been doing aerial photos for a couple real estate agents for about 4 months now. charging $175 per shoot which includes like 8-10 edited stills and delivery same day or next morning. i thought that was reasonable but one of the agents keeps trying to negotiate me down every single time, last week she asked if id do $120 because the house was quote unquote a small listing.

I looked around and honestly it seems like theres guys in my area doing it for $99 which is insane to me when you factor in drive time, battery charges, editing, the cost of keeping insurance current, and wear on equipment. like how are they making anything. starting to wonder if i should just focus on a different niche because real estate feels really price sensitive and kind of a race to the bottom in my market.

has anyone successfully moved away from real estate into something that pays better? construction progress, inspections, events maybe? or is there a way to hold the line on rates without losing clients who are always gonna push back

the $99 guys usually dont last. they either figure out its not worth it or they're not properly insured and one incident takes them out. the agents who actually value the work will pay fair rates, the ones who dont arent worth keeping as clients anyway ? easier said than done i know but it's true.

construction and infrastructure work pays way better in my experience. less volume but the jobs are bigger and clients care more about reliability and documentation quality than shaving $50 off. i do some progress monitoring for a developer and it's the same site every 2 weeks, predictable income, they dont haggle because they have a budget line for it. took a while to get that first contract but once you have one it's much easier to pitch the next one.

honestly i had an agent like that and i just stopped replying to her after a while. felt bad at first but she was taking up more mental energy than she was worth. the agents who refer you to other agents are the ones to keep happy ? the hagglers rarely send you anyone anyway so its kind of a net zero even if you keep them.

events can be hit or miss depending on your area, weddings especially have their own whole thing with liability and expectations. inspections are intersting but you need specific skills and sometimes certifcations depending on what type. might be worth a look though.