so ive been flying for about 2 years now, got my part 107 last spring and have been doing some weekend gigs here and there — mostly real estate stuff and a few construction site progress shots for a local contractor. its been going pretty well honestly but i keep wondering if there's actually a path to doing this full time or if im just fooling myself.

like the money on weekends has been decent, maybe $800-1200 a month on top of my regular job, but i dont know if thats scalable or if im just lucky because there arent many other certified pilots in my area. my wife keeps asking me to crunch the numbers and i have no idea where to even start. does anyone here actually do this full time and can you give me a realistic picture of what it looks like? not looking for the "drone pilot makes 6 figures!" youtube stuff, just actual honest takes from people in the trenches

honestly the most real answer i can give you is that it depends almost entirely on what niche you commit to. i did real estate for two years and it was fine but the margins are rough once you account for gear, insurance, editing time. what actually changed things for me was getting into infrastructure inspection work — cell towers, bridges, that kind of thing. the day rates are completely different and clients dont haggle the same way a realtor does. took me a while to get there though and i had to get some additional certs and build a portfolio basically from scratch in that space.

your situation with low local competition is actually a real advantage, dont underestimate it. but yeah id say keep the day job until youre consistently turning away work, not just having good months here and there. that was the signal for me that it was time.

im sort of in the same boat as you so i cant give advice from the other side but just wanted to say the construction niche you mentioned seems really promising from everything ive read. like the repeat client potential is way higher than real estate where its kind of one and done per property. keep us updated on what you decide