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3rd Party Gigs ...

Avocet

Well-Known Member
DSAR Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2018
Messages
143
Reaction score
52
Age
67
Location
Maine
Website
www.kestrelsolutionsuav.com
I have done very few paying gigs through Droners,io and/or Dronebase.com. I'm sure these were well intended startups and sometimes seem to provide a liaison between 107 pilots and the consumer of our services. Well .. uh ...

In my opinion, however, a fundamental difference between the 2 mentioned above is that Dronebase.com establishes the compensation schedule/amounts per job without input from the pilot. Or if in fact it is the service requester setting the price, that too is not evident and just as much of problem for the service provider professional. I have the luxury of not needing or wanting to pack up, prep, drive 30 mins (or more) for an hour shoot and provide a product worth considerable more, for $40. Or $50. Or ... you get the picture.

This is not a good business model for the goals and aspirations of my company. And while one can choose to opt out or not participate (like me i.e.), its seems like a great opportunity to inform the consuming public has gone by the wayside sadly. The scope of the job pricing is not known to pilots nor consumers it would seem. If that company has an algorithm for its business/pricing model I doubt it is handily available to the public eye and I suppose that's OK in most cases. This does however make one wonder just how services, both provided and purchased are valued and aggregated and does little to effectively allow me to manage my business model as well.

I think it would be most unfortunate were this to become a precedent in this fledgling industry. If a realtor thinks my rates are too high then I have a decision to make: 1) lower my rate and let the buyer set the rules; or 2) respectfully decline the opportunity. I've seen a number of realtors think they could just go buy a Phantom and create a nice B-Roll themselves with little or no flying experience, no Part 107 cert, and little or no post processing experience and would rather post the latter result then admit they overestimated themselves and underestimate the professional.

I will continue to work hard to grow my skill sets, both in the air, on location and at my computer console and hope that I reach a level of proficiency that will command a decent level of compensation for me and for you too.

quatro centavos yo pensando
 
My father taught me a valuable lesson, he said, "pick a profession that not any Tom, ****, or Harry can walk into and undercut you, then be the very best at what you do and you will succeed." The drone industry right now has way too many Tom, ****, and Harry's and it is going to be cut throat for some time now. I just had a kid take a job from me, I had quoted at $450 filming three properties, he did all three for a hundred bucks. That is why I'm done trying to deal with realtors.

I think if I were a young person wanting to get started in this business I would look into crop dusting. There is now a crop dusting drone and I think that could be a tremendous opportunity that could be very profitable.
 
My father taught me a valuable lesson, he said, "pick a profession that not any Tom, ****, or Harry can walk into and undercut you, then be the very best at what you do and you will succeed." The drone industry right now has way too many Tom, ****, and Harry's and it is going to be cut throat for some time now. I just had a kid take a job from me, I had quoted at $450 filming three properties, he did all three for a hundred bucks. That is why I'm done trying to deal with realtors.

I think if I were a young person wanting to get started in this business I would look into crop dusting. There is now a crop dusting drone and I think that could be a tremendous opportunity that could be very profitable.
Did he have a 107 license or insurance? If not. 1. report him 2. educate customer. Is the quality of the product the same?
 
Did he have a 107 license or insurance? If not. 1. report him 2. educate customer. Is the quality of the product the same?

Why report him, we live fifty miles from the nearest airport, you think the FAA is going to run down some kid that is making a few bucks flying for realtors, not a chance unless he has an accident.
Blade, I don't know if you have dealt with realtors, they can have multi million dollar property they are listing and not want to pay hardly anything for quality photography work. Now I'm not saying all are that way, just most that I have dealt with, they are the cheapest people I have done business with. I was doing home inspections and real estate photography for some time. Made good money in the home inspection side, and did get some good jobs on the photography side, but gave up the photography because of hungry photographers working for nothing.

You ask if quality of work is the same? That is a good question, but I wasn't going to waste my time to find out, that's the realtors problem. I went to the board of realtors in the two counties I work in, informed them about liabilities associated with using unlicensed drone pilots, don't really think they cared.

Right now the unlicensed drone operator is better off than the licensed because if something goes south he can play stupid and probably walk away with a hand slap. If he injures someone and doesn't have insurance, nor any significant assets he isn't going to get sued because you can't suck blood out of a turnip.

I feel sorry for the folks that are trying to do things right and make an honest living at this game, because it is going to be tough for a while.
 
Did he have a 107 license or insurance? If not. 1. report him 2. educate customer. Is the quality of the product the same?

My experience has been that realtors are super cheap, although others have good experiences with high-end properties. But if $100 photos work for them, then I don't blame them for going that route, as frustrating as it is.

But just because that fellow charged $100, it doesn't mean he doesn't have his 107, and how was he supposed to know? Also, what rule are you referring to regarding reporting him if he has no insurance (presuming you could track down that info as well)?
 
Right now the unlicensed drone operator is better off than the licensed because if something goes south he can play stupid and probably walk away with a hand slap. If he injures someone and doesn't have insurance, nor any significant assets he isn't going to get sued because you can't suck blood out of a turnip.

I feel sorry for the folks that are trying to do things right and make an honest living at this game, because it is going to be tough for a while.

This is just a hunch, but I suspect that unlicensed drone operators don't do that much business. Also, it doesn't take that much to get a license, so one can still have a license and charge very low prices. Lastly, I doubt that they are very skillful at photography or video. For those who care about quality, the difference should be obvious.
 
I have done very few paying gigs through Droners,io and/or Dronebase.com. I'm sure these were well intended startups and sometimes seem to provide a liaison between 107 pilots and the consumer of our services. Well .. uh ...

In my opinion, however, a fundamental difference between the 2 mentioned above is that Dronebase.com establishes the compensation schedule/amounts per job without input from the pilot. Or if in fact it is the service requester setting the price, that too is not evident and just as much of problem for the service provider professional. I have the luxury of not needing or wanting to pack up, prep, drive 30 mins (or more) for an hour shoot and provide a product worth considerable more, for $40. Or $50. Or ... you get the picture.

This is not a good business model for the goals and aspirations of my company. And while one can choose to opt out or not participate (like me i.e.), its seems like a great opportunity to inform the consuming public has gone by the wayside sadly. The scope of the job pricing is not known to pilots nor consumers it would seem. If that company has an algorithm for its business/pricing model I doubt it is handily available to the public eye and I suppose that's OK in most cases. This does however make one wonder just how services, both provided and purchased are valued and aggregated and does little to effectively allow me to manage my business model as well.

I think it would be most unfortunate were this to become a precedent in this fledgling industry. If a realtor thinks my rates are too high then I have a decision to make: 1) lower my rate and let the buyer set the rules; or 2) respectfully decline the opportunity. I've seen a number of realtors think they could just go buy a Phantom and create a nice B-Roll themselves with little or no flying experience, no Part 107 cert, and little or no post processing experience and would rather post the latter result then admit they overestimated themselves and underestimate the professional.

I will continue to work hard to grow my skill sets, both in the air, on location and at my computer console and hope that I reach a level of proficiency that will command a decent level of compensation for me and for you too.

quatro centavos yo pensando
Droners.io is a total joke. I'm not blaming the owners of the site because I think the business model is fundamentally ok. But the people who post jobs there are either total low-ballers or non-communicative after accepting your offer. AKA: Yanking your chain. The net effect of posters on Droners.io and Dronebase is to destroy the pricing integrity of the industry. A shark-feed of sorts.
 
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This is just a hunch, but I suspect that unlicensed drone operators don't do that much business. Also, it doesn't take that much to get a license, so one can still have a license and charge very low prices. Lastly, I doubt that they are very skillful at photography or video. For those who care about quality, the difference should be obvious.

Photo and Video quality will separate the men from the boys. I thought my Phantom P4 was great until I started flying the Inspire 2 with the X5 camera and the picture and video quality is superior to say the least. However when you lay out twelve to fifteen thousand for a drone, batteries, equipment you better be able to make enough to justify the expense.

The Inspire isn't mine, I work for a company that supplies it and they charge accordingly. The job site I'm on tried someone else and they couldn't produce what the client wanted and the quality the client wanted. So I believe quality and professionalism will win out in the long run.
 
Why report him, we live fifty miles from the nearest airport, you think the FAA is going to run down some kid that is making a few bucks flying for realtors, not a chance unless he has an accident.
Blade, I don't know if you have dealt with realtors, they can have multi million dollar property they are listing and not want to pay hardly anything for quality photography work. Now I'm not saying all are that way, just most that I have dealt with, they are the cheapest people I have done business with. I was doing home inspections and real estate photography for some time. Made good money in the home inspection side, and did get some good jobs on the photography side, but gave up the photography because of hungry photographers working for nothing.

You ask if quality of work is the same? That is a good question, but I wasn't going to waste my time to find out, that's the realtors problem. I went to the board of realtors in the two counties I work in, informed them about liabilities associated with using unlicensed drone pilots, don't really think they cared.

Right now the unlicensed drone operator is better off than the licensed because if something goes south he can play stupid and probably walk away with a hand slap. If he injures someone and doesn't have insurance, nor any significant assets he isn't going to get sued because you can't suck blood out of a turnip.

I feel sorry for the folks that are trying to do things right and make an honest living at this game, because it is going to be tough for a while.
I began in real estate, as most do, and stopped. Waste of time, cheapskates want something for nothing. Tried Droneio. Another waste of time. The most I've been offered was $60??? That doesn't pay for my insurance and mileage.

Was lucky enough to hook up with construction outfits, that is now my bread and butter; lots of sun and dirt but it pays. I am retired with two pensions and a gig as an adjunct college faculty; not really looking to live off aerial photography. Can afford to turn down low ball offers.
 
Photo and Video quality will separate the men from the boys. I thought my Phantom P4 was great until I started flying the Inspire 2 with the X5 camera and the picture and video quality is superior to say the least. However when you lay out twelve to fifteen thousand for a drone, batteries, equipment you better be able to make enough to justify the expense.

The Inspire isn't mine, I work for a company that supplies it and they charge accordingly. The job site I'm on tried someone else and they couldn't produce what the client wanted and the quality the client wanted. So I believe quality and professionalism will win out in the long run.

I used to believe this also. However, I'm finding it puts far too much faith and skill in unskilled professionals charged with being "customers". While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, there are a lot of 'tone-deaf' eyeballs out there who wouldn't know 6 hours of professional editing from a Batman comic book. It's a very slippery slope.
 
Every customer does not need or want a Cannes festival cinema wonder. The customer determines what it wants. It’s pretty simple. Spending hours to deliver a perfect video when the customer can’t tell the difference between professional editing and a Batman comic book is pointless. I’m not Steven Spielberg.
However, got to give the customers what they want.
 
For those of you who use/used Dronebase, how often are you getting Client Missions?

I signed up just out of curiosity, and to formulate my own opinion, about 3 weeks ago, and haven't received a single mission email, yet.
 

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