so ive been flying for about two years now, mostly just for fun, got my part 107 last spring and have done a few jobs for friends and family but never charged proper money for it. recently had a local real estate agent reach out asking about doing regular work and it kind of hit me that maybe i should actually set this up properly instead of just winging it

problem is i have no idea where to start with the business side of things. like do i need an LLC right away or can i just operate as a sole proprietor to begin with, and what about insurance ? ive heard you need liability coverage but the numbers i've seen quoted vary wildly and i dont really know whats standard for aerial work

also pricing is a mystery to me. i charged a buddy $150 for a half day of real estate shots and he seemed happy but someone told me that was way too cheap. what are people actually charging for residential real estate photography in a mid-sized market? and do you bundle stills and video or price them separately

sorry for the wall of text, just feeling a bit overwhelmed and not sure which thing to tackle first

okay so i went through basically this exact same thing about 18 months ago so maybe i can help a bit. first thing ? sole proprietor is fine to start, you dont need to rush into an LLC but its worth doing eventually just for liability separation, cost me like $150 to set up in my state and takes maybe an hour of paperwork. not urgent but dont put it off forever

insurance is non-negotiable though, especially once you have a paying client. skywatch and verifly do pay-per-flight stuff which is fine for occasional work but if you're going to do regular jobs you really want an annual policy. i use coverdrone, pays around $800 a year for a million in liability which sounds like a lot but most commercial clients and definitely any property management or real estate company will ask for a certificate of insurance before they'll even book you

on pricing ? $150 for a half day is yeah, pretty low. for residential real estate most people around me charge $200-350 for a basic aerial photo package, more if you add video walkthrough or twilight shots. dont undersell yourself because its genuinely hard to raise prices once a client is used to paying a certain amount

the real estate agent thing is actually a solid way to start getting regular clients, they often need content constantly and if you do good work they'll refer you around pretty fast. one thing nobody told me early on ? get a simple contract template sorted before you do any paid work, even a basic one that covers cancellation policy and what happens if weather scrubs a shoot. had a situation where i drove 45 mins to a job and the agent just... cancelled on me that morning and expected to not pay anything. learned that lesson the hard way