Lots of industries need to do observations for maintenance, contaminated areas, tower inspections, oil & gas, marine uses, security areas, the list is endless, large companies will have their own but small ones or contractors that have limited uses may rent or hire an operator.

and with growth comes concern now that oil prices are down.

They will cut back more unless oil suddenly rallies.  

Then I see the same make year model with expired tags, maybe title problems a dent or two high miles leaks oil but they want the same fair market price as the first clean car.

I hate getting guru advise as it always feels like fish oil tactics.

The drought has created a major water shortage for farmers (bit part of the counties economy) and there is a moratorium on fracking which is affecting the local oil industry.  

Also, keep an eye out for an oil tank... in my neck of the woods they are one of the biggest issues with old houses and can cost thousands of dollars if they have leaked and the soil needs remediation.

Here these folks still tend to have lower heating costs, but if natural gas were actually cheaper than electricity or oil, a natural gas forced air furnace would likely be cheaper in that situation.HVAC debates aside, the core of my initial message was intended to be improvements to the building envelope in terms of superior insulation and effective air sealing will give you larger long-term payback than your choice of HVAC system.  

Being a college town, Austin has great stability.Denver and Houston both had overbuilding in the early 80's, so when the oil bust hit....

I prefer oil and tech.