Spent $180 on a premium drone for property photos and it paid off in 3 weeks

I do a lot of freelance real estate photography on the side. I was using my phone for wide shots of houses but they never looked great. So I dropped $180 on a decent used drone instead of paying someone else to do aerial shots. First week I landed two new clients who specifically wanted drone footage of the whole property line and roof. That $180 came back within three weeks from just those jobs. Has anyone else tried adding drone work to their freelance real estate gigs? Did you go cheap or spend bigger?

3 comments

3 Comments

mitchell.thomas5d ago

Worth it for the roof and property line shots alone." That's a solid return.

ruby_bell475d ago

Make sure you're getting good overlap on those property line shots though. I've seen too many people skimp on the overlap and end up with gaps in their ortho that screw up the whole model. Also check your gimbal calibration before you go up, trust me it saves a ton of headache later. And don't forget to account for tree shadows if you're flying mid day.

waderamirez5d ago

Man that overlap thing is so real. I've been burned by it before too, thinking I had enough coverage and then getting home to find a big ol' gap right where the property line meets the treeline. It's one of those things you learn the hard way and then never mess up again. Gimbal calibration too, absolutely. I swear half the time I see people posting wobbly ortho it's because they skipped that step and just assumed everything was fine. Shadows are a whole other beast, especially if you're doing multiple flights in one day and the sun moves on you.