How much should pilots charge for drone services?

How much should you charge for drone services? Determining the right price for your drone services can be a balancing act. You want to be competitive with other pilots in the area. And you want to be fair to your client. But, you also need to cover your costs (which include not just your gear and gas, but also your time). And hey, you want to generate a profit.

Here’s a breakdown of factors to consider when setting your rates:

Determine your costs

You shouldn’t work for free, because it wasn’t even free for you to do this work. From your gear, to the hours of work you’ve put into growing your skills, to per-project costs like gas, you should get paid back for your costs — and then some. When determining your costs, consider this:

Calculate specific costs for this project

The most straightforward way to calculate your costs is by starting with any out-of-pocket costs you’ll pay to do the project. That may include:

Travel: This includes fuel and vehicle maintenance. You might just base this off of the IRS standard mileage rate if you’re unsure of your vehicle’s specifics. In 2024, that’s 67 cents per mile.

If you have to spend the night in a hotel — or even take a flight there — factor in those costs, as well as unexpectedly travel costs like checked bag fees or ground transportation.

Permits: If you need a permit for a specific flight, calculate those fees too.

Pay-per-use software: Some software charges per use. For example, certain drone mapping software charges per map.

Time: Then, find out (or make your best estimate) of how much time the project will take. From there, consider your hourly rate. Some people already know their hourly rate (say, $200 per hour). There are all sorts of ways you can calculate this.

You might have a figure that you believe is your annual value (say, $100,000 per year). You could then calculate that in tandem with how many billable hours you can realistically execute (billable hours are generally far less than hours worked as a freelancer, given how much time you spent on unpaid administrative work). If you think you’re capable of, say, 10 billable hours per week and you work 48 weeks a year (account for vacation!), then you’d need to charge $208 per hour to reach that.

You could also calculate time in terms of opportunity cost. Say, “every hour I spend doing X work is $Y that I can’t spend doing this other job where I know I’d make that money.”

And of course, time is not just flying time, but also travel time and time spent processing the data.

PlanDroneFlight, which is a drone services provider in the southeast U.S. recommends setting a base pay of at least $100 plus travel ($1.34 per mile from office; this corresponds to the IRS vehicle mileage deduction of $.67 per mile) and extra for mapping, editing or specialized equipment such as thermal, lidar or RTK.

Don’t overlook previous, already-paid costs

But those are hardly your only costs to consider when you calculate how much to charge for drone services! These next sets of costs are a little bit hairier to calculate, as they’re generally a one-time fee that you already paid — and they’ll be amortized across all future clients to come. That includes:

• Equipment: This might include drones, cameras, batteries, and other gear.
• Software: This can include image processing, flight planning, and data management software.
• Insurance: Though the FAA does not require drone insurance, most drone business owners still opt for some degree of liability and equipment coverage.
• Licenses: You presumably paid $175 to take the Remote Pilot Aeronautical Knowledge Test. That’s a requirement to earn your Remote Pilot Certificate. You likely also paid at least $200 for a Part 107 class, and potentially hundreds more for in-person drone flying classes. You might even have invested further with specialized courses in areas like drone mapping or aerial photography.
• Overhead: Then there’s just the general cost of running a business. That might include office space, utilities, marketing, tax software, web hosting fees and administrative costs.

It’s trickier to calculate how these fit in. You might just divide all those costs across your average number of expected clients per year. But, at least account for these costs in some capacity.

Determine your value proposition

Now it’s time to define your personal value. What sets you apart from the competition? Since it sounds like you specifically are newer and less experienced, then your value might be, well, less than someone with years of experience. An experienced pilot should up their charge for drone services versus the newbies.

But even without drone-specific experience, consider other value you can bring, including prior work experience. Some factors to roll up into your unique value proposition include:

• Expertise: Do you have specialized knowledge in areas like inspections or mapping?
• Equipment: High-end drones and cameras that produce superior results are more valuable than photos from a cheap camera drone. If you’ve got a DJI Inspire 3, you can probably charge more than the person trying to do the same job on a DJI Mini 4K.
• Efficiency, speed and customer service: Yes, you’re allowed to charge more if you’re pleasant to work with — and you get the job done efficiently.

How to price your work as a drone pilot

Now that you understand all your own costs coupled with your value, it’s time to decide how you’ll price your drone work. Drone projects tend to run through a few different pricing models, including:

• Hourly rate: Charge by the hour for your services. This is common for aerial photography and videography.
• Project-based: Quote a fixed price for specific projects, such as property inspections or mapping.
• Package Deals: Offer bundled services (e.g. a refresh survey every month) at a discounted rate.

Set your rates

With that, decide on how much you want to charge. You might already have a number in your head once you’ve laid out all your personal costs, but there are other ways you can set your rate:

• Compare yourself to competition: Find drone companies that do similar work to what you’ll do, and price based off of them. Maybe they do work to the exact quality as yours, but they live in a lower cost of living area. You could account for that cost of living adjustment and charge slightly more. Maybe there’s a pilot in your area who does the same work but is more experienced. Charge less than them. But be careful to not completely undercut them so that you unknowingly adjust clients’ expectations to pay less (as that could hurt you in the future, too).
• Understand the scope: Larger, more complex projects typically command higher rates.
• You might charge more depending on the industry: A large corporate client might be willing to pay more than a small non-profit. Some drone pilots don’t widely advertise their rates, specifically so they can price based on client.
• Figure out how much you want the job: Is this work you’re genuinely looking forward to doing, either because it’ll be a great addition to your portfolio, serve as a valuable learning experiencing, or might actually be fun? Or are you dreading the gig? If the latter, you might charge more (with the understand that the client might not end of hiring you).

When you might charge less for work as a drone pilot

Then there are a few other factors to consider when setting your rates around what to charge for drone services. Clients may want to negotiate, in which case start high and adjust prices down.

You might also just factor in how this gig plays into your broader life. Let’s say you’re flying at a vineyard.. Once done flying, will you get to hang out at the winery? Will the owner treat you to a complementary wine tasting? Even if the gig necessitates an overnight stay (which of course, you’ll add to the client’s bill), can your family come with you, and you can use the trip to wine country as a much-needed getaway? If yes, you might charge less.

For example, I frequently speak at drone conferences. And, I firmly believe you must be compensated to speak at a conference. But while I generally consider cash as compensation, I sometimes make exceptions. Will they pay for my entire travels there? And if so, is it a place I want to go to anyway?

For example, when I spoke at World of Drones Congress in Brisbane, Australia, I didn’t get any cash money. But, I got a roundtrip flight from the U.S. to Australia, plus a few nights of a hotel. I’d value all of that as far higher than what I’d have charged as a standalone speaking fee for an equivalent talk in my own city, so I considered this a great deal. I am a huge Crocodile Hunter fan, so a trip to Queensland was a bucket list item!

The tl;dr: the prices you charge for drone services like aerial photography or mapping should reflect the value you bring to your clients. As you gain experience, that value will grow.

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