so i've been flying recreationally for about two years and just wrapped up my first actual paid job last week. it was a real estate shoot, nothing crazy, just a few exterior passes and some stills of a property outside of town. the agent found me through a facebook group which i honestly did not expect to work but here we are.

the thing that caught me off guard the most wasnt the flying, that part was fine. it was everything around it ? like the client kept texting me the night before asking if i could also do interior shots (im not a real estate photographer, i have a drone, there's a difference lol), and then on the day she was late and i had to reshoot because the light had shifted by the time she actually showed up.

i charged $250 which in hindsight felt low but i was nervous about asking for more since it was my first gig. a friend of mine who does this full time said i should have charged at least double and also had a contract in place. i had nothing in writing, just a text chain, and that actually stressed me out the whole time even though nothing bad happened.

anyway if anyone has a template or just some general advice on how they handle contracts and scope creep for small jobs like this i'd really appreciate it. also curious what people charge for basic real estate work in smaller markets because i genuinely have no reference point.

congrats on the first one, that's always the weirdest job because you're figuring out the business stuff while also trying to not crash into the house lol. the scope creep thing you mentioned is SO real and it only gets worse with certain types of clients. real estate agents are notorious for it in my experience ? they'll ask for video, then stills, then oh can you just do a quick walkthrough of the backyard, etc.

for contracts i use a pretty simple one page google doc that covers the deliverables, number of revision rounds, what happens if weather cancels, and payment terms. nothing fancy but it means everyone knows what they're getting. there's a few templates floating around on the skypixel forums and i think someone posted one in the DJI community group a while back too. honestly even having something basic in writing changes the whole vibe of the client relationship ? they take it more seriously when there's a document.

on pricing, $250 for a first job in a smaller market isn't outrageous but yeah you'd want to push that up as you get more comfortable. i'm in a mid-sized city and i don't go below $350 for any real estate job regardless of how simple it seems because simple jobs have a way of not being simple.

the interior shot request thing made me laugh because that happens constantly. i just tell people upfront in my initial message that i'm a drone/aerial specialist and anything ground level isn't something i offer, keeps expectations clear before we even get to the job day. still get asked anyway sometimes but at least i can point back to what i said earlier.