As a follow up to my last blog where we discussed what constitutes a “professional” drone. Let’s talk about a scenario where you have a project that you have deemed needs aerial photographs and/or a short video. Your options include a helicopter and crew, a Certified Commercial Drone Pilot, and a friend who has a drone and will do it for cheap. Well for starters using the friend to do the job might be the cheapest option but going that route can incur both of you fines of up to $30,000 per violation by the Federal Aviation Administration (or equivalent in other countries). You are then left with two options - the helicopter or the Commercial Drone Pilot.

Before I declare, as a Certified Commercial Drone Pilot myself, that using one of us is ALWAYS going be the cheaper option let me first say that it depends on the project. Shooting a television commercial or movie scenes might require, and be a better option if done with a helicopter. Certain camera’s (Red Epic Dragon, Panavision Genesis, etc) require a larger drone that can carry that payload and a helicopter can stay airborne longer than a drone so as I said it depends. A drone CAN do it but should your project require it is another question.

So let’s get back to the photo and video scenario that I started with. This type of project will almost always be less expensive when done with a drone. Now you are armed with this knowledge and seek a quote from a professional company that provides drone services. Depending on where you live and which company you contact that quote could come in anywhere from $200 to $500 per hour. This gives you pause because you think to yourself “why are they charging so much?” It seems that everyone thinks that drone services should be dirt cheap. Well to hopefully dispel that misconception let’s break down how a Professional Drone Pilot can command such a rate.

First, an experienced professional drone pilot has invested significant time learning to fly his crafts and use them to produce cinematic style video and stunning photographs. Time spent learning to edit, color grade, frame photos and video, and equipment costs add to the determination of hourly costs. Add in professional certifications, recurrent training to enhance skills, and liability insurance. As in any business these things are all factored in to how much a professional charges. However, the biggest factor affecting a quote is the time spent on a single project and probably the greatest confusion on the part of a client given a quote with total hours and no breakdown of individual tasks. To clear this up let’s estimate the time required to complete a project rendering 10-20 photos and a 1 to 2 minute video -

• Flight permission requests 15-45 minutes (as needed)

• Average travel time to location 30-60 minutes

• Equipment set up and pre-flight check 20 minutes

• Flight for photos (10-20) 30-45 minutes

• Flight for video 30-45 minutes

• Post flight equipment breakdown 15 minutes

• Travel time 30-60 minutes

• Setting up files on computer for edit 20 minutes

• Photo editing 15-30 minutes per photo

• Video editing 2-3 hours (depending on length of video)

• File transfer preparation 15 minutes

The total of everything detailed above using the minimum estimated length of time is 340 minutes or just over 5 1/2 hours. Most professionals are not billing for every exact second they spend on each project. The professional also has to factor in issues like No Fly Zone approvals, inclement weather conditions, time to shoot the pictures for best quality, and sometimes multiple shooting times. These costs can add up in a quote.

Hopefully, this provides a quick insight into what makes up a quote and billing for a project. Hiring an experienced professional is always going to be your best bet for quality work with a guarantee. The old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ is always going to hold true when you are looking for quality.