Don't Guess, Measure: How TraceAir Ensures Accurate Billing for Land Developers

The land development phase of construction presents countless unique challenges, with one of the most critical being a lack of a way to quickly and accurately quantify progress. Unlike vertical construction, which often allows for straightforward visual assessment, land development tasks are much more challenging to quantify. For instance, it's easy to count installed windows or completed roofs, but quantifying complex activities such as earthwork, utility installations, and pavement completion is considerably more difficult.

Adding to this challenge is the fact that bills are typically processed by office personnel with limited insight into field activities. Without a quick way to verify completed work, invoices are often paid without validation, potentially resulting in inaccuracies and financial setbacks.

At TraceAir, we believe in the principle of "don't guess, measure”. Just as you wouldn't pay for 20 window installations if only 10 were completed, we offer tools to ensure the same level of validation in land development tasks. With TraceAir, both field and office teams can confidently verify completed work, promoting transparency and accuracy in the billing processes.

Watch this webinar recording for a quick overview of how TraceAir ensures accurate billing for land developers, including case studies from clients.

How TraceAir Ensures Accuracy

Creating a new standard for accountability in land development, TraceAir provides powerful tools for verifying completed work. With easy-to-use tools and unlimited licenses, TraceAir bridges the gap between field and office teams, ensuring everyone has access to a comprehensive and quantifiable understanding of progress. Additionally, scans from TraceAir are processed and delivered within 24 hours, and accurate up to 3 centimeters, ensuring quick access to reliable information for confident decision-making.

Here are a few key ways that TraceAir enables billing verification:

Earthworks Volumetric Tracking: Quickly compare the current scan to design grades or previous scans, with color-coded representations highlighting areas of cut, fill, and minimal elevation change. Additionally, TraceAir's Track Quantities tool allows precise measurement of dirt moved between scans, ensuring accurate billing and payment.

”Prior to TraceAir, we sometimes received huge bills from contractors for moving dirt. It would take several weeks to confirm those quantities, resulting in lost time and money. With TraceAir, we can verify quantities with a few clicks. Being able to view the entire project on one screen, visualize dirt movement with the heat maps, and easily quantify progress compared to design grade has been a game changer.” — Greg Coleman, Director of Land Development, Beazer Homes

Lot Grades: In addition to being able to track cut/fill quantities anywhere on site, TraceAir’s Lot Viewer tool breaks down by individual lots. This tool is invaluable when buying finished lots to confirm that lots are actually on grade, or to verify all lots are on grade when your grading contractor is done.

Measurement Tools: TraceAir offers several tools for calculating distance and slope, area and perimeter, and elevation. Easily measure how many feet of pipe was installed, calculate the slope of an embankment for SWPPP, or check elevations for site planning. Users can easily save or export measurements for future reference, or compare against previous scans to calculate progress.

One of the most popular tools in TraceAir, Cross Section, creates a graph of elevation changes along a chosen path. Various lines on this graph depict the scanned surface (blue), compared surface (orange), and the design grade (dotted line, with the file name mentioned in the legend). Simply select any two points along the path to observe the elevation difference between dates. This tool is invaluable for ensuring that completed work aligns with invoiced work.

”With TraceAir, I’m able to easily track all of our earthworks. This allows me to make sure we stay on schedule, verify bills from contractors, and optimize our project's efficiency. It’s a great tool for keeping everyone accountable and on track.” — Payton Sim, Land Development Manager, Toll Brothers

Learn More

Next time you receive an invoice, don't just take it at face value – verify its accuracy with a few simple clicks using TraceAir. Want to see TraceAir in action? Watch this webinar recording for a quick look at how TraceAir ensures accurate billing for land developers, including case studies from clients. To learn more about how your projects could benefit, schedule a demo today.