Welcome, Commercial Drone Pilots!
Join our growing community today!
Sign up

Another Job offer.

R.Perry

R.Perry

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
1,937
Reaction score
1,532
Age
75
Location
Coulterville, CA
Drone base just sent me a job offer up at Dodge Ridge ski resort, about sixty miles up in the Sierras. They are offering $150.00, ten acres of mapping and the funny thing is they want 80/80 overlap on the mapping. They also want a ton of pictures and very specific pictures. I did respond, and told them I would do it for $350.00. For me that would be almost three hours of driving, plus the shoot. Their estimate of the shoot time was 1 hour and that is a joke, more like two hours.
So what do you all think, too high or too low?

Also, it needs to be done on this Thursday at 11 AM only.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Recoveryone, RGB and WildDoktor
R.Perry said:
Drone base just sent me a job offer up at Dodge Ridge ski resort, about sixty miles up in the Sierras. They are offering $150.00, ten acres of mapping and the funny thing is they want 80/80 overlap on the mapping. They also want a ton of pictures and very specific pictures. I did respond, and told them I would do it for $350.00. For me that would be almost three hours of driving, plus the shoot. Their estimate of the shoot time was 1 hour and that is a joke, more like two hours.
So what do you all think, too high or too low?

Also, it needs to be done on this Thursday at 11 AM only.
Click to expand...
Call up the ski resort and ask them what they are looking for and their budget and possibly provide a bid that they can compare to Drone Base's bid. You will likely find that you would be happy to do the job for what they are willing to pay Drone Base. If you need some help with processing, let me know!
 
  • Like
Reactions: R Martin
Thanks guys, you are correct, that was too low. Someone else got the job and considering the elevation differences the more I think about it I wouldn't want to mess with it.
 
You can pretty much always assume that all jobs posted on DroneBase and similar apps are gonna be priced too low lol. I saw a gig for a real estate agent priced at $40. For like a 750k+ house. Ended up doing it for $80 because it was basically down the street and was super easy for me, but boy is it often a race to the bottom with these things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JimD, Afghanpilot and Midsky8778
Reading these always gives me a mix of emotions, all intense and mostly negative. The race to the bottom is real, and hurts real people like those of us trying to incorporate aerial work into their independent operations. Droners.io, DroneVideos.com, and other brokers have assured it’s a national trend perpetuating this very experience. I’ve watched the exact thing happening to commercial photography with SmartShoot, Snappr and the like corporatizing professional photography.

Dronebase in particular has wasted a lot of my time and caused me stress, even cancelling jobs I accepted with reasons like “price was incorrectly set “. The jobs aren’t usually difficult but are incredibly low paying and rarely convenient. They do not negotiate, despite me always attempting to do so in a reasonable manner because I’m a professional. At this point I treat requests from brokers like them as low priority and only accept if they’re quick and fit into my existing schedule (eg. it has to be along my route and fills a gap/doesn’t interfere with other appointments). This is the only way I’ve been able to make these types of jobs profitable, and although it can line up well occasionally, it certainly cannot be counted on.

Market yourself! That’s the best thing to count on, everyone else just wants a favor (by way of cheap labor).
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: rx7ward and Afghanpilot
R.Perry said:
Drone base just sent me a job offer up at Dodge Ridge ski resort, about sixty miles up in the Sierras. They are offering $150.00, ten acres of mapping and the funny thing is they want 80/80 overlap on the mapping. They also want a ton of pictures and very specific pictures. I did respond, and told them I would do it for $350.00. For me that would be almost three hours of driving, plus the shoot. Their estimate of the shoot time was 1 hour and that is a joke, more like two hours.
So what do you all think, too high or too low?

Also, it needs to be done on this Thursday at 11 AM only.
Click to expand...
Lol Welcome to drone base.
Just Say no.
It’s really not their fault it’s a long drive.
Their estimates of how long it will take are a real joke.
Not to worry some teenager will jump in and take it no matter what.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Afghanpilot
I've been seeing these "facade" ones from Dronebase for about $400. On one, I estimated it would take 15 batteries. They want you to fly 40 acres at 75 feet at slow speed, then 5 or 6 other smaller maps, one 300 acre one at 300 feet, and a bunch of straight runs. It also has to be done in one day. How many of us have that many batteries and even if you do, would do it for that? Their "stockpile" ones are actually not that bad and the Stockpile Reports people are pretty good.

I've noticed that some of the other companies are reducing the rates that they are willing to pay, while our costs are going way up with gas...and yes, someone is taking them for that price.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Midsky8778 and Afghanpilot
That quote is abusive. Long drive, insurance!, difficulty. I am not sure what the rates are in that area, but here in the Washington DC area, I don't know of any legitimate mapping/videography imaging company would consider that job for less than $700-$800.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Midsky8778 and Afghanpilot
I quit doing online job board commercial drone work because lowballers ruined it. It’s too bad also, because a lot of you guys are really into this and deserve a lot more.

I do it now just for word of mouth jobs, but have also found some volunteer gigs that are fun and they’re cool as I get to legally fly for research projects in our nearby national park and other normally restricted areas.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Midsky8778 and R.Perry
R.Perry said:
Drone base just sent me a job offer up at Dodge Ridge ski resort, about sixty miles up in the Sierras. They are offering $150.00, ten acres of mapping and the funny thing is they want 80/80 overlap on the mapping. They also want a ton of pictures and very specific pictures. I did respond, and told them I would do it for $350.00. For me that would be almost three hours of driving, plus the shoot. Their estimate of the shoot time was 1 hour and that is a joke, more like two hours.
So what do you all think, too high or too low?

Also, it needs to be done on this Thursday at 11 AM only.
Click to expand...
I got the same offer. I turned it down. The area they want photographed is completely obscured by trees. I did one of these a while back and they wanted reshoots because the trees were in the way
 
One of the reasons I was interested was to learn how to map the terrain, that is a big elevation difference. The only mapping I have done was a 120 foot elevation difference.
 
I flew solar panels for Exactus Enrgy and it was so easy but no work out in Midland, Texas I had about 6 jobs a month and they pay peanuts for Solar pre- inspections
 

New Posts

Members online

Total: 100 (members: 1, guests: 99)

Forum statistics

Threads
4,291
Messages
37,659
Members
5,990
Latest member
Agcopter