Pricing for Real Estate Ground and Aerial Service

[mwentling]

A friend owns a real estate firm and knows I am in the UAS business professionally (My firm company does Group 1-5 commercial and military UAS services, including design, manufacturing, and test engineering). I also fly my own drones and RC aircraft. Her photographer went out of business, so she called and asked if I could provide the services. I have a part 107 license, and own a DJI Mini Pro 3 and the new DJI Mavic 3 Pro Cine, as well as multiple still and video cameras. I am thinking of charging $350 per home up to 3500 soft and 1 acre, this would include two external drone videos, 2 shots per interior room and 1 hour of post-editing. Am I pricing correctly?

 

[akdrone]

A friend owns a real estate firm and knows I am in the UAS business professionally (My firm company does Group 1-5 commercial and military UAS services, including design, manufacturing, and test engineering). I also fly my own drones and RC aircraft. Her photographer went out of business, so she called and asked if I could provide the services. I have a part 107 license, and own a DJI Mini Pro 3 and the new DJI Mavic 3 Pro Cine, as well as multiple still and video cameras. I am thinking of charging $350 per home up to 3500 soft and 1 acre, this would include two external drone videos, 2 shots per interior room and 1 hour of post-editing. Am I pricing correctly?

Wow. First off I am NOT in the drone filming business so there is that huge caveat, however I did shoot traditional photography professionally and I can't see the profit in your pricing. You will travel to the home and back. Fly around it at various angles, I assume. Two still shots with a DSLR...or drone...and then an hour of post? That total time for you has to be at least 2 or three hours I would expect. Maybe I'm wrong. If you could book full time at this it might make it worthwhile and that might be the key insofar as you have another business so your profit margin may not need to be that high but when you add equipment, insurance, depreciation and your time it seems like a lowball to me. Equally important is the value you add to the real estate sale which seems quite a lot. Most importantly is the question as to what other drone videographers and photographers charge. The price in NYC is going to be different than a burg in Mississippi so that may be the most important question to answer, "'what is the current market getting?".

 

[mwentling]

Wow. First off I am NOT in the drone filming business so there is that huge caveat, however I did shoot traditional photography professionally and I can't see the profit in your pricing. You will travel to the home and back. Fly around it at various angles, I assume. Two still shots with a DSLR...or drone...and then an hour of post? That total time for you has to be at least 2 or three hours I would expect. Maybe I'm wrong. If you could book full time at this it might make it worthwhile and that might be the key insofar as you have another business so your profit margin may not need to be that high but when you add equipment, insurance, depreciation and your time it seems like a lowball to me. Equally important is the value you add to the real estate sale which seems quite a lot. Most importantly is the question as to what other drone videographers and photographers charge. The price in NYC is going to be different than a burg in Mississippi so that may be the most important question to answer, "'what is the current market getting?".

All great points and this will be a side gig for me. But your point about fixed price items such as insurance and consumables such as batteries, fuels, etc., are valid. I am in Alabama, so I agree the price adjusted for the local market will be very different than in Birmingham or Atlanta.

 

[akdrone]

All great points and this will be a side gig for me. But your point about fixed price items such as insurance and consumables such as batteries, fuels, etc., are valid. I am in Alabama, so I agree the price adjusted for the local market will be very different than in Birmingham or Atlanta.

People are often put off by the prices of services but they don't think about depreciation of the vehicle used. gas to and from, hourly cost of employees, equipment, and all of that stuff. A LOT of businesses fail because once a too-low pricing structure is created folks won't tolerate a change in price to realistic levels. Best of luck.

 

[Douglas Peebles]

This is a tough one because there are a lot of photographers doing residential real estate very cheaply. If you are talking 2 photos per room that 15-30 for the house. You might think about $350 for just the drone or just the interiors or $500 for both. That may price you out of your local market so it kind of depends on how much you want to do it. Beware though, residential real estate agents can be some of the worst clients to deal with.

 

[molrank]

You need to understand three things before deciding on the right price and whether you can provide this service profitably:
1. What is the value to your client? Can you enhance the value by doing a better job, or are all providers going to be equally capable?
2. What is the market price where the client needs this service? As someone pointed out earlier, this will be different by location, and it will depend heavily on the variety of competitive choices your client has. If there are a lot of photographers with drones who are doing this on a freelance basis for low prices, then that will have an impact.
3. What does it cost you to provide the service? You should include all your costs. Many people overlook depreciation, the cost of batteries, replaceable parts, time to prepare, getting flight clearance, etc. Try to be comprehensive.

You have a tough decision to make when the client does not see much value in quality, and there are lots of inexpensive competition, ignoring real costs.

We wrote an interesting piece on "The Problem with the Drone Services Industry" which covers a bunch of topics, including:

• Selling drone photography and drone video.
• Aerial Real Estate Photography and Videography for Real

 

[paparatzy]

Am I pricing correctly?

It is a good point that rates will vary depending on your locale, so you really need to be researching local photographer’s websites, then making your decision. I have been a Real Estate photographer for 15 years and gone through this same decision process.

My decision was to not be the most expensive guy but not the cheapest either, just reasonable. Many people who care about quality will not trust the cheapest guy and either from a budget concern or simply not have the need, will not hire the expensive guy.

That leaves the quality, affordable guy in the middle. If you can manage to deliver a. quality product, in an efficient timeframe at an affordable price, you will have no problems gaining and keeping clients. In this business, clients referring to other clients is the normal as when people see great photos, they always want to know “who did you use”.

This formula has worked well for me and has kept my business going strong even through market downturns, Covid and high interest rates.

Good luck!

 

[mwentling]

It is a good point that rates will vary depending on your locale, so you really need to be researching local photographer’s websites, then making your decision. I have been a Real Estate photographer for 15 years and gone through this same decision process.

My decision was to not be the most expensive guy but not the cheapest either, just reasonable. Many people who care about quality will not trust the cheapest guy and either from a budget concern or simply not have the need, will not hire the expensive guy.

That leaves the quality, affordable guy in the middle. If you can manage to deliver a. quality product, in an efficient timeframe at an affordable price, you will have no problems gaining and keeping clients. In this business, clients referring to other clients is the normal as when people see great photos, they always want to know “who did you use”.

This formula has worked well for me and has kept my business going strong even through market downturns, Covid and high interest rates.

Good luck!

Thanks much!

 

[cjc1103]

There's no "correct" price, "appropriate" may be better wording, but what the market will bear is another matter. As others have pointed out there are lots of people who don't value their services enough or are just desparate for work, and do not charge enough to realistically survive as a business. If you are doing it as a side business and have another source of income, fine, but you still have to account for expenses such as gas, insurance, consumables, etc. If you have a business you can depreciate equipment and write off expenses, which helps. A drone is only a flying camera, you are really talking about a photograhpy business including other cameras, computers, software, website, marketing, etc. About $100/hour is a good rule of thumb to start, depending on your expertise and services offered.

 

[vsasolutions]

Wow. First off I am NOT in the drone filming business so there is that huge caveat, however I did shoot traditional photography professionally and I can't see the profit in your pricing. You will travel to the home and back. Fly around it at various angles, I assume. Two still shots with a DSLR...or drone...and then an hour of post? That total time for you has to be at least 2 or three hours I would expect. Maybe I'm wrong. If you could book full time at this it might make it worthwhile and that might be the key insofar as you have another business so your profit margin may not need to be that high but when you add equipment, insurance, depreciation and your time it seems like a lowball to me. Equally important is the value you add to the real estate sale which seems quite a lot. Most importantly is the question as to what other drone videographers and photographers charge. The price in NYC is going to be different than a burg in Mississippi so that may be the most important question to answer, "'what is the current market getting?".

Wow. First off I am NOT in the drone filming business so there is that huge caveat, however I did shoot traditional photography professionally and I can't see the profit in your pricing. You will travel to the home and back. Fly around it at various angles, I assume. Two still shots with a DSLR...or drone...and then an hour of post? That total time for you has to be at least 2 or three hours I would expect. Maybe I'm wrong. If you could book full time at this it might make it worthwhile and that might be the key insofar as you have another business so your profit margin may not need to be that high but when you add equipment, insurance, depreciation and your time it seems like a lowball to me. Equally important is the value you add to the real estate sale which seems quite a lot. Most importantly is the question as to what other drone videographers and photographers charge. The price in NYC is going to be different than a burg in Mississippi so that may be the most important question to answer, "'what is the current market getting?".

Spot on. Also, there are so many non professionals bidding on Jobs at all of these sites and basically prostitute themselves. So potential customers think they should get a drone job at the same price as buying stock photography.

I bid each job individually. I determine how much planning in hours is required, do I have to work with the FAA, how many hours of editing/post production, complexity of the flight, complexity of the customer (many are a challenge to work with), insurance requirements, risk to my bird, do I need one or two spotters, etc.

 

[akdrone]

When digital photography took off the pro market was absolutely flooded with people that had no clue as to what they were doing. I have to imagine that the drone market is a bit like that or will be at some point but I'd also guess that the post production skills of many drone pilots hoping to make a living are higher than might have existed years ago. Still, I'm glad I am not trying to make it in the professional drone photo market...