so ive been flying on the side for about two years now, got my part 107 last spring and picked up maybe 8 or 9 paid gigs so far. mostly real estate stuff, one construction site inspection job that paid pretty well. my day job is fine but honestly kind of soul crushing and ive been seriously thinking about whether i could just... do this instead.

the thing is i dont really know anyone doing it full time so i have no idea if thats realistic or if im just romanticizing it. like i know the real estate market is pretty saturated at this point and everyone and their cousin has a mavic now. but the inspection and mapping side seems like it might have more legs? i have zero experience with photogrammetry software though so thats a whole other thing to learn.

anyone actually making a living from this, not just supplemental income? would love to hear what the work actually looks like day to day

yeah I made the jump about three years ago and honestly it was rough for the first 18 months or so. real estate alone will not pay your bills unless youre doing serious volume in a high cost of living market. where it clicked for me was combining a few different revenue streams - I do construction progress documentation on a monthly retainer with two contractors, occasional event work, and I picked up a telecom inspection contract last year which has been steady.

the photogrammetry thing is worth learning, pix4d or even just metashape has a learning curve but there are good youtube tutorials and once you can deliver actual deliverables beyond jpegs the rates go up significantly. that said i'd really recommend keeping some kind of income safety net for at least a year before going fully full time. the feast and famine cycle is real and it messes with your head

not full time myself but I work with a guy who is and from what I can tell the hustle never really stops. hes always chasing the next client. but he also seems way happier than when he had a regular job so maybe thats worth something