Drone Hire: Commercial Clients Say Why You Should Rent From Heliguy

Two innovative companies who are using drones to maximise their workflows say they are benefiting from Heliguy's rental service.

Texo Group Limited and the NPS Group are among the Heliguy enterprise clients – which includes global infrastructure group Balfour Beatty – who choose to hire drones from us, instead of purchasing them outright.

Balfour Beatty rents its drones from Heliguy.

For them, there are many advantages. These include:

• Accessing the latest equipment without a huge upfront bill;

• Stopping the problem of being left with old or redundant kit;

• Providing flexibility to easily deal with periods of scaling for increased deployment;

• Adding a specific drone or payload to their fleet for a specific job.

Renting allows us access to the latest and biggest variety of equipment without investing a huge amount of money. Heliguy are the best partner to our drone operations - giving us the trust that they will never let us down.

Cesar Hoyos Franco, Land Surveyor for NPS Group.

With access to the UK's largest rental fleet - including enterprise drones such as the DJI Matrice Series and Phantom 4 RTK, as well as top-class cameras like the DJI Zenmuse XT2 and Z30 - and offering expert advice and consultancy, DJI Gold Partner Heliguy is perfectly placed to support your long or short-term rental needs for commercial missions.

The M200 Series is available for rent from Heliguy.

In this Heliguy Insider blog post, we take a look at how Heliguy's rental programme is benefiting Texo and NPS and explore how drones are transforming their operations by saving time, reducing risk and collecting more accurate data.

NPS Group - 'Renting From Heliguy Gives Us Access To The Latest Equipment Without The Huge Investment'

Headquartered in Norwich, NPS Group has a number of offices across the UK, including London and Edinburgh, and offers a range of multi-disciplinary services, such as surveying and maintenance; estates and asset management; and integrated design.

As part of this, drones have played an important role in NPS’ operations for the last two years - including for cliff monitoring work and roof/building inspections - and the company turned to Heliguy to build its fleet.

A 3D point cloud view of a cliff face, using drone images. This data is used by NPS - during cliff monitoring work - to create cross-sections and to help to decide where to place the rock sill defence and the access ramp to the beach.

NPS owns a DJI M210, two Cendence controllers with two CrystalSky screens, and DJI Zenmuse X4S (for mapping) and X5S (for image/video) cameras.

For us, the drone has proved to be a successful tool. We have adapted it for existing projects and it has allowed us to offer new services to our clients.

Cesar Hoyos Franco, Land Surveyor for NPS Group.

When it comes to rental, NPS uses Heliguy to hire the DJI Zenmuse XT2 thermal camera and the DJI Zenmuse Z30 zoom camera. These payloads, which integrate with the Matrice drone, are used for inspections of buildings and other infrastructure, as well as locating pipework on landfills and any pipe defects. Check out this video, from NPS, which shows just how good the zoom on the Z30 is and how it can help.

Cesar Hoyos Franco, Land Surveyor for NPS, said: “Thanks to Heliguy, we have access to a huge range of equipment. Heliguy has the biggest range of equipment and they are always updating their stock with the latest technology.

“We keep working with Heliguy because they have proved to be the best partner to our drone operations. They are always helpful and provide us with the best solution for our needs. They give you the trust that they will never let us down.”

A thermal image gathered by NPS using the DJI Zenmuse thermal cameras. This image was taken during work on landfills to identify the location of the gas pipework. Using a drone helps to give a more accurate and comprehensive result, compared to doing it at ground level.

Speaking about rental, Cesar added: “Anything that we do not have we know that we can hire from Heliguy. Renting allows us access to the latest and biggest variety of equipment without the need to invest a huge amount of money every year.

“If we had to purchase all of the equipment, instead of hiring it, it would just not be possible – making our operations more expensive and we would be left with old equipment when new drones or cameras are released.”

The NPS Group uses DJI Cendence controllers with CrystalSky screens.

Over the last two years, drones have played a massive role in NPS’ operations.

Cesar said: “For us, the drone has proved to be a successful tool. We have adapted it for existing projects and it has allowed us to offer new services to our clients.

“Thanks to the drone, we have been able to reduce the time on gathering data, increase the accuracy and amount of data collected and increase safety by reducing the risk of certain operations, like cliff monitoring or roof/building inspections. NPS has recently been commended in the RTPI National Awards 2019 for Planning Excellence for the use of drones in Coastal Management Planning.”

Drone images can help with monitoring a site over time. For instance, this aerial image, taken by drone, is used to show the retreat of a cliff over time due to erosion.

Texo - 'Drones Increase The Efficiency Of Our Teams'

Texo is a truly global company. Headquartered in a purpose-built facility in Westhill, Aberdeen, it also has fabrication facilities at the Port of Dundee and Hebburn, new bespoke fabrication facilities located at the Port of Blyth, Invergordon, and Israel, plus overseas operating bases in Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Malaysia and Brazil.

Renting equipment from Heliguy is ideal to meet our busier periods.

James Arnott, TEXO's Head Of Operations and Remote Sensing

Texo has been harnessing the power of drones for the past three years and has built a fleet of more than 50 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle) with more than 20 separate payload applications to meet the demand for integrated engineering services within critical infrastructure.

Texo DSI utilises drones to aid its day-to-day survey operations, such as the surveying of this offshore lighthouse due for decommissioning.

To support these operations, the company has rented a DJI M200 drone and a DJI Zenmuse XT2 thermal camera from Heliguy, and has previously bought a range of equipment from us, including the DJI Zenmuse Z30 zoom camera, two DJI M600 drones and a DJI M600 Pro aircraft.

A DJI M200 Series aircraft with a Z30 camera.

Explaining why using Heliguy rental is important for Texo, James Arnott, the company’s Head Of Operations and Remote Sensing, said: “Due to the sheer volume of contracts, we require periods of increased deployment which purchasing is not validated for. Therefore, renting equipment from Heliguy is ideal to meet these busier periods.”

So, how does Texo deploy its drones?

James said: “To date, we have carried out internal inspections over a series of months in live uranium enrichment facilities, inspected underground tunnels on river banks, live flare inspections offshore, central London façade inspections, confined space inspections inside wind turbines, utilised thermal UAVs to map over 1200km on main water trunk lines to date, condemned building internal inspections and a host of traditional UAV services.

Texo DSI carried out 100s of kilometres of water main thermal surveys to identify leaks like the one captured here.

“We utilise the UAVs as tools to increase the efficiency of our teams and our unique sell is the ability to not only collect the data but also interpret and deliver detailed surveys and inspection reports.

“Our teams also deploy other unmanned technologies in conjunction and some advanced survey and inspection equipment.

“We tend to focus more on the payload and see the UAVs as advanced taxis with the focus being on data collection and delivery.

“We also have many partnerships with leading universities, as well as our iHub innovation centre which constantly evaluates and develops new technologies for Texo and our wider group.”

Texo DSI utilised a combination of traditional survey scanning, UAV photogrammetry and UAV LiDAR to document historic structures at the Hastings Castle sites and help aid with the geotechnical reporting on the cliff stabilities.

Heliguy's Rental Service

Renting equipment from Heliguy has plenty of advantages. We have access to a large pool of stock (drones/payloads/ancillaries); we offer short and long-term rentals; and our expert team is on hand to help and advise.

DJI drones available for renting are the Inspire 2; Phantom 4 Pro and RTK; Mavic 2 Enterprise Zoom and Dual; and the M200 Series. Other hire equipment includes the Teradek Bond Backpack and the Elistair Ligh-T tethering system, while a range of DJI Zenmuse cameras (X7, X5S, XT2 and Z30) are available, as are a range of batteries.

The DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual and Zoom.

You can always request a custom bundle of drones and equipment and we'll do whatever we can to make sure you can access the kit you need.

With Heliguy's drone hire, all you need to get the project set in motion is your PfCO and valid insurance to cover yourself and the equipment when out on the job.

For more information about our rental service and the products available, click here.

Drone Hire From Heliguy - Conclusion

Heliguy - the UK's leading UAV supplier - sells drones to major enterprise clients across a range of industries.

However, buying a drone is not always the right solution for everyone. And this is where renting comes in.

Hiring equipment is perfect for those one-off jobs or to help save the cost of potentially large upfront purchases.

So whether you are looking to start or scale your enterprise drone programme, Heliguy is here to help, with access to a large pool of stock, expert consultancy and long or short-term hire options.

For more details, contact us by phone or email or by clicking through to our rental page.