so a construction company reached out to me through instagram of all places, they want regular progress shots of a job site over the next like 4-5 months. sounds great on paper but i have never done a proper contract before, i've just been doing handshake deals basically. also not sure if my insurance even covers commercial work at a construction site specifically, i bought a pretty basic hull and liability policy but never really read the fine print on what's excluded.

the guy seems legit and wants to meet next week. i dont want to show up totally unprepared but i also dont want to oversell what i have set up right now. do i need a proper contract for something like this? and what should i even charge for monthly site documentation, i have no idea where to start with pricing for something ongoing like this

congrats thats actually a really solid lead, construction documentation is one of the steadier income streams you can get in this industry because its not a one-off shoot. definitely read your insurance policy before that meeting, call your broker if you have to because some general drone liability policies have exclusions around active construction zones or require additional endorsements. you dont want to find that out after something happens.

for the contract thing you can find template drone service agreements online that are pretty decent starting points, just make sure it covers stuff like who owns the footage, what happens if weather delays a shoot, cancellation terms, and payment schedule. for ongoing work like this i'd suggest monthly invoicing with net 15 terms rather than trying to collect after every visit. keeps the admin manageable.

pricing for monthly construction documentation varies a lot depending on how many visits per month, how much editing they want, and whether they need deliverables in specific formats for BIM software or whatever. if its like 2 site visits a month with basic photo deliverables something in the $400-600 range per month isnt unreasonable to start, more if its complex or if they want video walkthroughs too. just dont lowball it because these jobs can run for months and you'll resent it by month three if you did

yeah check that insurance thing ASAP, i made the mistake of assuming my coverage was fine for a job and found out there was an altitude restriction buried in the policy that wouldve voided my claim if anything went wrong. called my broker kind of freaking out and they sorted it out but it was not a fun conversation to have two days before a shoot. better to know now before you're on site.