so anyway i finally got my first actual paying client last weekend, small construction company wanted progress photos of a site they're developing. seemed simple enough. they said they needed it done by end of day friday and i said sure no problem.

showed up and the site was way more active than i expected ? guys on scissor lifts, a crane operation going on in one corner, and nobody had told the site foreman i was coming. spent like 40 minutes just getting clearance to fly and by the time i did the light was completely wrong for what they wanted. i got the shots but they were pretty meh and i had to do a lot more processing than i planned.

client was happy enough but i felt like i undersold myself and also underprepared. the contract i had was basically just a text message agreement which i know was dumb. so now im putting together an actual client intake form and a proper contract template and wondering what stuff i should definitely be including that maybe isnt obvious. like beyond just the basic payment terms and deliverables stuff.

any commercial pilots here who went through this process ? what do your contracts or intake forms actually cover? i dont want to make the same mistakes twice

site access and a point of contact on location ? that one alone would have saved you the 40 minutes. i always ask for a name and direct cell number for whoever is running things on the ground that day, not just the person who hired me. the person who hired you is often not the person who will actually let you do your job when you show up.

i also include a weather/conditions rescheduling clause, a line about what happens if the site is unsafe or inaccessible when i arrive (i still get a partial fee for showing up), and who owns the footage. that last one matters more than people think especially on construction projects where multiple contractors might want to use the photos.

honestly the intake form is more important than the contract for day-to-day stuff. mine asks about site type, any known airspace or obstruction issues, what deliverables they actually need, preferred file formats, deadline, and who the images can be shared with. takes clients like 5 minutes to fill out and saves so much back and forth.

the light thing is so real, i always try to ask clients ahead of time what time of day the site looks best or which direction faces the street, because sometimes they actually know and it helps a lot. construction clients especially tend to not think about that stuff but if you ask they'll usually have an opinion.

glad it worked out though, getting that first paid job done is kind of a big deal even if it's a little messy