Material quantities computed from a captured surface rather than estimated from a walk-around — stockpile volumes, cut and fill, and earthwork progress. Flown for yards and sites across Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and West Palm Beach and the surrounding counties.
A drone flight captures the pile or excavation as a dense set of overlapping images, which processing reconstructs into a measured three-dimensional surface. Volume is then calculated as the space between that captured surface and a defined base plane beneath it.
The base plane is where the judgment lives. It can be a flat elevation, a best-fit plane derived from the toe of the pile, or a previously captured terrain surface. Which one is correct depends on what is being measured, and getting it wrong is the most common source of a number that looks precise and is not.
For cut and fill on an active site, the same principle applies between two captured surfaces at different points in time, which yields how much material actually moved rather than how much was supposed to.
Traditional stockpile measurement means someone walking the pile with a rover, taking shots, and interpolating between them. It is slow, the number of points captured is a small fraction of what a drone flight records, and it puts a person on unstable material.
A flight captures the entire surface at once, at a density no ground crew matches, without anyone climbing anything. On a material yard with a dozen piles, the difference in field time is not incremental.
The repeatability matters as much as the speed. Flying the same yard on a consistent cadence with consistent parameters produces a series of measurements that are comparable to each other, which is what makes inventory reconciliation and earthwork progress tracking meaningful rather than anecdotal.
Volumetric results are only as good as the captured surface and the base plane assumption. Material with a very irregular toe, piles abutting walls or each other, standing water, and heavy vegetation encroachment all introduce uncertainty that no amount of processing removes.
Capture conditions matter too. Wind, low sun angle, and wet reflective material all degrade reconstruction quality, which is why flights are planned around conditions rather than squeezed in.
Where a volume feeds a payment application, a contract quantity, or a reconciliation with financial consequences, the licensed professional on your side should review the methodology and the assumptions. Sellers LP produces and documents the measurement; it does not certify quantities.
Ideal for: Earthwork contractors, aggregate and material yards, mining and quarry operations, site developers, and project owners reconciling quantities.
Anywhere material is moved, stored, or paid for by quantity, a measured surface beats an estimate.
The captured surface is dense and consistent, which is the strong part. The uncertainty comes from the base plane assumption and from site conditions — irregular toes, piles against walls, standing water, and vegetation all introduce error that processing cannot remove.
Documented methodology and consistent capture parameters matter more than a single headline accuracy figure.
A flight captures the entire surface at a point density no ground crew matches, in a fraction of the time, without putting anyone on unstable material. On a yard with multiple piles the time difference is substantial.
Yes. Capturing the same area on a consistent cadence with consistent parameters produces surfaces that are directly comparable, which yields actual cut and fill between any two captures rather than an estimate of what should have moved.
No. The measurement is produced and the methodology documented, and it is handed off. Where a quantity carries contractual or financial consequence, the licensed professional on your team reviews the methodology and assumptions and is the certifying party.
Computed volumes with the methodology and base plane assumptions documented, alongside the underlying surface model and orthomosaic so your team can verify the result rather than take a number on trust.