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Experience working with DroneBase

Krvelasco

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Feb 14, 2019
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I've recently started picking up a few jobs from drone base, the payout is relatively low the jobs are not very complicated. I was just curious if anyone else out there had experience with drone base and how they felt about working with them. Thank you.
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Welcome to the forum.

Many of us have "dabbled" with DB over the years. They are undercutting the work and making good money from it. Honestly they are paying half (or less) than what it should pay.
 
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You have three choices, You can sit home and read this blog, you can go out and practice "to build hours, skills, and your portfolio" to get those high paying jobs, or you can get someone to pay you to build your hours, your skills, and your portfolio. I'd rather get paid a few dollars to build my experience then have it come out of my own pocket. I have shot dozens of Drone Base house and commercial real estate shoots, that experience I have use to secure bigger and higher paying jobs. I come form the film and tv industry, starting as an intern making a $50 dollar stipend a day and happy to be there, that experience eventually lead to a successful career in TV and Film.
 
I signed up with them and a few other companies right when I got my 107. I have not done any work for them simply because someone has always taken the job before I noticed it. I have seen only 1 other commercial operator in my area and he has his truck wrapped with drone company name, contact info and is eeorking for company from Canada. Dont know if he takes them, or not. I did complete thier online training for an opportunity to do insurance claim work.
 
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You have three choices, You can sit home and read this blog, you can go out and practice "to build hours, skills, and your portfolio" to get those high paying jobs, or you can get someone to pay you to build your hours, your skills, and your portfolio. I'd rather get paid a few dollars to build my experience then have it come out of my own pocket. I have shot dozens of Drone Base house and commercial real estate shoots, that experience I have use to secure bigger and higher paying jobs. I come form the film and tv industry, starting as an intern making a $50 dollar stipend a day and happy to be there, that experience eventually lead to a successful career in TV and Film.

Thank you greatly for your reply certainly words of encouragement. I have the exact same opinion as you I would rather get out make a couple of dollars practice build my skills and my portfolio. Although I've been a RC pilot most of my life I'm not yet quite a photographer LOL . But I'm hoping that with enough practice and determination I can get where I want to be. Thank you again for the comments. I'm just going to continue moving forward as I have been thanks again
 
I signed up with them and a few other companies right when I got my 107. I have not done any work for them simply because someone has always taken the job before I noticed it. I have seen only 1 other commercial operator in my area and he has his truck wrapped with drone company name, contact info and is eeorking for company from Canada. Dont know if he takes them, or not. I did complete thier online training for an opportunity to do insurance claim work.

I've managed to acquire one job from them so far it was relatively simple the payout was only $85 but it took me about 30 minutes. I chalked it up as getting paid for a learning experience. I hope to get a few more jobs from them I'm not looking to get rich off them they're just good fill-in work
 
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I signed up with them and a few other companies right when I got my 107. I have not done any work for them simply because someone has always taken the job before I noticed it. I have seen only 1 other commercial operator in my area and he has his truck wrapped with drone company name, contact info and is eeorking for company from Canada. Dont know if he takes them, or not. I did complete thier online training for an opportunity to do insurance claim work.

I looked into insurance work, they wanted to pay 15 to 20 dollars a home, I couldn't believe it, same with finance companies.
 
I can certainly understand people wanting to build experience, but working for nothing and dragging the income rates into the toilet certainly isn't helping the industry. If I can't get decent pay for my work, I'll go fishing, play golf, or sit home and drive my wife nuts.
 
Not trying to drag the "Industry" down but I can't blame anyone for using these services to help break into the business. I have no issue with guys working for free or low prices to get some real time experience. You guys that have issues with people working for pennies should not feel threatened because those are the clients you won't want to work for anyway. Lower pay equals lower expectations - right? Guys taking these low paying jobs are not taking business away from you guys that are trying to make a living doing drone work. So get a grip - there is room for everyone!
 
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Not trying to drag the "Industry" down but I can't blame anyone for using these services to help break into the business. I have no issue with guys working for free or low prices to get some real time experience. You guys that have issues with people working for pennies should not feel threatened because those are the clients you won't want to work for anyway. Lower pay equals lower expectations - right? Guys taking these low paying jobs are not taking business away from you guys that are trying to make a living doing drone work. So get a grip - there is room for everyone!

Bryan, you make some good points, and yes getting started in any business is tough. When I started the home inspection business it took a long time latch on to some good clients. Since I had already retired from my normal career have a decent income, and wife was still working, I could afford to wait for those who would pay well.

The new people that are trying this to make a living are going to have a rough road ahead of them, and I do understand why they take the low paying jobs. You can't tell me that a realtor that is listing a million plus dollar home can't afford to pay a photographer a respectable fee, they can, but as long as someone is willing to do it for little or nothing, guess who they are going to use. You are also correct, they normally get what they pay for.

My advice to the people wanting into this business, don't quite your day job until you are well established.
 
Bryan, you make some good points, and yes getting started in any business is tough. When I started the home inspection business it took a long time latch on to some good clients. Since I had already retired from my normal career have a decent income, and wife was still working, I could afford to wait for those who would pay well.

The new people that are trying this to make a living are going to have a rough road ahead of them, and I do understand why they take the low paying jobs. You can't tell me that a realtor that is listing a million plus dollar home can't afford to pay a photographer a respectable fee, they can, but as long as someone is willing to do it for little or nothing, guess who they are going to use. You are also correct, they normally get what they pay for.

My advice to the people wanting into this business, don't quite your day job until you are well established.
And to your point, not only can those realtors afford an established professional, I would think they would expect the quality that a seasoned professional could provide. I am almost in the same boat as you. I am a year away from retirement and because of that cannot yet commit a lot of time to finding clients and being at their back and call. So using a service like this will allow me to game some experience at my convenience.

Low balling is not a sustainable way of doing business. I just see it as a short term method of gaining experience so that I can learn what it takes to provide quality services to avoid overcharging and not providing quality work.
 
Well Byan, I wish you the best of luck. I have decided when my contract is up with UC Merced I'm done, let me rephrase that, my wife has decide when I will hang it up.
I have been very fortunate, enjoyed the job, learned a lot, and met some very interesting people, some I liked, others I avoid, but that is life.

However the P4P will be used for travel photos and videos when appropriate. I really wish the national parks would change their rules. I won't be renewing my 107 or remain current. There is a time and a season for everything.
 
So Can you use the dji go 4 app instead of dronebase app? Way easier to do an orbit with point of interest
 
So Can you use the dji go 4 app instead of dronebase app? Way easier to do an orbit with point of interest
Not in our area. We had to use either their app or the Hangar app when doing the construction projects. Yes, that Hangar. They stopped doing their own pilot network as soon as they bought Airmap. They did allow me to use the DroneDeploy app a few times after I showed them it's capabilities, but with the way their capture is set up it's actually easier just to use their method and go in the order of shots required. If they found out that you were using another app or post-processing your photos you were out. Regardless they are not worth it if you are a professional pilot. I learned to turn down offers two or three times to get a decent rate, but more often than not they had me on missions that the cost didn't even cover the travel in my expectations. This is something that the average Joe can do as a side job and probably more suited to college kids.
 
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