okay so this has been bugging me for a while. i've been running my aerial photography thing semi-seriously for about 18 months, got proper insurance, registered business, the whole thing. and i keep running into the same situation where a potential client reaches out, seems excited, then when i send the quote they come back asking if i can do it cheaper because they 'know a guy with a drone' or whatever.

i quoted a construction company $450 for a progress shoot - two locations, edited deliverables within 48 hours, all fully insured and legal with part 107 cert - and they came back asking if $200 was more realistic. like i'm already not getting rich at $450. how do you guys handle this without just caving or losing the client entirely. i feel like i need a better way to explain the value but i also dont want to sound defensive or desperate when i do it

ugh yeah the 'i know a guy' thing is exhausting. what helped me was putting my insurance certificate and part 107 number right in the proposal document before they even ask. a lot of commercial clients, especially construction, actually have vendor requirements and when they realize the 'guy with a drone' isnt insured and isnt part 107 certified for commercial work the conversation shifts pretty quick. construction sites especially - their site super is not going to let an uninsured random show up and fly anyway.

also i stopped trying to justify my price line by line. i just say something like 'this is my rate for this scope of work' and leave it there. some clients walk and honestly thats fine. the ones who get it become regulars and they dont haggle. the hagglers tend to be a headache throughout the whole job anyway in my experiance.

i think part of it is how the quote is presented too - like if it's just a number in an email it's easy to push back on but if there's an actual document with your credentials, what's included, turnaround time, revision policy etc it feels more official and people treat it differently. also $450 for two locations with 48hr turnaround sounds pretty reasonable to me honestly, that's not a lot for commercial deliverables. some markets are just rough though, depends a lot on where you are