DroneBase - Woefully Under Paying

[The Taminator]

Just an FYI: I got an email from DroneBase last Thursday wanting me to fly in San Francisco the following day. Wanting me to shoot footage of Ocean Beach and Lands End (from outside the Golden Gate National Recreation Area restricted airspace because OB and LE are no drone zones) and also some footage of the Richmond District flying down and around Clement Street. Required: seven 30 second video clips and at least 10 photos for each drop. Pay: $270 for all of it?!?!? This makes absolutely no financial sense for me to do whatsoever especially given the air space challenges, congested city and parking issues so I had to pass. Plus, I'm not even sure I could get good footage of OB and LE from outside the no fly zone. And DB would sell the stunning aerial footage of San Francisco for a lot of money... over and over and over again. For these three particular shoots DB is attempting to woefully underpay the PIC. I'm just kind of stunned and venting!

Continued success all!

Attached:
- DB's Neighborhood Marketing Training / Shot Guide as I found it educational.
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area drone restrictions air map as an FYI.

 

[LarBear360]

Just an FYI: I got an email from DroneBase last Thursday wanting me to fly in San Francisco the following day. Wanting me to shoot footage of Ocean Beach and Lands End (from outside the Golden Gate National Recreation Area restricted airspace because OB and LE are no drone zones) and also some footage of the Richmond District flying down and around Clement Street. Required: seven 30 second video clips and at least 10 photos for each drop. Pay: $270 for all of it?!?!? This makes absolutely no financial sense for me to do whatsoever especially given the air space challenges, congested city and parking issues so I had to pass. Plus, I'm not even sure I could get good footage of OB and LE from outside the no fly zone. And DB would sell the stunning aerial footage of San Francisco for a lot of money... over and over and over again. For these three particular shoots DB is attempting to woefully underpay the PIC. I'm just kind of stunned and venting!

Continued success all!

Attached:
- DB's Neighborhood Marketing Training / Shot Guide as I found it educational.
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area drone restrictions air map as an FYI.

I wouldn't even leave the house for that. I don't blame you for declining. I don't know their business model, but I'm guessing they're collecting twice that or more from their client.

 

[With The Birds]

I guess the question is whether some desperado is prepared to take it on. To the extent they have operators on the books that will deliver at these prices it hurts the pockets of other operators.

 

[The Taminator]

I wouldn't even leave the house for that. I don't blame you for declining. I don't know their business model, but I'm guessing they're collecting twice that or more from their client.

Leave the house... I wouldn't even brush my teeth for that!

 

[The Taminator]

I guess the question is whether some desperado is prepared to take it on. To the extent they have operators on the books that will deliver at these prices it hurts the pockets of other operators.

The fact they contacted me and gave me 24 hours notice tells me they're desperate and they have no idea that San Francisco was recently named as the most expensive place to live in the entire world. I'm sorry, but $90 for what they want done is a total joke here. Maybe in the fields of Iowa (no disrespect intended) this would fly but not in the high-tech capital of the known universe.

 

[The Taminator]

The fact they contacted me and gave me 24 hours notice tells me they're desperate and they have no idea that San Francisco was recently named as the most expensive place to live in the entire world. I'm sorry, but $90 for what they want done is a total joke here. Maybe in the fields of Iowa (no disrespect intended) this would fly but not in the high-tech capital of the known universe.

Clarification: $90 per three locations = $270

 

[With The Birds]

The fact they contacted me and gave me 24 hours notice tells me they're desperate and they have no idea that San Francisco was recently named as the most expensive place to live in the entire world. I'm sorry, but $90 for what they want done is a total joke here. Maybe in the fields of Iowa (no disrespect intended) this would fly but not in the high-tech capital of the known universe.

By desperado I was referring to someone hungry enough to take the job. If DB really needed the job done they would offer more. Perhaps you should go for sourcing clients direct and find that happy medium where your skill/quality of deliverable and clients needs/value proposition meets. Just hope your competitors aren’t happy to work for peanuts.

 

[jlrsn]

I'm interested to see if they found some sucker to take this job. It's a lot of flying and driving to do it with a drone. A few years back it would have cost almost $1,000 or more to do that job just for the helicopter rental not counting a photographer's charges! I know that area well and have flown thousands of photo flights in that area since the 1960s. Drones have destroyed the aerial photographer's businesses of years past!

 

[The Taminator]

Totally correct about a lot of flying and driving for this job and than not even being sure if you're going to be able to get good shots from where you're legally allowed to be. The only way I could see someone doing this is perhaps someone who lives in the area and can easily scope out those three locations to see if it's even possible. But right then and there that's going to be probably 2 to 3 hours of their time just investigating where you able to fly and get decent shots.

I tried to get a LAANC authorization via AirMap for the Clement Street job, just out of curiosity, and I was neither approved nor denied so I'm not sure about flying in that area. And invariably somebody will call law enforcement so you're going have to pause you're flying to get bitched at by passers-by and also having to talk to Johnny Law even if you do have authorization.

And yes, drones and technology are eliminating a lot of jobs.

Lastly, one of the questions I had for DroneBase was were they covering the insurance for the flights and they didn't answer me... that's a red flag. I've worked with a company called DroneHive and they were very upfront that they cover the insurance for the job I did right from the get-go. I didn't appreciate not getting an answer on that from the DroneBase rep that contacted me.

I told them I would still consider it but they would have to pay much more and I never got a response back after that.

San Francisco was recently designated the most expensive place to live in the entire world and what DroneBase was offering o pay was just pathetic.

This was the first time that dronebase had contacted me about a potential job and I do not have a good opinion about the company as a result.

 

[MTO]

Dronebase used to be good but their shot lists keep getting bigger while the pay gets smaller. And they have partnered with everyone gobbling up all of the work from companies like Betterview, Eagleview, etc. becoming the middle man and skimming $$ off the top.
Dronebase is a good honest company to work for if you love flying, have the time, and don’t mind doing it for chump change...but if your trying to do it along with a full time job on lunches and weekends it gets old quick.

Dronebase has so many pilots on their roster now, that they will almost always get the job done for what they offer.

 

[dkeberhardt]

Respect to you for turning them down. I would rather go a little hungry than sell my services for less than they are worth. We take a lot of risk flying these missions - cost of the equipment, insurance, software to process images/videos, our training time, etc.

I recently said no thanks to a job offer because it was unreasonably close to a Class D airport. I felt it would be irresponsible to ask for permission to fly the mission which was 1/2 mile from the airport. Not worth the time or embarrassment to ask and be denied. It was within a zero altitude block on the UAS maps and I couldn't envision FAA or Tower saying yes - I wouldn't!

 

[Russ43Phantom]

I would charge $200 just for taking off. Then agree on an hourly rate. BUT ... I would also require your customer to file for all special authorizations needed and to carry any insurance if needed.

 

[DiederikHarkema]

I agree it is not a lot of money but obvious none of you have ever been hungry. And if a person is then called a sucker for trying to earn some money so be it.

Obviously money is no issue with most of you. I do not like wishing bad things on people but some comments here make me think you need to go hungry for a few weeks.

I was there due to a accident which saw me in hospital for 3 years in a 5 year period. When I was able to do some work I would have done almost aantyging to earn some money.

Fortunately I worked myself back to a good living but never forget what it felt like to see my family have hardly anything to eat..

From according to you guys a sucker

 

[Russ43Phantom]

I work with a "starving artist" by helping him market and sell his extraordinary talent. He was starving because he was timid when it came to pricing. He gave too much away for free. In one case, he asked for $1500 for a portrait. His customer claimed his purchasing department could get the portrait for $400 or less. My friends work is highly differentiable and stands out above his peers. I had him go back to the customer and acknowledge just how up scale his lobby and office were. Then ask him whether his work or his competitor's work rings of the same upscale quality as the rest of his office. Without a further comment, the buyer scheduled a photo shot. So ... the question generally remains how "differentiable" your work and presentation is compared to work done by others.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Unfortunately, plenty of drone owners would be happy to do the work for free, let alone get paid $270 to fly their drone over their long lunch hour! It's a race to the bottom! Time to find another profession, if this has been your primary source of income!

 

[AVBud]

DroneBase has offered projects here in Ohio that required a 50 mile drive each way, and flights that would have taken at least an hour to do once I got there, all for a payout of $100 total.
They do residential real estate shots offering $25 if they actually are able to sell the pics. This is the type of business model that will really hurt drone usage overall. Think about whoever they get to do this mission, and what kind of quality product they will generate as a result.

You get what you pay for in life and I would rather mow my lawn rather than give my drone work away for such an insulting price. But they will no doubt get someone to do it. This type of business model does not bode well for the UAS industry and I will have none of it.

 

[N42742]

This is what happens when you rely on someone else to find jobs for you. You will always do better to market your services and find your own gigs. Outfits like DroneBase cater to people who don't wish to do the legwork. So, they do it for you, but charge a hefty fee for doing it.

 

[GadgetGuy]

This is what happens when you rely on someone else to find jobs for you. You will always do better to market your services and find your own gigs. Outfits like DroneBase cater to people who don't wish to do the legwork. So, they do it for you, but charge a hefty fee for doing it.

You are assuming that DroneBase's markup is hefty. It needn't be. They can easily make it up in volume. They, are, in fact, your competition, offering the same services at a fraction of what you would charge, and outsourcing all the work to the lowest common denominator. It's truly a race to the bottom!

 

[lmmavrick]

I agree it is not a lot of money but obvious none of you have ever been hungry. And if a person is then called a sucker for trying to earn some money so be it.

Obviously money is no issue with most of you. I do not like wishing bad things on people but some comments here make me think you need to go hungry for a few weeks.

I was there due to a accident which saw me in hospital for 3 years in a 5 year period. When I was able to do some work I would have done almost aantyging to earn some money.

Fortunately I worked myself back to a good living but never forget what it felt like to see my family have hardly anything to eat..

From according to you guys a sucker

not apples to apples comparison . if you can afford a drone like a p4 or better you can afford food . I've said it since fist day i heard about dronebase . chump change and not worth the effort , time , mileage , etc . And if you can't afford food sale the drone and go get some food and start looking for a real job

 

[GadgetGuy]

not apples to apples comparison . if you can afford a drone like a p4 or better you can afford food . I've said it since fist day i heard about dronebase . chump change and not worth the effort , time , mileage , etc . And if you can't afford food sale the drone and go get some food and start looking for a real job

"Will drone for food!"