How much should I charge?

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I have started a business and have recently been trying to get into roof inspections. What I do is fly to 400 ft, take one shot straight down and the get shots of north south east west sides, and then one picture of each section of the roof with my P4P. I am able to take that straight down shot and sketch the roof and get exact roofing material measurements with the Roofsnap app. How much should I charge for this?? Companies such as Eagle view do the same thing but with google images and do not supply true up to date imagery nor are they as accurate. On roof company said they pay eagle view anywhere from 35-75 a house. I am licensed, insured, have class C airspace approval, and 6 years military experience flying the big drones and analyzing aerial images. I don't think $100 a house is crazy, but after the drive time, flight time, and sketch time, $100 seems a bit low. Any thoughts?
 
How much time is the analysis, and what do you pay for any related software? Are you in a big area? Could there be a demand for a few of these jobs in a given day?
 
With my training, I can finish a report in 10-15 minutes. After editing the photos. The program is 100 a month and Until I pick up a large enough workload, Verifly is $10 an hour. I am located in a larger city, Raleigh, Nc to be exact. However, their may be considerable drive time between jobs.
 
If I were you, I'd decide how much you need to make per hour. Figure out what your total time invested per site is, and try to string projects together on the same day. Insurance, post software, etc. gets tacked onto your per hour price, and that's your fee. Maybe gouge a little, but not so much that you don't get work. Then when you have your name out there for this, you get ready for a big hail event or something where you can start overflying whole blocks and selling that footage to your established roofing companies that won't have up to date data from Google.
 
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I know even an electrician charges $80/ hr hour these days and your rates cant be lower than that. Your calculations should be based upon the hourly rate with a min for first visit.
 
Who is your target customer? Is it a roofing company? The insurance companies? How is this process being done now and what does it cost these companies? I'd try to price things so that your customer sees a benefit in either cost savings , accuracy of data or exposure related to put a person on a roof.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
I agree with IFlyHi. Fees can be based on what you feel is worth your time, or they can be based on what the customer feels is worth paying. Successful businesses are mostly based on the latter and they tailor their services around that price point and deliver their end product as efficiently as possible to boost their profit margin in a competitive situation. Marketing a better quality image may allow you to charge more than the competitors, but only if your clients feel they really need it.
 
I know even an electrician charges $80/ hr hour these days and your rates cant be lower than that. Your calculations should be based upon the hourly rate with a min for first visit.

I'd say a journeyman electrician has more training and monetary investment than is required to snap roofs with a Phantom. I know the OP has years of military experience, but unless that experience is necessary for the job he's doing, I don't see why the customer would want to pay for it. From your signature line I see you're very educated, but unless you're designing novel flight control software or something, you wouldn't charge based on all that education for typical "drone guy" jobs. Similarly, I'm a mechanical engineering technologist, which is passably related to drones, but not really necessary for their operation.
 
This is a very subjective question. The only FIRM answer is "What the local market will support". From there you have to decide if that's enough to justify your time. If not you have a hobby not a business.

Get with the local college and ask for some help from the 4th year Business students (They need projects like this to help them graduate). You might be surprised what they can tell you about your market. I'd also suggest a nice solid Business Plan before you sink too much $$ into it. Writing a good Business Plan not only helps you if you want to get a business loan, it will teach you more about YOUR business and your COMPETITION than you can even imagine. A well done Business Plan is worth thousands of $$.

Good luck and don't forget the NC DOT Commercial sUAS Permit under your belt too.
Operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in North Carolina
 
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The first thing I would do is research the opposition and charge cheaper. This gets you into the market. Forget about your time etc. If you are too dear you will sit at home scratching your butt. Also work for nothing on the first job.

Sent from my SM-G935F using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
The first thing I would do is research the opposition and charge cheaper. This gets you into the market. Forget about your time etc. If you are too dear you will sit at home scratching your butt. Also work for nothing on the first job.

Sent from my SM-G935F using PhantomPilots mobile app

The only thing cheaper does is train the customer to look for the cheapest price. You should compete on service and make sure that your pricing has a real profit builtin, it is foolish to compete on price if it is not profitable. I've owned several business and when I sold the last one (10 years ago) I retired at 55.
 
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Drone photography will be the cheapest form of photography on the market. Easy to do, with little talent required.
Supply dramatically outweighing demand, all over the country.
Pay $150 for your niece or nephew to take the test. Then give them a month to practice, and wala, you have a in-house drone photographer.
It is not what you charge that is important, it is 'if you get called back for more' that is important. At the numbers I am seeing, don't plan on getting called back.
 

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