A construction time-lapse is two different products. Most people are sold one of them.
A camera on a pole that captures the whole build without blinking, or a drone flown to the same waypoints every month and cut into a film. They cost different amounts, they serve different audiences, and in the Phoenix metro we do both.
| Site camera | Aerial program | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | One fixed camera, one viewpoint, capturing on a timer from install to de-install | Monthly drone flights on fixed waypoints, cut into a build film at the end |
| What it looks like | A true time-lapse: the building rises continuously, weather moves, cranes swing | A progression film: the site steps forward month by month from the air |
| Best for | The flagship viewpoint on a build worth showing off, and any project where daily activity matters | The whole site in context, sales-office screens, investor updates, social |
| Coverage | One angle, every day | Every angle, once a month |
| Phoenix metro price | $650 per month, plus install | From $3,900 per build |
| Where it lives | On your site, on a pole or a fixed structure, on solar and cellular | In our aircraft |
The pair is the strongest version: a continuous camera on the best angle, monthly aerials for everything else, and one film cut from both. Most custom builds do not need the camera. Most projects with a sales office or an investor deck do.
What a construction time-lapse costs in Phoenix
The national market for construction cameras runs from a few hundred dollars a month for a managed consumer unit to several thousand for an enterprise system with a support contract. Almost all of it is sold by camera companies, not by anyone who will be on your site. In the Phoenix metro, a RevealBuilt site camera is $650 per month per viewpoint plus $750 for install and de-install, and we physically check it every month because we are already there for the aerials. An aerial program is $3,900 for four milestone visits or $6,500 for a build of up to eight months, film included. A build film on its own starts at $1,500.
Book a standalone site flight at $650 — the same half-day aerial on the pricing page. You get your own site from the air, the waypoints get programmed on that visit, and if you sign a program within 30 days the $650 is credited in full. The proposal arrives with your building in it, not a sample.
Heat
A camera enclosure on a Phoenix jobsite in July sees surface temperatures well past what a consumer camera is rated for. Our units are specified for it and shaded on the mount. Still, the best protection is a monthly hands-on check, which the program already includes.
Light
Three hundred sun days a year means solar power is never the constraint here that it is elsewhere, and it means the footage is bright, hard and high-contrast. We set capture windows and exposure for it rather than accepting a blown-out midday.
Dust and monsoon
Haboobs and August storms are exactly the footage a time-lapse exists to catch, and exactly what kills an unsealed camera. Sealed enclosures, cleaned lenses, and a check after every weather event.
Silent failure
The real risk on any construction camera is not theft. It is a unit that stops uploading during the pour and nobody notices for three weeks. Uploads are monitored daily, and the gap is closed the same day it appears.
Site camera $650 per month per viewpoint, plus $750 install and de-install · aerial program from $3,900 per build · build film from $1,500. Phoenix metro only for cameras and programs.
How long does a construction time-lapse take to make?
As long as the build. The camera captures from install to de-install; the aerial program runs monthly until the certificate of occupancy. The finished film is delivered within two weeks of the last capture.
Can you make a time-lapse from footage we already have?
Sometimes. Footage from a phone or a consumer camera rarely holds a fixed frame well enough to cut cleanly. Send it and we will tell you honestly whether it will work before quoting the edit.
Do we need a power source on site?
No. Site cameras run on solar with a battery and upload over cellular. We need a mounting point — a pole, a light standard, a neighbouring structure — with a clear line to the building.
Who owns the time-lapse?
You do. Every frame and the finished film are delivered as files you keep, with no hosting subscription. The gallery during the build carries your branding.
What happens if the camera is damaged or stolen?
It is stated plainly in the agreement: while the camera is mounted on your site, its security is your responsibility up to a stated replacement value, the same way builder’s risk covers anything else on the site. In practice a locked enclosure fourteen feet up a pole is not what walks off a jobsite.
Do you do this outside the Phoenix metro?
Aerial programs and site cameras are Phoenix-metro only, because the monthly hands-on visit is part of what you are paying for. Measured documentation travels nationally.
Phoenix metro. Anywhere within 35 miles of Gilbert — Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale, Peoria, Queen Creek and the rest of the Valley — carries no mobilization charge. Programs and site cameras are Phoenix-metro only; everything else is quoted from the published zone table, and we work nationally.