there are like 5 or 6 of these platforms now where companies post drone jobs and you bid on them or get matched or whatever ? Dronebase, Zeitview, some others i cant remember. been signed up with two of them for a while and the work is super inconsistent. some months ill get 3-4 jobs, other months nothing for weeks.

just curious if anyone is actually using these as a reliable income source or if its mostly filler work between your own clients. the pay per job feels kinda low to me once you factor in drive time and editing but maybe im thinking about it wrong

I used Dronebase pretty heavily when I was starting out and it was decent for building up flight hours and getting comfortable with different site types but yeah the pay is not great when you actually break it down. I think I was making something like $80-120 per job on average and once you add fuel, your time driving, and then editing if it included deliverables... it's not exactly thriving. That said it did get me two direct clients who found me through jobs I did for them via the platform, so it kind of worked as indirect marketing I guess.

Zeitview I had less luck with, seemed like the jobs in my area were mostly claimed by whoever was closest and fastest to accept. Might depend heavily on where you're located.

theyre fine for filling dead weeks but i wouldnt build a business around them. the margins are thin and they own the client relationship so you cant really grow from it the way you would from your own leads. treat it as beer money or slow season work and focus on building direct relationships with property managers, contractors, whoever your target market is. thats the only way ive seen people actually scale up