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Operation costs/hr

rvrrat14

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Not sure if folks want to publish their rates, maybe we can PM, but I’m interested in what everyone came up with for operating/maint. costs/hr. Maybe a better way would be “What items do you include in your operating/maint. costs/hr.”

This would address your equipment only to arrive at what it costs each time your bird goes aloft. Do not include your time here. This is just an equipment cost.
 
Depends on equipment what you paid for it.
You have fixed and variable costs to consider which I'm sure you realize.
Insurance has to be considered in the cost.

You consider a % amount to repair or replace X for unknown reasons, this will be based on experience or info you have compiled base on what breaks or needs to be replace annually.
Wear and tear, frequency of flights

So lets say you purchased your craft at $3500.00 and you made 185 landings and takeoffs first year or in 6 months,with out any incidences, nothing. This has cost you $18.92 per battery flight. (assuming you are landing to change out batteries until last flight).
So since this is my first year owning a drone I know know what my cost per flight is.
The following year I most likely will have to replace a few items, this will add to my cost per flight.
This will be variable year to year , but you can eventually find an equilibrium
BigA could chime in on this with better examples.
 
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Depends on equipment what you paid for it.
You have fixed and variable costs to consider which I'm sure you realize.
Insurance has to be considered in the cost.
You consider a % amount to repair or replace X for unknown reasons annually.

Exactly what I”ve done. Its a budget forecast on an annual basis.

Would like to hear what some folks are budgeting for. Part of the learning/growth here is to understand what parts brake/wear out and which ones you should be concerned about.
 
Exactly what I”ve done. Its a budget forecast on an annual basis.

Would like to hear what some folks are budgeting for. Part of the learning/growth here is to understand what parts brake/wear out and which ones you should be concerned about.
That's the hard part, not knowing what is going to break down. You may want to add 20% to your flight costs.
 
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I think you need to factor in the cost of a replacement drone, perhaps two if you are holding a backup. Add in too the costs of getting there and back, maintenance of your transport. Meals, clothing like high viz which would need replacing periodically. The cost of the computers to process the data , and of course the cost of storing it. Then again in the US the costs of medical insurance, pension contributions, utilities. Many more lesser items too, but of course you need to include what you are going to pay yourself, not just for the flight and getting there but also putting the data in a format the client can understand and ina way they can access it.
Nearly 20 years as a pro photographer taught me a lot about costing for jobs. But will the customer pay what you are truly worth or get Uncle Bill and his great new toy to do it for free?
 
I think you need to factor in the cost of a replacement drone, perhaps two if you are holding a backup. Add in too the costs of getting there and back, maintenance of your transport. Meals, clothing like high viz which would need replacing periodically. The cost of the computers to process the data , and of course the cost of storing it. Then again in the US the costs of medical insurance, pension contributions, utilities. Many more lesser items too, but of course you need to include what you are going to pay yourself, not just for the flight and getting there but also putting the data in a format the client can understand and ina way they can access it.
Nearly 20 years as a pro photographer taught me a lot about costing for jobs. But will the customer pay what you are truly worth or get Uncle Bill and his great new toy to do it for free?
All good information there. Thanks.
 
I'm in Canada so licencing requirements are different, but the essentials are similar.

- Costs for learning , training and acquiring a license or permit to operate - Total time invested, plus costs
- Costs for equipment. wide variable here as replacement may be dependent on you wanting vs needing to upgrade.
- Costs for maintenance - on an average drone, props and battery are the consumables, drone repairs are unknown. If you fly near obsticals and aren't too good with flight control you may have increased costs due to damage from hitting things and or crashing. Drone failures from faulty production or unknown lifespan of circuit components
- Time to prepare flight documentation pre-flight
- Time to maintain flight documents post flight
- Insurance and other costs

Some of the basics. If you want to put a cost to everything it would be different than if you are assigning costs for the specific operational aspects. Like if you are flying for fun, and learned a lot of stuff, then you want to do it to make money.

The first time I did a flight in controlled airspace in downtown Toronto it took me a long time to learn and understand all the steps and requirements necessary. With every other flight the time required is less, but there is still a minimum amount of time to do the pre-flight work.

My first year insurance cost 50% of the drone purchase price. However now I have more hours, and have found much better insurance coverage, though in my opinion they are charging me rates comparable to what I would pay if I was driving drunk with 1000 pounds of high explosives in my trunk and driving through a major downtown area. The odds are greater that I will be hit and injured by an unlicensed and unregulated electric scooter, than any damage or harm to the public if my drone falls out of the sky. I digress...

If I charge $150 to take a couple of photos with the drone, I am in competition with real estate agents who will do it on their own, and have been doing so for the past year and never got caught, vs what I do which is legal and by the book. Until the local law enforcement cracks down by looking at real estate listings and checking to see if the people who took the photos were in compliance, the rate that I can charge in the real estate industry is somewhat limited.

If I'm already being paid to go out and take photos, and I charge an additional $150 for aerial photos, in class G airspace and not near any airports or heliports, that isn't bad money. If I do that 50 times in a year 50 X $150 = $7500 extra, less my initial purchase price and insurance costs. The rest is mostly time costs. However if I only get 15 calls for aerial photos, I may still cover my expenses and write off equipment costs, but not making a lot of money for my time. However as I type this I also realize I'm not making any money for my current time, but well hey it just feels good to vent and if it helps someone else, I'm just paying it forward!

Happy flying!
 
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I don't have an answer just for op costs per airframe. As only a pilot and a drone, It's really hard not to sell yourself short, IMO.
Without proper enforcement, we'll likely never get paid enough to cover our equipment costs by just flying around and giving away the raw footage.

So, like all of us here, you'll need to carve out niches that add value for the Customer. Flying an UAV is not enough. We must deliver a complete package to get a proper return.

I get a much better return on time spent doing related tasks like training, IT consulting, video production, and securely delivering their information. This pays for the hardware. Otherwise, I couldn't be in business.

Here's a link to an actual study from the field back in 2016. It seems to be a helicopter-friendly study, but good for some reference.
Much has changed, but this shows the type of information you may come up against when selling your services.
At least some numbers to play around with since it shows what they were willing to pay for UAV services back then. Also, some good helicopter operating cost info to compare.

BTW, in this report, they say that helis are cheaper than UAV's for this specific task! It may still be true, but you can practice overcoming studies like this one.

http://wildfire.fpinnovations.ca/AdvisoryMeeting/2016Spring/Jim-UAVCostComparison.pdf
 

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