R2
Rotor Rate
ArticlesTry the calculator free
All posts

October 13, 2026 · Rotor Rate · Reviewed October 11, 2026

What Rotor Rate Would Charge: 6 More Real Reddit Pricing Questions

Six more real "what should I charge?" questions from Reddit's drone community — first paid gig, thermal solar work, recurring acreage flights, and high-volume real estate — each with a fair-rate range and the reasoning behind it.

Share

After Round 1 landed, more pilots asked the same thing: "Can you do that with my kind of job?" So here are six more real, public threads from r/drones — paraphrased, anonymized, and run through the same logic the Rotor Rate free calculator uses.

If you missed Round 1, the format is simple: a short scenario paraphrase, a fair-rate range (not a single number), a one-line takeaway, and a link to the original thread so you can read the comments yourself.

A quick refresher on the methodology

Every range below is built from the same five blocks the free hourly-rate calculator and the paid pricing calculator use:

  • Onsite hours at a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 pilot's working hourly rate. I'm assuming $125–$175/hr for a newer-but-insured pilot with prosumer-or-better gear, and $200–$300/hr when specialized credentials (thermal, mapping, infrastructure) clearly justify it.
  • Post-processing hours at the same rate — or zero when the client edits in-house.
  • Travel at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) standard business mileage rate.
  • Deliverable adjustments — a stamped inspection report, a multi-site progress package, or a polished marketing edit each earn a different markup over a raw-clip dump.
  • A job minimum so a 20-minute flight doesn't get priced like a 20-minute job.

Where the original post is missing critical information (no location, no flight duration, no deliverables), I say so and price the realistic bracket. If you want a more exact number for your job, plug your own inputs into the free calculator — it takes about 90 seconds. You can even use the new Refine & plan panel to layer on rush-job surcharges or multipliers for specialized certifications like Night or Thermal work.

---

Case 1 · The first paid gig: aerial stills of a hospital

Where: United States · When: January 2025

Scenario: A municipal photographer-videographer who already flies drones for their day job was approached by a local hospital to shoot aerial stills of the buildings on a freelance basis. It would be their first paid commercial drone gig. The shoot felt simple, and they didn't want to over-charge — but they also didn't want the job to be a waste of an evening.

Rotor Rate fair rate: $450–$750 flat for an experienced pilot delivering 10–15 finished stills, single visit, ≤2 hours onsite, plus mileage at the current IRS business rate when round-trip distance exceeds about 25 miles.

Why that range: A hospital exterior is a real commercial deliverable — the client will use the images in marketing, donor reports, or recruiting collateral. That alone is worth a job minimum well above a "friend of a friend" rate. The pilot's relevant experience (already flying for municipal work) means they're not learning on this job, so they should be paid like a working pro, not an apprentice. Edited stills (cull, color, basic retouching) are usually 1.5–2 hours of post for a deliverable like this — bake that in or itemize it.

Takeaway: A "first paid gig" is still a commercial license use case. Anchor on the deliverable + minimum, not the half-hour of flight time.

Original thread: r/drones — "What's a reasonable rate to charge a client for…"

---

Case 2 · Subcontract day rate for thermal solar-farm inspections

Where: United States · When: February 2025

Scenario: A pilot with four-plus years of professional experience — including wind-farm inspections — was approached by a large international renewable-energy company expanding their U.S. subcontractor network. The client supplies the drone and covers all travel, lodging, and fuel. The pilot wanted to know what day rate to demand for thermal solar work without undervaluing the specialization.

Rotor Rate fair rate: $1,200–$1,800 per field day for an experienced thermal pilot, client-supplied aircraft, all expenses covered. $1,800–$2,500/day when the pilot is also expected to do basic on-site QA of the thermal data before leaving.

Why that range: Even with a client-supplied drone, you're still selling certified, insured pilot-in-command time on a specialized mission — the highest-margin product a Part 107 holder has. Thermal infrared (IR) work also requires you to know what a good vs. bad data set looks like (panel-level resolution, ground sample distance, look angle). When the client absorbs travel, the day rate is closer to a clean labor-and-expertise number; a self-supplied-drone version of the same job would land roughly $400–$700/day higher to amortize gear.

For a sanity check on solar-specific rates, DroneDeploy's solar inspection guidance and Aerodyne's utility-scale solar reporting both put inspection day rates for credentialed pilots in this band.

Takeaway: Client-supplied drone doesn't mean discount labor. Specialized thermal work earns a specialist day rate, not a generalist one.

Original thread: r/drones — "Day rate for thermal solar inspections"

---

Case 3 · Recurring progress photography on a 100+ acre build-out

Where: United States · When: February 2025

Scenario: A pilot landed an ongoing client who wants aerial stills of a 100-plus-acre property build-out, shot every other month for the next one to two years. They'd never priced a long-term retainer like this and were nervous about over-bidding and losing the contract.

Rotor Rate fair rate: $650–$950 per visit for stills only, ~2.5–4 hours onsite (large-acreage cadence and grid coverage), 10–15 finished frames per location, plus mileage at the IRS rate. On a 12-visit annual retainer (every-other-month for 2 years), that's roughly $7,800–$11,400/year — and you should quote it as the annual contract, not as a sequence of one-offs.

Why that range: 100 acres is not a "fly around for 30 minutes" job. You're flying a coverage pattern, possibly from multiple takeoff points, and post-processing is real because the client compares this month's frames to last month's. The right pricing move is a modest volume discount (5–10%) baked into the annual number in exchange for a signed multi-visit commitment — and a clear scope-creep clause for things like added video, thermal, or extra sites. In Rotor Rate, you can now use Multi-Site Projects to plan the shortest driving order and automatically calculate an efficiency credit for the client.

Takeaway: Recurring contracts get priced as contracts, not as individual visits stacked end-to-end. A small volume discount + a long term beats a high single-visit rate that the client churns out of after three months.

Original thread: r/drones — "Drone client work quote — 100 acres"

---

Case 4 · Construction + highway shoots, multi-site, no editing

Where: Texas, United States · When: March 2025

Scenario: A Texas pilot whose only previous drone work was an informal real-estate shoot for a friend was offered paid commercial work — capturing stills of construction sites and highway intersections, plus a 2–3 minute edited video per location. Each shoot is roughly 15–20 minutes of flight time across multiple sites with travel between them, and the client's in-house editor handles all post-production.

Rotor Rate fair rate: $275–$425 per site when the pilot is delivering raw stills and raw video clips with no edit, plus mileage at the current IRS business rate when round-trip distance exceeds about 25 miles. On a multi-site day (3+ locations), bundle as a half-day at $750–$1,100 plus mileage.

Why that range: No-edit work is a minimum + travel job, not an hourly job. With 15–20 minutes of flight per site, your real cost driver is the windshield time between stops, not the time at the controls. The lower end of the band fits a single repeat client; the upper end applies when sites are spread out, the client wants same-day delivery, or the highway intersections require Class B/C airspace authorization through the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC). If you have an FAA waiver for these intersections, you can now upload it to Rotor Rate to have it automatically flagged on your airspace checks and shown on your estimates.

Takeaway: When the client edits, you sell flights and travel — not hours. Anchor on a per-site minimum and surcharge mileage explicitly.

Original thread: r/drones — "No earthly idea what to charge (hourly)"

---

Case 5 · Canadian videographer, hourly base rate for drone add-on work

Where: Canada · When: June 2025

Scenario: A Canadian videographer who adds drone footage to client projects with a DJI Mini 3 had been charging roughly $200–$250 CAD plus tax for a two-hour block. After a crash, they reconsidered: every flight risks the equipment, and the current rate didn't reflect that exposure. They were thinking of moving to $250 CAD per hour.

Rotor Rate fair rate: $175–$250 CAD per hour as a defensible base rate for an intermediate pilot on a DJI Mini-class platform, with a 2-hour minimum on any booking. Move toward the upper end of the band when the work involves tight indoor/factory environments, urban airspace, or one-shot footage the client cannot reshoot.

Why that range: Crash risk is a real cost — Transport Canada's Advanced operations rules and provincial liability expectations both push insurance and replacement-reserve costs up over time. (Transport Canada — Flying your drone safely and legally is the canonical reference.) Pricing in a small "gear reserve" of roughly 5–10% on every billable hour is not greedy; it's how you pay for the next drone before you crash this one. $250 CAD/hr is reasonable for an experienced operator with insurance and a track record; below ~$175 CAD/hr you're subsidizing the client.

Takeaway: A crash is a signal, not just an accident. If the math says the rate doesn't cover gear amortization + insurance + replacement reserve, the rate is the problem.

Original thread: r/drones — "Canada minidrone — what is your base rate in 2025?"

---

Case 6 · Volume real-estate videography for a TV show, Phoenix

Where: Phoenix, Arizona, United States · When: May 2025

Scenario: A pilot had a strong lead on an ongoing real-estate videography contract for a TV show in the Phoenix area. The client explicitly wanted a discounted volume rate in exchange for consistent, repeat bookings. Each shoot is ~90 minutes onsite with both a drone and a camera-plus-gimbal ground rig. No editing required — the pilot delivers raw footage only.

Rotor Rate fair rate: $425–$600 per shoot for a one-off booking (90 min onsite, dual-rig, raw delivery). For a volume contract with a guaranteed minimum cadence (say, 8+ shoots/month), drop to $350–$475 per shoot — a 10–20% volume discount, not a 40% one.

Why that range: Two things bump the rate above a basic real-estate flat. First, a dual-rig shoot (drone + ground gimbal) is two pieces of insured equipment, two setup-and-pack cycles, and roughly 1.3× the on-site labor of a drone-only shoot. Second, production for a TV show implies broadcast-grade usage, which is a step up from typical Multiple Listing Service (MLS) usage rights. The volume discount should be real but bounded — give up 10–20%, not your sustainable rate. If the client only books at 40%-off your normal rate, you're training them to assume that's the market. To ensure you stay profitable on volume work, you can use the Equipment presets and Deliverables pickers in Rotor Rate to ensure every rig and output is accounted for.

Takeaway: Volume discounts are a tool, not a target. 10–20% off in exchange for a signed cadence beats 40% off "if it works out."

Original thread: r/drones — "Job pricing"

---

What the six cases have in common

Reading them back-to-back, the same three patterns show up in almost every "what should I charge?" thread:

  1. Pilots under-price the deliverable, not the flight. A 30-minute flight that produces a hospital marketing image, a stamped solar report, or a TV-show scene is a different product than a 30-minute flight for a friend. Price the product.
  2. Travel and post-processing get eaten. Almost every thread quietly assumes "I'll just figure that out." The fix is one line on the quote: travel at the IRS mileage rate, post at the same hourly as flight time. The Rotor Rate calculator now lets you toggle between one-way and round-trip mileage to match how you think about your commute.
  3. Recurring and volume work get priced as one job, not many. Multi-visit retainers and volume contracts deserve a contract structure with a modest discount and a scope-creep clause — not a sequence of independent invoices the client can squeeze on each one.

If you want to run your own numbers — for any of the scenarios above or your actual job — the free Rotor Rate calculator is the fastest way. The paid version layers in branded estimates, invoicing, multi-site project planning, and payout tracking when you're ready to manage it like a business.

Sources & further reading

Keep going

Related guides

Go deeper on the rest of the drone-pricing topic — same framework, different angle.

Swipe for 4 links →

Next steps

What to do once you have a number you trust.

Swipe for 2 links →