How to Make Money with Your Drone – 5 Jobs to Learn NOW!

Building a Successful Drone Service Business: A Comprehensive Guide

Let me start by saying that I absolutely hate videos and paid courses about business that promise big returns as long as you purchase what they’re selling or watch the entire thing. In reality, your success will heavily depend on how much time you put in, your skill level, and how you handle relationships with your clients. These specific examples, as well as other parameters of running a business, I unfortunately can’t teach you. These are skills I’ve learned over the past eight years of having my own business servicing clients across the country. Being a business owner, no matter what you do, can be extremely difficult and time-consuming, but it’s also very rewarding working and providing for yourself. With that said, something I can teach you are the services you can offer to establish a client base for your drone business.

Business Strategy Overview

My goal with my company is to offer a wide range of services to different industries so that I can maximize my profits, make as many connections as possible, fill up my schedule, and diversify my income to weather any storm. The services covered in this video are geared towards repeatable actions that you can perform routinely to create a steady income stream. While one-off jobs will come your way, and you can entertain them if your time allows, developing relationships with clients who will give you consistent work and find benefits in your services is the best way to create a long-lasting business.

Preliminary Requirements

Before beginning to offer your services, three preliminary steps must be accomplished:

1. Get your FAA Part 107 commercial drone license
2. Get insurance coverage on your equipment and liability insurance for incidentals
3. Have your drone equipment ready

I hesitated to discuss drones and equipment because we could go down a huge rabbit hole deciding which drone is best for which job and service. As I go through the different jobs you can offer as a drone service provider, I’ll briefly touch on what drone I think is best. However, if you’ve got great skill at flying drones and a good eye for photography and videography, the drone you use probably doesn’t matter all that much. You could use any modern drone from the past couple of years and get great photos and videos that your clients will love when they see the deliverables.

Construction Industry Services

Construction is probably my favorite industry to service. I grew up with my dad being an architect and builder, so I’ve been on job sites for as long as I can remember. It’s wonderful that I can now take my love of technology and service this industry I’ve grown up around.

Construction companies use drone photography and videography for:

• Tracking job progression
• Sharing project status with management, investors, and clients who aren’t on site
• Using images for marketing to secure more work

My favorite type of construction to capture is road work. These projects are intricate and can be seen well from the air. Consider a big highway job like an interchange or bridge being repaired or built – you simply wouldn’t be able to capture the job properly from the ground, and hiring a helicopter would be too expensive. This makes drone operators perfect for these projects.

Breaking Into Construction Work

Road construction does have some hurdles, as these jobs might typically go to bid, and flying around highways can be challenging. However, it’s worth pursuing because:

• Budgets are large
• Project timeframes are usually long
• Drone operators are necessary for large-scale projects

Beyond roadways, consider other construction projects that benefit from drone images:

• Large buildings
• Parking garages
• Golf courses
• Shopping centers
• Residential projects

Building Client Relationships

The biggest hurdle is finding construction companies that want to hire you for drone services. Word of mouth through individuals and social media is the biggest driving force. Consider a large project with multiple subcontractors:

• Demolition companies
• Concrete companies
• Land development companies
• Window companies

When you do one project for one company, whether it’s photos or a cool video, others will see it and want access to that video or might hire you to create something special for themselves. There’s tremendous opportunity within the construction industry to work for different companies. Even if you don’t work for the concrete company on a large building project, you might get photos and videos for the land development company because they had a hand in making it happen.

Pricing and Equipment

I typically charge $500 or higher for a site visit, depending on the project size. A small home versus a highway bridge are different scopes of work with different challenges. Creating a contract is crucial, as deliverables and visit frequency will determine your rate.

For equipment, any recent DJI drone with a good camera is sufficient, including:

• DJI Mini 3 or 4
• DJI Mavic Air 2 or Air 3
• DJI Mavic 2 Pro or DJI Mavic 3

Construction sites are dusty and things break, so I prefer using less expensive equipment to minimize repair costs. The DJI Air 3S is my go-to option because it’s relatively inexpensive, has a great camera, great flight time, and is wickedly fast to get around big job sites efficiently.

Real Estate Services

Real estate fills a good portion of my calendar, as it’s the industry where my name has spread the most. I service agents in the Main Line Philadelphia and South Jersey areas, photographing:

• Big farms in the country
• Mega mansions in the main line
• Row homes and condos in the city
• Small homes that make up big neighborhoods

The primary purpose of these aerial images is to sell the property. Drones offer the benefit of showing:

• Large pieces of land for sale
• Proximity to local attractions
• Better angles of homes on hills

I actually made a full guide to real estate aerial photography that gives you a breakdown of the important shots you should capture on every property visit.

Considerations for Real Estate Photography

Drone shots aren’t needed for every home that hits the market. Some properties might look less desirable from the air due to:

• Neighbors with old-looking homes
• Vacant properties with buildings needing demolition
• Water treatment facilities
• Power lines or train tracks causing distraction
• Highway proximity

For example, I recently dealt with a property that bordered a loud highway. While I wanted to show the entire acre plot, I needed to avoid emphasizing the highway proximity, as that might discourage potential buyers from viewing the property.

Building Real Estate Relationships

Real estate agents will be your main type of client, and it works differently than construction industry relationships. Instead of dealing with corporate entities, marketing teams, or site superintendents, you’re dealing with personal relationships with individual agents. However, getting business follows the same principle – word of mouth is huge. When you do great work for one agent, they’ll praise you in their office, at meetings, and to agent friends, leading to more calls for your services.

Pricing and Equipment Structure

Real estate is a volume business with lower per-shoot prices. My aerial photo packages start at $150 per property, adjusting upward based on scope. For instance, photographing a large farm with multiple acres requires more photos, meaning more deliverables and time on site.

For equipment, I recommend the same drones as construction, considering the budget-to-value ratio. Does it make sense to use a $3,000 drone for a $150 job? My go-to option for real estate shoots is the Air 3S for its price-to-performance-to-camera ratio.

Expanding Services

You want to offer a well-rounded service package so clients can come to you for all their photography and videography needs. Don’t limit yourself to just Drone Photos and videos, potentially forcing clients to shop around for other photographers and possibly losing them altogether if they find value in a one-stop solution.

For example, while $150 for drone photos might seem low, consider the additional services you can offer during the same shoot:

• Interior photos
• Floor plans
• Property videos

This comprehensive approach significantly increases per-job revenue.

Stockpile Measurement Services

This is probably my favorite type of service to offer because it’s a complete no-brainer – something my clients absolutely need. Without this service, they couldn’t run their business as smoothly or at all.

Using Drone Technology, you can measure material on the ground to determine volume in piles of:

• Topsoil
• Mulch
• Rock
• Sand

These piles are extremely valuable – sold between companies, transported by trucks, combined to make different materials. With all these logistics, tracking total amounts can be challenging.

Process and Technology

The measurement process, while sounding complex, couldn’t be easier:

1. Fly the drone to capture photos (either through pre-planned autonomous missions or timed photos around the pile)
2. Use software like DroneDeploy to process data into 2D maps and 3D models
3. Use built-in tools to determine height, area, and volume

Business Model

I work with land developers and material providers to:

• Visit sites weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly
• Create digital inventory logs
• Track material movement
• Ensure regulatory compliance (some townships have height restrictions)
• Verify quantities at new purchase sites

For example, if a client is considering purchasing excess dirt from a new construction site, I can measure it to verify the claimed 10,000 cubic yards before purchase.

Like real estate, I price for volume so clients feel comfortable using services frequently:

• Flat rate for the trip and first pile
• Additional charges per pile measured
• Rates vary based on site size and number of piles

Equipment Requirements

This service requires either:

• Older DJI drones
• Newer Enterprise drones with SDK support for automated flight planning
• Any drone for manual photo capture (software can stitch images from any drone)

General Inspection Services

Your drone isn’t just a sophisticated aircraft with a high-end camera for artsy photographs – it’s a tool that can serve as an eye in the sky for hard-to-reach areas. General inspections can include:

• Land
• Roofs
• Buildings
• Roads
• Solar farms
• Bridges

Business Approach

Important note: Building inspectors, land surveyors, and insurance adjusters carry special licenses and training. While you might be in one of those fields, as a drone company, your specialty is flying and photography/videography – and you have your own special license for that.

I find it best to partner with:

• Architecture firms
• Engineering companies
• Inspection firms

This way, everyone stays in their lane – you fly and photograph, they analyze.

Project Examples

Past projects include:

• Giant Center arena roof in Hershey
• Mann Music Center gutter inspection in Philadelphia
• Hospitals
• Churches
• Condemned buildings
• Roadways

Advanced Services such as Thermal Inspection Services

You can offer thermal inspection services to find underlying damage on roofs or outer facades. While you need to be a licensed thermographer to analyze these images, my business model involves being the drone operator and turning images over to experts for analysis.

I prefer this approach across all inspection work because I’m not responsible for recommendations – my job ends when I deliver the photos.

Pricing and Equipment

This service is perhaps the most difficult to price due to varying job nature. Consider:

• Hourly rates
• Half-day/full-day rates
• Per-structure pricing
• Per-side rates for large buildings

Equipment recommendations:

• Higher-end drone with high megapixel count for detail retention
• Newer drone with 640 thermal sensor for thermal work
• Good omnidirectional obstacle avoidance for tight spaces

Event Services

The events category is perhaps the broadest, including:

• Weddings
• Corporate events
• Car meetups
• Outdoor gatherings

Notable Projects

Recent memorable projects include:

• Mini Cooper group ride from Albuquerque to Seattle with 300 cars
• Battleship New Jersey‘s departure and return to Philadelphia for repairs
• Ferrari showcase event at a previously photographed property
• Local events:
• Farmers markets
• Parades
• Farm festivals
• Tailgates

Any outdoor event with good turnout can benefit from drone photography and videography.

Service Structure and Pricing

Pricing varies based on deliverables:

• Raw footage delivery to another editing team
• Complete photo and video package
• Integration with ground-level photography
• Full event documentation

Offering comprehensive services makes you more valuable to event organizers who prefer working with a single vendor for all their photo and video needs.

Conclusion

These five main service areas offer diverse opportunities for drone business growth. While I can’t teach you the intangible skills of business relationships and time management, these services provide a foundation for building a successful drone business. Remember, your success depends on dedication, skill development, and client relationship management.

If you have any questions about this video or how you make money with your drone, feel free to reach out or leave a comment below.