so this kind of came out of nowhere. i posted some of my mapping work in a local business facebook group like six months ago just to show off a project i did for fun over a local park, and i completely forgot about it. then yesterday a surveying company reached out saying they saw it and wanted to know if id be interested in doing contract work for them doing site surveys and orthomosaic stuff.

i use pix4d and have done some photogrammetry on my own but never professionally. i have my 107 and ive flown grid missions a bunch but always just for personal projects. i dont really know what questions to ask them or what a fair rate even looks like for this kind of work. is this a real opportunity or do surveying companies usually have this handled in house and are just looking for cheap labor basically. dont want to lowball myself but also dont want to quote something insane and scare them off

surveying and mapping work is genuinely one of the better niches out there right now, this is a solid lead dont let it slip. for rates it really depends on your region and the scope of work but for proper photogrammetry with deliverables like orthomosaics and point clouds youre not talking real estate money, its a different conversation entirely. ive seen people charge anywhere from $500 to well over $1500 for a day depending on complexity and what software processing is included. if they want you to own the full workflow including the final outputs that should be reflected in the price.

questions id ask - what GSD accuracy do they need, are they providing GCPs or expecting you to handle that, what format do they need deliverables in, and whether this would be ongoing contract work or one off jobs. the GCP question especially matters because setting those up yourself adds serious time to your day.

thats a cool opportunity honestly. i'd just be upfront with them that your background is mostly self-taught and see how they respond, some companies actually prefer to bring someone in they can mold to their workflow rather than someone who already has habits from somewhere else. worst they can say is they need someone with more commercial experience and then at least you know where you stand. dont overthink the rate question either, just ask them what their budget is for the work and let them show their hand first