The Mission
The truth is that Drones4CPM is not meant to revolutionize property management. It is just meant to make it easier. My belief is that it is inevitable that property managers, just like major critical infrastructure sectors will adapt this technology at scale.
Perhaps because of my unique combination of experiences, it just so happens that Drones4CPM is the first service to focus specifically on this market. Again I do not view myself as one of these founders whose new app is going to cure cancer and usher in an era of world peace. That is not my ambition.
I would like to make it so property managers can focus more time and energy on their residents, prevent a leaky roof now and again, and every so often save an organization a large chunk of change over a disputed claim. Really all I want to do with this company is to use the skillset and knowledge I’ve developed as a drone inspection pilot to serve a market that is not yet benefitting fully from this technology.
Meet the Founder
Hello my name is Steven Saham. I’d like to share a bit about what has driven me to found Drones4CPM.
I first became interested in drones before I graduated college in 2018. A concerned mentor who worked in manned aviation suggested I explore emerging drone technology since my humanities degree was likely to leave me unemployed. I got my Part 107 commercial drone pilot license the next year and quickly got a job teaching about drone technology through the Drone Apprenticeship Program in Detroit, Michigan. My grandfather was an Airforce veteran with a passion for aviation and my excitement at building model airplanes with him as a kid was reignited with the opportunity to fly drones all the time.
From Local Projects to Critical Infrastructure
Once I had enough experience doing local projects I moved on to critical infrastructure inspections. Since 2021 I have been traveling across the United States in this capacity. I have inspected thousands of wind turbines, acres of corn and soybean fields, utility poles, and telecom towers.
Aside from the benefits of making a living, all this work has given me several blessings. The first is a grand impression of the scope of our country's infrastructure. Inseparable from the great forests and rivers are thousands of miles of transmission and distribution, sub stations, a cell tower every few miles, and of course endless houses and apartments. I feel like my work in all these different critical industries has given me a great respect for all the work that goes into maintaining our way of life as well as a strong indication for how sensitive these systems really are.
Why Drone Data Matters
One way to think about drones is as a bridge between the world of bits and the real world. By going out into the real world and capturing data in a way that wasn’t possible before the advent of the computer controlled quadcopter, drones offer revolutionary insight.
Whereas it is debatable whether or not most of the data we generate – our search habits, screen time,selfies etc. – actually improves our quality of life, the data drones acquire makes a real difference. It gives the overworked, understaffed, and underfunded teams – men and women I have had the privilege of meeting throughout my travels – information they desperately need to prioritize which facets of our crumbling infrastructure most requires their attention. This information prevents blowouts, wildfires, and dropped cell coverage.
Participating in this heroic effort to maintain our living standard is extremely rewarding, but it is not all I have gained from my experience.
A Pattern I Saw in Successful Drone Inspection Companies
I have also observed a pattern regarding these drone inspection enterprises. The successful companies I have worked for find a specific client and work extremely hard to discover what information that client needs to make key decisions. Then they focus all their energy on developing systems to consistently capture that information.
Easier said than done; as I know from the field every site is different and every day is a new day. Standard operating procedures have to withstand changing weather and wind, and all sorts of environments. Most of the time this results in a flight procedure that is partially manual and partially automated and that has been pieced together through extensive trial and error.
In addition to this there must be a well oiled machine for processing, quality control and analysis of the data, so instead of overwhelming the client they are provided with the information they need in a concise, useful package.
From my experience I believe developing this type of service, that is maximally useful for the client, and therefore for the population that uses that particular type of infrastructure, requires a focus on one type of client. Indeed successful enterprises have arisen in several critical infrastructure verticals, oil and gas, utility, and telecom to name a few.
However when it comes to other drone verticals, this approach is ignored. Perhaps because they don’t require specialized equipment it is common for smaller drone service providers to offer service to multiple markets, solar inspection, commercial real estate, construction, and roofing are commonly bundled together.
The Turning Point in Austin
This first occurred to me in late 2023 when I had taken a break from the road and was living in Austin, Texas (while I enjoy seeing all parts of the country for my work, the road can sometimes take its toll). I was struggling with a dilemma many drone pilots face. How do I make a living without travelling constantly?
This problem is another reason there are so many sites, both for individual pilots and large pilot networks, offering every type of drone service under the sun. I knew I did not want to fall into this non-category and so I set about trying to pick a niche that I could attack.
Looking around, I saw a lot of roofs, Austin notoriously underwent massive growth in the years prior, and I experienced the gnarly storms that gave the song Texas Flood its name and so I said to myself, ‘why not roofs’. Long story short I teamed up with a local roofer and began to learn the intricacies of roofing.
He took me up on roofs, and showed me what to look for. I saw the traditional method of circling hail damage and learned how insurance policies require a certain amount of hail strikes per square foot to be demonstrated in order to approve a roof replacement. I was also instructed on how to spot the other types of wear and tear.
My associate regaled me with the craziest stories from his career as a life long roofer, several of which were about the ways insurance companies had denied his potential clients claims, even in cases where there was no doubt a recent storm had destroyed the homeowners roof. These stories led to my epiphany that recurring inspections (just like the ones I have been conducting for critical infrastructure) would solve this issue entirely.
Why Property Managers
(Not Homeowners)
I had my second realization that led to this venture when I visited an apartment complex early on working with the roofer in Austin. It occurred to me that managers of apartment complexes would be a much better target audience for recurring roof inspections than individual homeowners.
For the most part the owners of a typical two story home can relatively easily assess the condition of their roof from ground level with a simple walk around. Whereas this is simply not realistic for managers of apartment complexes. Homeowners also have more straightforward insurance policies and less hurdles to navigate before getting work done to their roofs.
Most importantly they only have one home and will only live in it for 12 years on average about the lifespan of a roof. Property managers manage dozens if not hundreds of buildings and these buildings are meant to last decades.
The Need for Agnostic Inspections
The final foundational realization that led me to found drones for CPM came from contrasting my experience working with roofers with the critical infrastructure inspections I’ve done. I realized the value of an agnostic inspection.
Large telecom providers and energy companies want raw data to assess how they should manage their assets. They are not looking for someone to tell them how to manage their assets because they are the experts. Just like an experienced CPM is an expert on managing their buildings.
Property managers are inherently skeptical of a roofer inspecting their roofs because over the years they have dealt with many roofers and are wary of their tricks. Instead they prefer to have all of the information regarding their buildings so they can make the best possible decisions.
Ready to See Your Property More Clearly?
Tell us about your property and location. We’ll walk you through the process, share a sample report, and recommend the right inspection cadence for your buildings.