so i've been doing real estate drone work for about 8 months now and i keep second-guessing my pricing. right now im charging $150 for a standard exterior shoot with edited photos delivered in 24hrs, which includes like 15-20 final images. agents seem happy and i get repeat work but one of my buddies who does similar stuff said he charges $250+ for basically the same thing and has no problem filling his calendar.

i live in a mid-size city not a huge metro, so i dont know if that changes things much. been using a Mini 4 Pro which handles the job fine but maybe clients expect more? or do they even care what gear you're using as long as the shots look good. i feel like i've undercut myself to get clients and now i'm kind of stuck at this lower rate and nervous to raise it. anyone been through this?

yeah you're almost definitely underselling yourself. $150 for real estate aerials is on the low end even for smaller markets. when i started out i did the same thing - undercut everyone to build a portfolio, which made sense at the time, but then i had to essentially re-educate my client base when i raised rates and some of them pushed back hard.

the way i eventually handled it was just being upfront. i sent a simple email saying my rates were going up in 30 days and explained id added more to my workflow (faster turnaround, twilight options, whatever). most agents just said okay and kept booking. the ones who left were honestly the most difficult clients anyway so no real loss. dont be afraid to test $200 with new clients and see what happens - you can always come down but its really hard to go back up once someone is used to paying a lower rate.

honestly the gear thing is real but only kind of. ive had agents ask what drone i use and when i say mini they dont care at all, they just want the listing photos to look good. what they're actually paying for is reliability and turnaround. if you show up on time, deliver clean edited shots fast and dont make them chase you for files, you're already better than a lot of people in this space.

also worth looking at what you're delivering vs competitors in your area. like actually book a fake inquiry with someone else and see what they charge lol. thats how i figured out my market rate.