How I Started Landing Actual Paying Jobs With My Part 107

I want to talk about how that's been going, mostly because I wish someone had written this out for me when I was staring at my freshly laminated certificate wondering what to do next.

The First Few "Jobs" Were Basically Free

And I mean that honestly. My first couple of gigs were for a neighbor who was selling his house and wanted some aerial shots, and a buddy who does small residential construction and thought drone footage of his job sites would look good for his portfolio. I charged almost nothing. I think I asked the neighbor for $75 and my buddy I just did for free in exchange for letting me put the footage in my own portfolio.

At the time I was annoyed at myself for undercharging, but looking back it was probably the right call. I still didn't have a consistent delivery workflow, I didn't know what file formats clients actually needed, and I had no idea how long post-processing would take me. Those early low-stakes jobs let me figure all that out without a client breathing down my neck expecting something polished.

The real estate shoot was especially eye-opening. I showed up thinking I'd fly a couple of slow orbit shots and call it done. What actually happened: the listing agent wanted specific angles that showed off the backyard relative to a pond nearby, she wanted a photo that could be used as the lead image on the MLS listing (so specific resolution and aspect ratio requirements), and she casually mentioned she needed the files by that evening. I had not asked any of this beforehand. Lesson learned.

Building a Simple Pre-Job Checklist

After that, I started putting together what I now call my client intake checklist. Nothing fancy, just a Google Doc I go through when someone reaches out. It covers:

• What's the deliverable — photos, video, or both?
• What resolution and format do they need?
• Do they need color grading or raw files?
• What's the actual deadline, not just "soon"?
• What's the address and are there any airspace considerations I need to check?
• Is there anything on the property I should know about (tall trees, power lines, animals, workers)?

That last one matters more than people think. I showed up to a small commercial property inspection job and there were two large dogs just loose in the yard. Nobody mentioned this. The property manager kind of shrugged. I still got the job done but it added stress I didn't need.

Airspace checks are now automatic for me. I use both the app and log into LAANC directly through whatever app I'm using depending on the location. Most of the residential work I've done has been in Class G or Class E surface, but I've had to pull LAANC authorizations a few times and it's almost always instant approval, which is nice. The few times it wasn't instant I contacted the relevant facility directly and documented everything.

The Inspection Work Is Where Things Got Interesting

A local property management company found me through a Facebook group and asked if I could do roof condition documentation on a small apartment complex they manage. Not a full engineering inspection — they were clear about that — just visual documentation photos so they could show the HOA board what the roof looked like before deciding whether to call in a roofing contractor.

This was my first time flying a job where safety documentation really mattered. I did a full pre-flight on my Mavic 3, checked all props, checked gimbal movement on the ground, made sure my SD card was freshly formatted. I flew a systematic grid pattern to make sure I covered every section of the roof rather than just eyeballing it. I shot in both DNG and JPEG so they had raw files if they ever needed them, and I made sure my metadata was intact so the photos were timestamped.

They paid me $225 for that and it took me about two hours on site plus an hour of sorting and organizing files back home. That felt fair. They've come back twice since then for other properties, so I think the consistency of the documentation format is what they're actually paying for, not just the flying itself.

What I'm Still Figuring Out

Pricing is honestly still a mess for me. I've looked at what other Part 107 pilots charge in my region and there's a pretty wide range. Real estate shoots seem to settle around $150-$300 depending on property size and turnaround time. Inspection documentation varies more. I've been on the lower end because I don't have a huge portfolio yet, but I'm slowly bumping my rates up as I get more consistent work.

Contracts are another thing I've been working on. For the early free/cheap stuff I didn't bother, but now I use a simple service agreement that spells out what I'm delivering, the timeline, what happens if weather causes a reschedule, and a liability limitation clause. I'm not a lawyer, I want to be clear about that, but having something in writing protects both sides and it makes you look more professional. Clients take you more seriously when you send them an actual document to sign rather than just agreeing over text.

I'm also trying to get better at the construction documentation side of things. Progress photography for construction sites is something I've seen mentioned a lot in commercial drone communities, and the appeal makes sense — regular flights on a schedule, consistent deliverables, steady income. I've had one conversation with a small residential builder about doing this but it hasn't turned into anything yet. If it does I'll definitely write about it.

The Honest Reality Check

This isn't a get-rich-quick thing. I knew that going in, but I want to say it plainly because there's a lot of content out there that makes it sound like passing the 107 and buying a good drone means you're immediately a thriving business. You're not. You're a person with a license and a piece of equipment, and now you have to figure out sales, client management, workflows, pricing, and all the stuff that has nothing to do with flying.

The flying part is honestly the easiest part once you've put in the practice hours. It's all the surrounding stuff that takes time.

I'm not complaining. I'm making a little side income doing something I genuinely enjoy, and the work is getting more consistent. But I want to be realistic about what the early stage of this actually looks like, because that's the stuff I found most useful to read when I was starting out. Not the success stories — the honest accounts of figuring it out slowly.

More updates to come as I keep going. If you're in a similar spot and want to compare notes, drop something in the comments. Always curious what other 107 holders are doing to get traction.