Slowly but surely, new technologies like drones, virtual reality, 3-D laser scanning and 3-D printing are bound to make their way into the homebuilding process.

Homebuilding techniques today are often “archaic,” says Tom Page, vice president of iStar, a community developer in Richmond, Va., and general manager of Magnolia Green, a residential community in Moseley, Va.

Yet Page already has a few bits of modern technology up his sleeve. He says he employed a drone to fly over a golf course he was building and take aerial photographs of it during construction. The images were then posted online so current and prospect community residents could monitor the process of the course.