Online Listers such as Droners.io and others? What works?

[cjc1103]

@Earthman hit the nail right on the head. I have flown several jobs through Droners.io, but the client sets the budget, which is usually too low, and even if it is realistic there is always some pilots desperate enough to work for almost nothing. It's supply and demand, baby. But as you say, you have significant equipment investment, you have to figure in taxes, medical, liability insurance, travel expenses, really $120 for a commercial real estate shoot of a store or a house is not much. If I have to travel 50 miles, it's an hour travel in each direction, plus an hour onsite, and an hour to plan, process the images afterwards, followup with the customer, so 4 hours, minus $15 gas, $25 insurance, means $20/hour. I could make that working in an Amazon warehouse. I have also worked with DroneBase and FlyGuys, which are not much better from a payment perspective, but there's no bidding on jobs. The broker deals with the customer, sets the price, subtracts their fee, then tells you how much the job pays, take it or leave it. Usually the missions are preplanned, using Imging, Hangar, Loveland, etc. You fire up your drone, connect to the DroneBase app, and then it starts the correct application on your controller iPad, downloads the mission, and then you fly it. The biggest problem is making sure you have a minimum altitude high enough to clear all obstacles, then all you have to do is monitor the drone, watch for trees and wires, pause the mission to change batteries, resume, the drone will RTH and land when the mission is complete. Upload the raw pictures and you're done. You can also do roof inspections through Panton or some other contractor. But these job brokers are really only good for starting out, you need to use this experience to build your own client list. Also a professional website is mandatory to establish your credibility, and show off some demo pictures and videos.

 

[mccubbinaerial]

I’m signed up for drones.io and I find it largely a waste of time because the project “budgets” are unrealistically low.

I also suspect that there are a few “middlemen,” who have no resources themselves, finding and advertising projects on the website. Whoever is advertising seems to have no idea of how long it takes to plan, travel to/from a site, and do the work safely, not to mention the financial risk a PIC is taking by flying a project. The middlemen typically assume that a project is only 15 to 30-minutes of work, which is BS. The budgets are so low that there is no way that you can make money on a project. So the risk of losing money due to a mishap, etc. is high and the potential to make money is low or non-existent.

Lowball ‘clients” on droner’s.io are also negatively influencing other potential clients who are trying to secure the services of a pilot. Unknowledgeable clients see the unrealistically low “budgets” and assume that’s the going rate. This is reinforced by pilots desperate or inexperienced enough to work for nothing.

The only benefit of doing a few such projects from drones.io may be to help build a portfolio of work, but it was easier for me to find my own low-risk, local, portfolio-building opportunities.

I would say 1 out of 100 requests for service on drones.io aren’t insulting to a pilot who knows what they are doing. Those projects and clients on droner.io are few and far between.

You are not likely to be able to build a client base using “services” like drontiers.io. Do the work to find your own clients.

Good luck!

No I totally agree. While Im building up my campaigns I wanted offset it with something. Ive only got a few things from droner.io mainly cuz I bid what I feel its worth screw the pennies for RAW photos. And being in TX there all over the place. Im glad I wasnt the only one with this experience. Ill look at dronepilots central and see. Earthman thanks for your feedback. Argh. It seems like a decent service idea if it didnt allow people to guesstimate what they want to pay not what pro work costs. Ill get back to my direct mail campaigns and let yall know how it goes.

 

[AMann]

A new low I got from Dronebase;

$900k property seller wants to pay $50 for stills and video!

I keep forgetting to delete that app.

 

[Earthman]

A new low I got from Dronebase;

$900k property seller wants to pay $50 for stills and video!

I keep forgetting to delete that app.

$50 is an insult.

If you get a chance to talk to a real estate agent, remind them that they make 3 to 6% on the selling price, so that's $27k to $54k for them using your example. If you charge them $1,500 helping to qualify buyers and sell the property faster, that's only 5 to 2.5% of their take.

I keep the droners.io app because occasionally, a job pops up in my neck of the woods, or near a friend and I'll bring it to their attention in case they missed it. I have not taken a job from droners.io, nor have I signed up for similar apps since I assume the projects, budgets, and processes are similar. Also, I have better luck with finding my own work by just talking to folks.

 

[Russ Still]

A new low I got from Dronebase;

$900k property seller wants to pay $50 for stills and video!

I keep forgetting to delete that app.

If you rely on sites like Dronebase to do your legwork for you, you'll never make any money. It's meant for people who want to wait for business to fall into their laps. You have to take charge and get out there and run down your own business with an effective marketing campaign.

 

[AMann]

If you rely on sites like Dronebase to do your legwork for you, you'll never make any money. It's meant for people who want to wait for business to fall into their laps. You have to take charge and get out there and run down your own business with an effective marketing campaign.

I know people should do that. I joined Dronebase a long time ago when I first started out, curious to see what it was like. But I never got around to deleting it as it’s buried in a folder on my phone and I only get notices from it like once every six months, seriously!

I should bid on it and then submit pictures taken from a run down trailer park or something like that.

 

[ZBlackwood]

I've been signed up for both but haven't flown anything. At first I thought it'd be a good way to branch out some without actually pursuing flying as a main source of income, just the occasional odd job to add to my real estate photography business. That being said, I live in a small coastal town and have all my parameters set for how far I'd travel etc.. but I have yet to see a job from either service that was within 60 miles, and none of them are worth driving that distance for the pay.

 

[Russ Still]

I've been signed up for both but haven't flown anything.

When you say "both", are you including DronePilotsCentral? If so, what's the link to your listing?

 

[LUIS MARTINEZ]

@Earthman hit the nail right on the head. I have flown several jobs through Droners.io, but the client sets the budget, which is usually too low, and even if it is realistic there is always some pilots desperate enough to work for almost nothing. It's supply and demand, baby. But as you say, you have significant equipment investment, you have to figure in taxes, medical, liability insurance, travel expenses, really $120 for a commercial real estate shoot of a store or a house is not much. If I have to travel 50 miles, it's an hour travel in each direction, plus an hour onsite, and an hour to plan, process the images afterwards, followup with the customer, so 4 hours, minus $15 gas, $25 insurance, means $20/hour. I could make that working in an Amazon warehouse. I have also worked with DroneBase and FlyGuys, which are not much better from a payment perspective, but there's no bidding on jobs. The broker deals with the customer, sets the price, subtracts their fee, then tells you how much the job pays, take it or leave it. Usually the missions are preplanned, using Imging, Hangar, Loveland, etc. You fire up your drone, connect to the DroneBase app, and then it starts the correct application on your controller iPad, downloads the mission, and then you fly it. The biggest problem is making sure you have a minimum altitude high enough to clear all obstacles, then all you have to do is monitor the drone, watch for trees and wires, pause the mission to change batteries, resume, the drone will RTH and land when the mission is complete. Upload the raw pictures and you're done. You can also do roof inspections through Panton or some other contractor. But these job brokers are really only good for starting out, you need to use this experience to build your own client list. Also a professional website is mandatory to establish your credibility, and show off some demo pictures and videos.

Forget these jokers; go out and build your business...