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Mapping Pricing

syazoo

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libitron.com
Hey folks, what are people charging farmers for work these days? For multispectral or even just ortho mapping, are you charging by the acre, hour or a day? If so how much? Thank you. I like the idea of some consistency throughout the industry.
 
Hey folks, what are people charging farmers for work these days? For multispectral or even just ortho mapping, are you charging by the acre, hour or a day? If so how much? Thank you. I like the idea of some consistency throughout the industry.


We charge by the project. Are they wanting "pretty pictures" or are they looking for reliable DATA they can interpret and take action with? The project is priced accordingly.

We charge based on size/scope of the project, amount of travel time, amount of post-site processing, any other expenses incurred, and upon what the final product will be to the client. At least for us, there is no Cookie Cutter response.

Example: We are documenting a recent disaster here in our area. Massive flooding along our major river. Each segment of the project will only cover roughly 1,800ft of river. We will be on sight for a few minutes per segment (roughly 10 minutes each). It's a local job so travel is minimal and falls within our "Service Area" so no additional travel charges needed. Inversely, each segment will require roughly 1-2 hours of processing and DATA analyzing back in the office. I can't charge per acre or I'll be working for pennies on the dollar. Like it or not we are in this to make a fair wage for our time, experience, and equipment so we have to take each job and evaluate/price it individually.
 
@BigAl07 Not sure what the policies of the forum are but....be careful talking about pricing. (be vague)

Once upon a time....there was a very popular photography forum. On it were ALOT Professional Photographers. One day a thread popped up about pricing, sessions, etc. Many photographers joined in sharing their prices and it tended to go toward everyone agreeing to certain minimums....

Then a certain federal agency got wind of this, and came down very hard on this popular forum for Price Fixing. It was a mess, and a very serious issue that almost resulted in the loss of the forum and many photographers in hot water. Stern warnings were issued, threads deleted and a raised eyebrow from Uncle Sam.

So....

I like the idea of some consistency throughout the industry.

Not a good path to go down. I like the idea too, but after the scare on the photo forum... just FYI. Probably best to take any details to PM's.
 
@BigAl07 Not sure what the policies of the forum are but....be careful talking about pricing. (be vague)

Once upon a time....there was a very popular photography forum. On it were ALOT Professional Photographers. One day a thread popped up about pricing, sessions, etc. Many photographers joined in sharing their prices and it tended to go toward everyone agreeing to certain minimums....

Then a certain federal agency got wind of this, and came down very hard on this popular forum for Price Fixing. It was a mess, and a very serious issue that almost resulted in the loss of the forum and many photographers in hot water. Stern warnings were issued, threads deleted and a raised eyebrow from Uncle Sam.

So....



Not a good path to go down. I like the idea too, but after the scare on the photo forum... just FYI. Probably best to take any details to PM's.


Fred, with all due respect, I was very specific in my words and in no way did I suggest any "community pricing" what so ever. Actually I was making an argument for just the opposite. I suggest pricing each job individually and in no way suggest an Industry Standard what so ever.

As ADMIN of the forum I'm very careful and specific in how I word my suggestions but appreciate the concern.
 
Thank you, the response was exactly what I was looking for. In doing calculations of different acre per hour mapping based even on just altitude for example, I quickly realized that pricing by acre would not work out. Pricing by the job based on parameters similar to what you used as an example is exactly the approach that makes sense to me. I asked the question originally because of seeing so much over time about people charging by the acre. I cannot see how that makes sense.
 
Thank you, the response was exactly what I was looking for. In doing calculations of different acre per hour mapping based even on just altitude for example, I quickly realized that pricing by acre would not work out. Pricing by the job based on parameters similar to what you used as an example is exactly the approach that makes sense to me. I asked the question originally because of seeing so much over time about people charging by the acre. I cannot see how that makes sense.

If you're doing the same work and producing the same product/data for each job you CAN price it per acre.
 
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Hey folks, what are people charging farmers for work these days? For multispectral or even just ortho mapping, are you charging by the acre, hour or a day? If so how much? Thank you. I like the idea of some consistency throughout the industry.
We charge a flat $150/hr for mapping and $200/hr for photography, videography and inspections.
 
We charge a flat $150/hr for mapping and $200/hr for photography, videography and inspections.
Hello Chasco, by "mapping" I'm assuming you're talking about ortho? Can you tell me what drone(s) you fly and what you use for mission planning (DroneDeploy..etc) and for processing?
Just curious...thanks.
 
If you're doing the same work and producing the same product/data for each job you CAN price it per acre.

For example dependent upon the details that the customer is looking for is what really drives how many acres you’re able to do. I spent a couple hours doing calculations setting up mock projects in Pix4Dcapture. Setting up missions that have flights ranging from 200 feet, 225, 250, 275 and 300 feet. Tremendous amount of different detail level and also a tremendous variance in amount of mapping that can be done per hour. But if what you mean is that you always fly at the same altitude, then what you’re saying works perfectly.

I sure appreciate all the responses. I think I was wrong to have asked dollar amounts. I shouldn’t of done that. Even that amount per hour has to be different for different geographies, what equipment you’re putting in the air and so on. I think that after reading what one of the earlier fellows said that I am going to have daily rates based on deliverables and parameters that the customer asks for. If he wants a flight at 120 feet to get that level of detail than he’s not going to get as many acres mapped as he would if the flight was at 250 feet. I think this approach will be beneficial for the farmer because they will be able to mix-and-match how they approach different fields for whatever different reasons they may have in each of the fields, be it from multispectral data to terrain modeling.

Thanks again everybody. And that also includes the advice on being careful about creating a potential price-fixing scenario because that is not the intent whatsoever. For my part I wanted to get a little bit better idea of how people approach the values. I definitely got what I needed out of this thread and that is a huge win.
 
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Hello Chasco, by "mapping" I'm assuming you're talking about ortho? Can you tell me what drone(s) you fly and what you use for mission planning (DroneDeploy..etc) and for processing?
Just curious...thanks.
Drones are phantom 4 pro and M210. I quite like pix4D capture. I am hoping to find a good source for the big batteries that cruiser Roy has been introducing for the inspire one. I don’t see any reason besides flight time that I shouldn’t put my inspire one up as well. It is my favourite drone. I also like Drone Deploy so I really have no preference between the two. As far as processing goes, I have done a lot of work with pix4D and a limited amount with Drone Deploy. I’m also spending a lot of time learning how to take full advantage of web ODM and QGIS.
 
Drones are phantom 4 pro and M210. I quite like pix4D capture. I am hoping to find a good source for the big batteries that cruiser Roy has been introducing for the inspire one. I don’t see any reason besides flight time that I shouldn’t put my inspire one up as well. It is my favourite drone. I also like Drone Deploy so I really have no preference between the two. As far as processing goes, I have done a lot of work with pix4D and a limited amount with Drone Deploy. I’m also spending a lot of time learning how to take full advantage of web ODM and QGIS.
Side track... could you please point me in the direction of the Inspire 1 batteries?

That craft remains a great platform... new source of batteries would be helpful to have on file.
 
Side track... could you please point me in the direction of the Inspire 1 batteries?

That craft remains a great platform... new source of batteries would be helpful to have on file.

 
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Thanks Dave!
Ahhh that thread.. I had monitored it on & off.
I thought this might have been a different design.

At this stage, the direction I'd take would be the KopterMax.
Refreshed TB48, added Self Heaters and cycle count back to 1.
Currently not needing but wanted to know the options.

 
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Thanks Dave!
Ahhh that thread.. I had monitored it on & off.
I thought this might have been a different design.

At this stage, the direction I'd take would be the KopterMax.
Refreshed TB48, added Self Heaters and cycle count back to 1.
Currently not needing but wanted to know the options.


Looks like a good solution for I1 owners.
 
I'd agree! Several have expressed $225 is too pricey, close to new... well it is basically new other than housing. On scale... fresh new Gel, heaters, verified IC circuits & new count marker, verified capacity at TB48 level vs TB47.

All adds up if you want to keep the I1 flying this is probably the safest, simplistic and most reliable path.
 
Hello Chasco, by "mapping" I'm assuming you're talking about ortho? Can you tell me what drone(s) you fly and what you use for mission planning (DroneDeploy..etc) and for processing?
Just curious...thanks.
We primarily map with the Yuneec H520E RTK but also use Phantom 4 Pro's sometimes on sites smaller than 30 acres. We use to do all of our mapping with the P4P's but they are mostly relegated to photos and videos now. The Yuneec has it's own flight software and we use DroneDeploy for mapping with the P4P's and Litchi for more complicated progress photo sessions and video flights. We do 99% of our photogrammetry processing in DroneDeploy.
 
We primarily map with the Yuneec H520E RTK but also use Phantom 4 Pro's sometimes on sites smaller than 30 acres. We use to do all of our mapping with the P4P's but they are mostly relegated to photos and videos now. The Yuneec has it's own flight software and we use DroneDeploy for mapping with the P4P's and Litchi for more complicated progress photo sessions and video flights. We do 99% of our photogrammetry processing in DroneDeploy.
Thanks for the reply....and Happy Thanksgiving!
 
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I do ag and construction work. My formula is pretty simple. I have a figure for what my real cost is based on time required and travel, then I add what I feel is a reasonable profit and a small fudge factor, and when figuring in your costs, don't forget Uncle Same, he wants his share and the comes right out of your profit. As I stated elsewhere, different parts of the country or world warrants different prices based on the market in that area.

I do understand Fred's point, but lets face it this is the wild west of the commercial drone business, we aren't unionized or attempting to control what other make or don't make. I just hate to see people working for free.

It's like the illegal workers in this country, reality is some business like the ag business wants them because they get cheap labor and greater profits, and they do jobs most Americans won't do. We live good, and they barely survive.
 
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@BigAl07 Not sure what the policies of the forum are but....be careful talking about pricing. (be vague)

Once upon a time....there was a very popular photography forum. On it were ALOT Professional Photographers. One day a thread popped up about pricing, sessions, etc. Many photographers joined in sharing their prices and it tended to go toward everyone agreeing to certain minimums....

Then a certain federal agency got wind of this, and came down very hard on this popular forum for Price Fixing. It was a mess, and a very serious issue that almost resulted in the loss of the forum and many photographers in hot water. Stern warnings were issued, threads deleted and a raised eyebrow from Uncle Sam.

So....



Not a good path to go down. I like the idea too, but after the scare on the photo forum... just FYI. Probably best to take any details to PM's.
Once Upon a time there was a KING that wanted to tax everything. THE PEOPLE took that as a bunch of crap and threw a newly taxed item in a waterway! Then the KING (not getting the message) decided to take their defensive weapons! THE KING AND HIS COURT - LOST!
There is a reason we have FREE ENTERPRISE in this nation! This is an example of that reason! When the US Government, with my consent, has a majority stake in my business and pays my bills - they can tell me what to do!
That was not price fixing! That was UNCONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT INTRUSION - just like they do in most things! Nothing in the US Constitution allows them to invade a business or a discussion to arbitrarily or capriciously DECIDE what is a good or a bad price. Some race to the bottom! Others race to the top! All of it is VALUE and PRODUCT QUALITY PRICING that is goverened by FREE MARKETS! For the US Government to say that anything is PRICE FIXING is, well........VERY RICH! The ONLY interest the US Governement has in pricing is NOTHING! There are enumerated responsibilities of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT as listed in the USC! Outside of that - everything else is a State RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY! PERIOD!
 
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