ok so kind of a weird situation. i work in construction management and the company i work for has been hiring out drone work for site surveys and progress documentation. apparently they've been paying a lot for it and someone up the chain decided they want to bring it in house. they found out i fly (i mentioned it once like a year ago i guess) and now they've offered me kind of a hybrid role where i'd still do some of my regular project management stuff but also handle all the drone operations for the company.

they're talking about a small salary bump plus they'd cover all the equipment, the insurance, the part 107 renewal, software subscriptions for the photogrammetry stuff, all of it. i'd be flying maybe 2-3 days a week and the rest would be my normal role. i dont really know what staff drone pilots make or if this is even a good deal. the bump they're offering is like $8k a year on top of what i already make but i have no sense of if that's laughably low or actually fair given that they're covering all the costs.

anyone have any experience with in-house corporate drone roles or know what that kind of work typically goes for?

honestly the $8k bump sounds a bit low to me if you're flying 2-3 days a week on top of your existing job, but the fact that they're covering equipment and insurance changes the math a lot. liability coverage alone for commercial ops isn't cheap, and if they're getting into photogrammetry you're talking about Pix4D or similar which is not a small subscription. so in terms of out of pocket cost to you it's actually a pretty decent deal structurally.

the thing i'd be thinking about is scope creep. get really clear in writing about what the drone responsibilities actually are, because "2-3 days a week" can turn into "every time there's a site visit plus all the processing plus training other people" real quick if there's nothing defining the role. companies are great at expanding what they expect without expanding the comp.

that actually sounds like a pretty cool setup tbh, beats cold calling clients trying to drum up freelance work. i'd take it personally but i also dont have the corporate job to compare it against so maybe im not the best person to ask lol