so ive been doing real estate aerial work for about 8 months now and i honestly cannot figure out if my pricing makes any sense. right now i charge $150 for a basic package which is like 10 edited photos and a short video clip, maybe 90 seconds. some agents seem totally fine with it, a few have pushed back saying thats expensive which makes me feel like im already too high, but then i talk to other pilots online and they say theyre charging $300-400 for similar stuff.

i think part of the problem is i dont really know how to explain the value to clients who have never hired a drone pilot before. they see the final photos and love them but they dont understand why it costs more than just hiring a photographer with a regular camera. any tips on how you structure your pricing or how you talk about it with new clients? also do you charge a travel fee or just bake it into the base rate

yeah $150 is definitely on the low end for a full package with editing. ive been doing this about 4 years and real estate was my bread and butter for the first two. what worked for me was just being confident when i quoted the price ? the second you hedge or apologize for it, they smell blood and start negotiating. i do $275 base for photos only, $375 if they want the video reel, and travel over 25 miles gets an extra $0.50/mile. most agents dont even blink at that once youve done one job for them and they see the quality.

the other thing i learned real fast is that agents who complain about your pricing are rarely your best long term clients anyway. the ones who get it and see the ROI on a nice listing just pay and come back. focus on those people and let the nickel-and-dimers find the guy with a Mavic Mini charging $75 and no insurance.

i had the same exact problem when i started lol. what finally clicked for me was i stopped thinking about it as charging for my time and started pricing based on what the agent is going to make on the listing. like if theyre selling a $600k house and your photos help it sell faster or for more, $300 is basically nothing to them. once i started framing it that way in my own head i stopped feeling guilty about my rates and honestly i think that confidence came through when talking to clients too.

also for travel i always charge separately now, learned that lesson after driving 45 mins each way for a $150 job and doing the math afterward lol