What do I charge???

[Joe Glenn]

I just got my Part 107 yesterday. I have no idea what to charge for various services. I would greatly appreciate if somone could give me a Range. I know it depends on Alot of factors, but do you charge by the miniute? and if so what do you charge for :

1. Real Estate

2. Construction Survey

3. Aguculture

I most likely will start with Real Estate Photos. I know A lot of Realtors as I owned a Mortgage Company for 17 years. They are already asking me do do photos. I live in San Diego Area and there is Airspace EVERYWHERE to deal with. I'm most interested in knowing a general range for Real Estate Photos. Your thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated! Oh I have a Phantom 3 Pro over 600 flights and I'm a Private Pilot if that makes any difference. Been one since 1987.

Thanks

Joe Glenn
AriseDrone.com

 

[Phil Tuggle]

I just got my Part 107 yesterday. I have no idea what to charge for various services. ...

Hi, Joe, and congrats. While this subject is thoroughly discussed in other threads here, I would offer the following to help you determine what to charge.

1.
Benchmark other drone photographers IN YOUR AREA who are on your skill level, and see the amount that the successful ones are charging; ask for a similar fee for your services. Pretty simple.
2.
It is ALL about your marketplace - city size, competition, and demand level from the potential customers. I live in a tiny town in mid-SC, with very limited imaging competition and only very moderate aerials demand from real estate agents, roofers, etc. No doubt, San Diego is vastly different in ALL respects. Again, do some investigation and don't reinvent the wheel.

Just a word of advice: Offer something unique - that 10% of extra effort - that your competition does not offer. Differentiate and be better in some respect.

 

[Joe Glenn]

Hi, Joe, and congrats. While this subject is thoroughly discussed in other threads here, I would offer the following to help you determine what to charge.

1.
Benchmark other drone photographers IN YOUR AREA who are on your skill level, and see the amount that the successful ones are charging; ask for a similar fee for your services. Pretty simple.
2.
It is ALL about your marketplace - city size, competition, and demand level from the potential customers. I live in a tiny town in mid-SC, with very limited imaging competition and only very moderate aerials demand from real estate agents, roofers, etc. No doubt, San Diego is vastly different in ALL respects. Again, do some investigation and don't reinvent the wheel.

Just a word of advice: Offer something unique - that 10% of extra effort - that your competition does not offer. Differentiate and be better in some respect.

Phil, THANK YOU! so much for your advice. I've not found this discussed in other areas but I've not looked super hard. Disregarding any pricing on my website. That was set up for Educational purposes, can you give me a range of Actual Dollars? Say a Real Estate Agent says Hey can you go to x address and take some aerial shots for me? Can you give me a price range? Thanks Joe! PS if there is anything I can ever do for you please let me know.

 

[Phil Tuggle]

Phil, THANK YOU! so much for your advice. I've not found this discussed in other areas but I've not looked super hard. Disregarding any pricing on my website. That was set up for Educational purposes, can you give me a range of Actual Dollars? Say a Real Estate Agent says Hey can you go to x address and take some aerial shots for me? Can you give me a price range? Thanks Joe! PS if there is anything I can ever do for you please let me know.

Sure, happy to comply, BUT remember I am in a very different market; my prices would be insanely low in your area. The right price = what the market will pay.

So here, for R/E agents I only offer aerial stills within a package which include "regular" interior and exterior shots. If the client wants a tour to include brief clips from the drone, I add a little more. That said, drone stills (maybe 3 or 4) will add just $20; drone clips (again perhaps 3 or 4, usually under 10sec, AND a couple of stills - silly not to include the stills of course), I would add $40-$60 depending on circumstances.

See what I mean? In your area, or LA, or Atlanta, or Miami etc -- you would charge more. A lot more! I do what my market will bear.

 

[Joe Glenn]

Sure, happy to comply, BUT remember I am in a very different market; my prices would be insanely low in your area. The right price = what the market will pay.

So here, for R/E agents I only offer aerial stills within a package which include "regular" interior and exterior shots. If the client wants a tour to include brief clips from the drone, I add a little more. That said, drone stills (maybe 3 or 4) will add just $20; drone clips (again perhaps 3 or 4, usually under 10sec, AND a couple of stills - silly not to include the stills of course), I would add $40-$60 depending on circumstances.

See what I mean? In your area, or LA, or Atlanta, or Miami etc -- you would charge more. A lot more! I do what my market will bear.

Phil, Thanks again! I totally get you! Yes I think I could get away with a "little" more here ha ha. Do you just do the interior with a regular handheld camera and are you a professional photographer?

 

[Phil Tuggle]

Phil, Thanks again! I totally get you! Yes I think I could get away with a "little" more here ha ha. Do you just do the interior with a regular handheld camera and are you a professional photographer?

Yes and yes. I started out (semi retired person) simply using mast photography (BD - Before Drones) and quickly found constraining to that technique for exteriors would lead to my starvation in this area. So, I continued the mast work and added interior and exterior stills - your typical R/E listing product. By 2015 I added-in drones again as a special add-on. I've used a number of different cameras and flashes etc for the ground based interior work; currently using an Olympus micro four thirds camera with a wide angle/zoom lens (OMD M10 Mark II, and 9-18mm zoom). Does just great. My drone is a P3 Advanced (I do have the Part 107 Cert), which also does great....but I am getting sick of DJI's apps and draconian software crap (another subject and another story).

All the best with your work.

 

[holguinerito]

in my case what has worked for me when i was down in florida i had set a fee for different things . when a realtor calls and wants me to go and check a house for an estimate i usually charge from 35 up to 75 to look at the property and only after i get to walk the property i than set a package deal for them . dont ever give out a price before you see the property in front of you , i learned the hard way ......in some cases they just offer me a set amount for each house and we go from there . lets just say they want aerials of a house ill charge 75 to show up and another 145 for the time i spent there if its no more than 1 1/2 hours if its gona take a bit longer than the prices change . Only you know what your time is worth it .I had learn that in my case is always good to go high at first than you start working the prices according to the customers needs and budget ... hope this helps you ...

 

[herein2014]

in my case what has worked for me when i was down in florida i had set a fee for different things . when a realtor calls and wants me to go and check a house for an estimate i usually charge from 35 up to 75 to look at the property and only after i get to walk the property i than set a package deal for them . dont ever give out a price before you see the property in front of you , i learned the hard way ......in some cases they just offer me a set amount for each house and we go from there . lets just say they want aerials of a house ill charge 75 to show up and another 145 for the time i spent there if its no more than 1 1/2 hours if its gona take a bit longer than the prices change . Only you know what your time is worth it .I had learn that in my case is always good to go high at first than you start working the prices according to the customers needs and budget ... hope this helps you ...

I've been a professional photographer/videographer for many years and have probably done thousands of properties and I have never heard of inspecting a property beforehand and I have also never had a single problem quoting the agent without seeing the property. All I need is the address to the requested property, I use Zillow to get the square footage and I send the quote to the agent based solely on the square footage. If the property is outside of my normal service area then I will charge for mileage. If the customer also wants aerial, I check the airspace map, if it is not in restricted airspace then I add the additional cost of the aerial footage to the quote. If the property is in restricted airspace I check my airspace waivers, I have waivers for almost every airport within 150 miles from me. If for some reason that property is in a no fly zone that my waiver does not cover then I tell the customer I can do int/ext only.

Checking out the property beforehand sounds terribly inefficient, causes delays in getting the customer their footage, and drives up the cost of the entire transaction. I do send the agent a checklist that the homeowner can follow to properly stage the property before the shoot date but that's it.

As to the OP's question, I recommend just check out the local prices and determine if you can pay your overhead and still make a profit for those prices. Also check out the local competitions body of work to determine if you are as good or better than your competition. Agents will pay marginally more for better quality so the competition's prices may reflect that.

 

[holguinerito]

I've been a professional photographer/videographer for many years and have probably done thousands of properties and I have never heard of inspecting a property beforehand and I have also never had a single problem quoting the agent without seeing the property. All I need is the address to the requested property, I use Zillow to get the square footage and I send the quote to the agent based solely on the square footage. If the property is outside of my normal service area then I will charge for mileage. If the customer also wants aerial, I check the airspace map, if it is not in restricted airspace then I add the additional cost of the aerial footage to the quote. If the property is in restricted airspace I check my airspace waivers, I have waivers for almost every airport within 150 miles from me. If for some reason that property is in a no fly zone that my waiver does not cover then I tell the customer I can do int/ext only.

Checking out the property beforehand sounds terribly inefficient, causes delays in getting the customer their footage, and drives up the cost of the entire transaction. I do send the agent a checklist that the homeowner can follow to properly stage the property before the shoot date but that's it.

As to the OP's question, I recommend just check out the local prices and determine if you can pay your overhead and still make a profit for those prices. Also check out the local competitions body of work to determine if you are as good or better than your competition. Agents will pay marginally more for better quality so the competition's prices may reflect that.

Im not a pro im also learning and like to share what im doing and it may not be the perfect way of doing things but its working for me so far , im also fully open to suggestions ,maybe one day when i get some years of experience I'll definitely learn a thing or 2. At first i was saying yes to jobs that where a bit tricky for me cause this is my first time dealing with a drone and learned that even after looking up the address i find myself spending alot more time to get the shots once again im not a professional like you are ...

 

[cpieper]

I live in Minnesota and charge $100 an hour for raw unedited footage and $200 for edited footage. A residential house (examples below) takes about an hour to film and 30 or so minutes to edit.

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[Danoldo]

If you just want to drum up work, I've honestly just gone around and taken pictures of MLS listings in the area around my previous job... I get the realtors name and number from the sign, I send them a watermarked copy which they wouldnt want to use but can see the potential..and profit... It's almost like bribery but without the bribe...

 

[lalvar40]

A residential house (examples below) takes about an hour to film and 30 or so minutes to edit.

Good raw footage...BTW, where do you get those music tracks? they are gr8

 

[Bear5oh]

I'm heading in this direction with my next monetary stream. I love flying and I'm constantly approached about doing it for $$$. I think think he used one of the Royalty Free Music sites/memberships to do the music. Best way to liven up the vids without getting sued by a music company.

 

[mgattorna]

I have found this varies greatly per market. There are 5 people in my area that do drone, and a few more that do interior photos as well (I do both). I am located in Columbia, MO (population 110,000). I also cover Jefferson City (population 50,000) which is about 30 minutes away. I don't charge travel fees for this as I have some realtors that use me regularly and will set up the shoots all in the same day.

Here are my prices. This includes interior, exterior ground, and a few drone shots. I don't stage my interior shots with flashes (I keep the flash on the camera) so I can move through the house quickly. I know they seem low but all the photographers in my area are all within $5 of each other:
Up to 1500 sq ft. - $65
1500 - 2500 - $75
2500 - 3500 - $85
3500 - 4500 - $100
4500+ I quote
Aerial only - $50
Aerial video $125 (1 - 2-minute video)

My average shoot is the 1500-2500 sq ft.

How do I stay in business with low prices? I also do insurance training for Medicare agents (this was my primary field prior to photography) but I have a very flexible schedule so I can shoot during the day and balance both jobs. All the photographers in my area do this part-time. I do on average 30+ shoots a month. I know I could do more if I opened my schedule up but there are only so many hours in the day.

I am going to bump my prices up next year $10 per package. I already talked to the realtors who use me regularly and they didn't flinch.

Hope this helps!

 

[BigAl07]

I have found this varies greatly per market. There are 5 people in my area that do drone, and a few more that do interior photos as well (I do both). I am located in Columbia, MO (population 110,000). I also cover Jefferson City (population 50,000) which is about 30 minutes away. I don't charge travel fees for this as I have some realtors that use me regularly and will set up the shoots all in the same day.

Here are my prices. This includes interior, exterior ground, and a few drone shots. I don't stage my interior shots with flashes (I keep the flash on the camera) so I can move through the house quickly. I know they seem low but all the photographers in my area are all within $5 of each other:
Up to 1500 sq ft. - $65
1500 - 2500 - $75
2500 - 3500 - $85
3500 - 4500 - $100
4500+ I quote
Aerial only - $50
Aerial video $125 (1 - 2-minute video)

My average shoot is the 1500-2500 sq ft.

How do I stay in business with low prices? I also do insurance training for Medicare agents (this was my primary field prior to photography) but I have a very flexible schedule so I can shoot during the day and balance both jobs. All the photographers in my area do this part-time. I do on average 30+ shoots a month. I know I could do more if I opened my schedule up but there are only so many hours in the day.

I am going to bump my prices up next year $10 per package. I already talked to the realtors who use me regularly and they didn't flinch.

Hope this helps!

It looks like you and all of your competitors are giving your services away. Just because you're doing it part-time doesn't mean your work should be de-valued to this point. Think of it as any other professional service... do electricians/plumbers/ work for min wage just because they are only doing a few jobs a day? As a group you are killing your market and leaving a ton of $$ on the table. The only way I'd suggest your fees are accurate is if your work is sub-par and I doubt that's the case here.

We actually got BUSIER a few years ago when we pushed our prices up. Unfortunately the market became saturated due to the low (almost non-existent) bar for entry and our prices had to come down slightly but even today they are considerably higher than what you're posted.

Only amatuers should work for tip pay. . . if you do quality work you deserve quality compensation.

 

[mgattorna]

Thank you for the feedback. I agree that we are underpriced. I don't want to push my prices too high where I am pricing myself out of the market, so I am thinking of increasing them over time. Not sure if this is the right move, or if I should just do one big bump and see what happens.

When I am doing interiors, I am in and out pretty quick. The average shoot for the interior, exterior and drone are 40 minutes. Then I run them through Lightroom and that is another 30-40 minutes (longer if I am watching a movie while doing it I am using my tripod as a monopod in most cases and leaving the flash on the camera. I have heard from a lot of real estate photographers this is a no-no but I am also not only doing million dollar properties. The realtors I use are happy with my work, so I must be doing something right!