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I upgraded by crews cellphones with Sony Erickson w600i camera phones that have 1.5mp resolution. The first week I probably saved over 4 hours of drive time (and related fuel) by having the crew leaders email photos directly to my email concerning work progress, questions, layouts etc., so I don't have to go and personally inspect these situations. WOW ...what a convenience and time savings.
While I was in the office doing designs and estimates I was periodically receiving emails from one guy who was building a stonewall, the other who was grading and excavating a different site and a third who was laying out plants at another a jobsite. They were all at stages in their projects that usually required some onsite inspection from me. So now I could inspect the three sites simultaneously while in my office in the midst of returning calls (ON TIME NOW!) and doing my estimating. This will probably cut my turn around time in half for designs and estimates because I won't be so distracted with daily inspections. The resolution on the photos is amazing. It feels like I'm standing right there and if the picture doesn't show what I want, I simply call them and tell them to take a new one.
I've also have them take pictures of key points in, for instance, retaining wall building to show geogrid installation and backfill etc. to avoid any questions later.
Also, one of my guys took a photo of a stone wall redo job and a few measurements that a neighbor wanted an estimate for, so, again, I had all the info for the estimate without wasting an hour and-a-half driving.
And if I'm not in the office they can email the photos to me on my Treo 650 smartphone.
And the total cost is minimal. After rebates, each phone (3 total) was $100 (mine is more) and the added cost for utilizing the add-on service is $10/phone/month for unlimited usage. I figure the first week they paid for themselves for the year.
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