so i've been doing real estate aerial photography for about 8 months now and honestly i think i've been selling myself short this whole time. i started at $150 per shoot just to build a portfolio and now i'm still at $175 and i see other pilots in my area charging $300-400 for what looks like basically the same deliverables.

my current package is like 15-20 edited stills and a short property video maybe 60-90 seconds, fully color graded, delivered within 24 hours. i'm shooting on a mini 4 pro which i know isnt the most pro setup but the footage is genuinely really good and clients havent complained once.

i guess my question is how do you figure out what to charge without scaring clients away. i have 3 realtors i work with regularly and im worried if i raise prices they'll just go find someone cheaper. but i also feel like i'm working way too hard for what im making when you factor in drive time, editing, the part 107, insurance etc.

yeah you're definitely undercharging, like significantly. $175 for all that including a video edit is honestly kind of rough when you think about your actual time invested. i did the same thing when i started, kept prices low to get work and then got stuck there because i was afraid to rock the boat.

what ended up working for me was just being honest with my main clients, told them i was updating my pricing structure and gave them like 6 weeks notice. most of them didnt even blink, one of them actually said they were surprised i hadnt charged more. the ones who leave over a price increase were probably not great long-term clients anyway, and in my experience the realtors who pay more are also way less annoying to deal with ? they trust you more and nitpick less.

for reference i'm in a mid-size market and i charge $275 for photos only, $425 for the combo package with video, and i have a twilight add-on for $125. took me about a year to get there but the workload is actually lighter now because i have fewer but better clients.

not trying to be harsh but the mini 4 pro thing might actually be holding you back more than the pricing. not because the image quality is bad ? it's genuinely great ? but because some agents and agencies will ask what you're flying and there's a perception thing. i switched to the air 3 and just mentioning it seemed to help when quoting higher rates, which is kind of dumb but real.

anyway on the pricing question i dont have tons of experience but i did a bunch of research before i launched and most of what i read suggested not pricing based on what you think clients will pay but based on what you actually need to make the business sustainable. work backwards from that.