in Prineville, Oregon.  Travess Graham started at Rickabaugh Construction as a field foreman, but his interest led […]

Located in Bloomsdale, Missouri, R&K Excavation is a heavy civil contractor offering a full range of services including excavation and grading, utilities and site work, drilling and blasting, and civil services. The family-owned business manages commercial, industrial, mining, and recreational developments throughout the midwest of the United States. A goal oriented, critical thinker focused on […]

Ledcor is a diversified construction company, consisting of several teams working together to design and build projects across North America. Their areas of focus include civil construction, mining, and oil and gas. A surveyor and civil engineering technician by trade, Luiz Araujo recently joined Ledcor as a machine control foreman. He currently manages all of […]

Based in Greybull, Wyoming, Summit Excavation & Grading provides services in heavy construction, earth excavation, site clearing and prep, and commercial projects throughout the western United States. Thomas Loewen, one of Summit’s owners, has broad experience working in excavation and currently acts as the director of finance and technology. Recently his company adopted both DirtMate […]

Located in eastern Ohio, family-owned Sheckler Excavating provides a wide variety of services including earth-moving, utility work, reclamation, cement stabilization, and site work to customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New Jersey. With more than 40 years of earth-moving experience, Sheckler is committed to providing quality work on time, while maintaining high safety standards […]

This week, we are celebrating the 24th Annual Women in Construction Week (March 6-12, 2022). Women in Construction Week raises awareness and recognizes the work of women in the construction industry across the United States to strengthen and amplify the success of women in the industry. In honor of this special week, we’re highlighting one […]

Founded in 1998, RIPA & Associates is a civil and utility construction services company located in Central Florida and has been consistently ranked in the Top 100 Private Companies in the Tampa Bay area. Today, RIPA has more than 900 employees and has completed approximately 1,000 jobs including commercial, residential, industrial and public sector construction […]

Earning a seat at the project planning table is not only an honor, it’s a competitive edge that not many construction companies are afforded. Edgerton earned that seat with advanced technology, and has retained it as a trusted partner and key stakeholder in the planning process. Based in Wisconsin, Edgerton has served as a premier […]

Located in northern Iowa, Mehmert Tiling is a diversified construction business engaging in civil excavating work, street projects, commercial site preparation, and residential work. However, the backbone of the company, which began in 1975, has always been in agriculture, specifically drainage tile.  Drainage tile removes excess water from the soil below the surface. Where irrigation […]

Jon Gauthier is the Vice President for Salsbury Engineering, a grading and earthworks contractor based in Southern California that specializes in complex industrial projects involving more difficult grading and excavation schemes, such as airports, hospitals, and powerplants.  A technology-savvy construction professional with broad on- and off-site experience, Jon has spent his entire professional career with […]

Established in the 1920s, Superior Construction is a 4th generation American builder that has planted roots in Indiana. From schools, post offices, and libraries in the early years to more complex structures in transportation, industrial, and other infrastructure projects, Superior Construction delivers quality work, safely and honestly, nationwide.  In 2020, the Indiana Department of Transportation […]

Headquartered in the Central California wine country city of Paso Robles, Whitaker Construction was originally founded in 2007. They’ve been serving California’s central coast since 2009.  Specializing in heavy civil, earthwork, and underground, concrete, and bridge projects, Whitaker has found its niche in unique and creative projects. The variety of Whitaker’s work means not only […]

Denver-based Fiore & Sons Construction is a family-owned company with over 60 years of experience as a civil contractor serving the state of Colorado. In a competitive market that’s constantly growing, they set themselves apart through their commitment to safety, quality, and accuracy. In March 2020, Fiore broke ground on a 300-acre earthwork project called […]

About McConnell Dowell McConnell Dowell is a major construction contractor delivering large-scale civil infrastructure projects across Australia, including major public road and rail upgrades. The goal of these projects is to accelerate traffic and improve safety by building new roads, rail tracks, bridges and underpasses. Many of the company’s projects are delivered using an alliance […]

About Peab and the Rådasand Quarry  Peab is a leading Nordic construction and civil engineering company with about 16,000 employees across Scandinavia. Jonas Thim, is the site manager at Rådasand, a quarry run by Peab subsidiary Swerock AB. He’s in charge of making sure production on-site runs smoothly and also plays a role in finances […]

As a family-owned construction company, Denver-based Fiore & Sons Construction is committed to delivering superior, consistent work on every project. It’s their reputation for precision and project excellence that has led clients to seek them out again and again. It’s the reason Fiore has been able to establish themselves as a reliable partner for over […]

About Wills Bros and the Maybole Bypass project Wills Bros, a family-run contractor based out of the UK and Ireland, has always sought to stay ahead of the digitization curve. Having embraced construction technology advancements like 3D surveying and machine control before most, Wills Bros has used its modern edge to win bids over more […]

Barry Prystawski is the director of technical execution and construction at Integrated Sustainability, a specialty turnkey infrastructure delivery firm that provides water, waste, and renewable energy solutions with an emphasis on environmental best practices and sustainable construction.   To Prystawski, every aspect of his job comes down to one thing: efficiency. In essence, Prystawski is responsible […]

When it comes to leveraging the power of daily progress tracking that drones have to offer, few are operating on the scale that Ben McKnight is. McKnight is the chief surveyor at Nevada Gold Mines, a 40-mile stretch of land with four operating pits, which comprises “the single largest gold-producing complex in the world,” according […]

Rethinking the role of the construction manager Starting off as a niche engineering consulting firm for efficient water, waste, and renewable energy projects, Integrated Sustainability has evolved over the last nine years into a specialty turnkey infrastructure development company, offering development and engineering design, construction execution, and operations services. By uniting each aspect of the […]

Initiating a drone survey program opens the door to a diverse set of data outputs and use cases that naturally fit into your existing workflow.  From a single drone flight, you’ll have all the data you need to use an orthophoto as a visual reference of current progress on site, perform measurements with a 3D […]

Rickey Molina is the virtual design and construction (VDC) manager at Alston Construction, a general contractor based out of Sacramento, CA. Before Molina joined, Alston didn’t have a VDC department and was outsourcing their surveying to third parties.  Now, just over a year later, Molina oversees a three-man team that handles everything from modeling to […]

Justin Russell, the head surveyor at from Fiore & Sons, Inc., was overrun with requests for site status updates. “Where jobs are at, quantity-wise. That’s probably the most important question I get asked every day,” says Justin. “PMs, foremen, even supervisors, they want to know where their jobs are at…what needs to be done and […]

Rethinking the Role of a Geomatics Manager   Geospatial data is the locational lens worksites look through to understand the scope of the job at hand. Without understanding the geographical features and boundaries of a site, there’s no way to effectively plan and execute work. This is what makes geomatics managers like Kris Kwiatkowski an indispensable […]

Keith Taylor is the survey manager at D.H. Griffin Infrastructure, a division of D.H. Griffin that provides site grading and development, specialty concrete, and underground utility services in and around North Carolina. Keith manages everything from GPS machine control equipment, site positioning, manual survey instrumentation—and, now, drone surveying, which he does using the Propeller PPK […]

Meet Rory Hall, operations manager and Propeller champion at Grade Tech  Like most small business owners, Rory Hall wears anywhere from three to five different hats in a single workday. While on paper, Rory is Grade Tech’s operations manager, once he starts describing his daily responsibilities, it becomes obvious he’s also an unofficial surveyor, tech […]

In our last webinar, Propeller CEO and co-Founder, Rory San Miguel joined our webinar veteran, Michael Scott, in a candid conversation about the history of construction tech and Propeller as a whole—where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we’re headed.  The session was jam-packed with a ton of insightful information that’s worth revisiting […]

Based in Longmont, Colorado, an hour north of Denver, Zak Dirt was founded in 1976 and focuses on highway and heavy construction projects. They recently started construction on the Boulder Canyon project, a 14-mile-long road cutting through complex terrain.  For many highway construction companies like Zak Dirt, getting quick and accurate topos has always been […]

Near Auckland, New Zealand, the $709.5M National Motorway project is underway. Extending from Pūhoi to Warkworth, this massive roadwork job will expand the four-lane National Motorway, a.k.a SH1, 18.5km (11.5mi).  The NZ Transport Agency and Northern Express Group (NX2) are running this project, which is expected to move 8 million cubic meters of earth over […]

Based in Oslo, Norway, NCC is a leader in Northern European construction. With many subgroups under their umbrella, NCC works on everything from property development to infrastructure. One of those subgroups is NCC Infrastructure, a subsidiary dedicated to civil framework projects like new highway and railway builds. With a company focus on research and development, […]

As one of the top excavation and site contractors in the greater New Jersey area, Petillo Inc.’s portfolio is full of complex assignments. Recently, they won a site redevelopment job with a long list of environmental concerns in Phillipsburg, NJ, which they knew needed a more organized way of managing material movement for land reclamation […]

At family-owned and -run Blount Contracting Inc., saving even an hour in somebody’s day makes a big impact. After struggling to process high-volume survey data on their own, Blount looked into using Trimble Stratus, powered by Propeller.  Trimble, the global leader in positioning technologies, was an early partner of Propeller. Our teams work closely together […]

About an hour south of Louisville, Kentucky, in Bardstown, sits the headquarters of Haydon Materials, an aggregates and paving operations company. Family-owned, it began its first iteration in 1952. They specialize in bituminous asphalt production and lay down, along with crushed limestone.  Haydon Materials is using Trimble Stratus, powered by Propeller. Trimble, the global leader […]

Two hours north of Santa Barbara, California, sits the Santa Maria Landfill. Serving the City of Santa Maria, which is one of the largest in that coastal area, plus a couple of surrounding towns in northern Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, the landfill covers some 200 total acres.   Santa Maria Landfill is using […]

Headquartered in Colorado, Hensel Phelps is a nationwide construction and contracting company. They serve every corner of the US, including Hawaii. And it’s in Honolulu that they’ve been hired to build the Hawaii State Hospital.  To track, map, and measure this jobsite, Hensel Phelps is using drone surveying and Propeller’s 3D site surveys.    Self-performing […]

Based in Colorado, but serving every corner of the US, Hensel Phelps is a national construction and contracting company. One of their current projects is building the Daniel K. Inouye Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, an international airport that will see a lot of air traffic.  As a company dedicated to innovation and keeping up with […]

Founded in 1954, Hamm Companies is a leader in the Midwest in highway construction, aggregates, and waste services. Based in Perry, Kansas, they have projects ranging from asphalt plants, hospitals, wastewater plants, to road corridors, and a lot of quantities to track between sites.  Hamm came early into the drone surveying scene after buying their […]

In the oil-rich regions of Texas, drilling pad construction is big business. Big D Construction is a construction company that’s served West Texas and Southeast New Mexico for over 40 years, and a large chunk of their business is building frac ponds and drilling pads for oil companies. Adam Green, a construction technology specialist at […]

Before closing its doors, Ohio’s Cincinnati Gardens were best known for the Cincinnati Rollergirls, Xavier University basketball, and a variety of hockey games, concerts, monster truck shows, pro wrestling events, and indoor football and soccer matches.. Even in its final days, the iconic site continued to make headlines—this time as a proving ground for Sunesis […]

Adopting new technology or tools into your business can be hard. But when you’re a small team, every minute counts and finding ways to do more with less is essential. When Lonny Reed, owner of Legend Engineering and professional engineer licensed in 20 states, was faced with a staffing shortage and strained resources, he sought […]

Back in August 2018, we spoke to some new users of Propeller about how 3D surveys helped scale their business. Now, Cheshire Contractors, a mid-sized construction company based in Queensland, Cape York Peninsula, and the Torres Strait Islands of Australia, have been Propeller customers for the better part of a year. Today, we check back […]

Sukut Construction LLC is one of the largest heavy civil engineering contractors in the western region. Headquartered in Santa Ana, CA, they bring in over 50 years of superior performance on a wide variety of residential, public, commercial, and industrial projects. The company has extensive experience successfully working on large and challenging projects, with dams […]

Beyond the well-known industries of mining, aggregates, waste management, and construction, there are a number of other sites that benefit from drone surveying—one of which is solar farms. Today, AirBorn Insight’s Loren Otto writes this guest post on how their company uses drone surveying and Propeller to deliver value for solar farm customers. AirBorn Insight […]

Suez Australia, a part of the worldwide company Suez, helps governments, businesses, and communities access natural resources and create new resources by reusing and recycling water and waste. Across Australia and New Zealand, Suez provides millions of people with waste management and water treatment services. They recently began using drones to survey their landfill sites, […]

  Founded in Australia and operating approximately 700 sites in Australia, the United States, and across Asia, Boral manufactures and supplies building and construction materials multinationally. In Australia, Boral produces a range of construction materials, such as crushed rock, sand, and gravel servicing Boral’s own concrete, asphalt, and manufacturing operations, as well as its customer […]

Scheffer Andrew Ltd. Planner and Engineers is a leading supplier of professional engineering and municipal planning services in western Canada. Scheffer Andrew performs UAV surveys and inspections with Propeller, in addition to a range of services, including transportation planning, site development, municipal planning, land development, and construction services to the private sector and all levels […]

Cheshire Contractors Pty. Ltd., a mid-sized construction company, wanted a better look into dirt movement on their sites to better understand who was moving what dirt, where, and when. Locally owned and operated since 1979, they specialize in civil construction, earthmoving, and heavy machinery. They are based in Queensland, Cape York Peninsula, and the Torres […]

Abax Contracting Pty. Ltd. has reaffirmed its leadership in state of the art construction services by becoming the first company in Australia with Trimble Stratus cloud-based analytics platform for visualizing drone survey data. Stratus is a cloud-based analytics platform, powered by Propeller Aero, that visualizes drone survey data to help heavy civil construction and resources […]

Established in 2012, Lange Land Surveys (LLS) is a full service land surveying company in Arvada, Colorado. The owner, Jonathan Lange, and the company’s twenty-plus employees all have unique work experience, along with strong backgrounds in AutoCAD, office and field coordination, construction, or performing surveys. LLS works with engineers, developers, builders, architects, and realtors to […]

Haskell provides engineering, design, and building solutions for industrial, commercial, government, and civil infrastructure markets. Their customers come from a large variety of industries and operate in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean. Background Haskell, a company providing engineering, design, and building solutions for industrial, commercial, government, and civil infrastructure sectors, uses a […]