Guide · Part 107 pilots
Pricing for the Client in Front of You
Your cost to fly a job is the floor, not the price. A homeowner and a national brand can ask for the same four orbits and a roof shot, and they're buying two very different things.
Ready to put this into a quote? Rotor Rate does the math.
Two ways to look at the same job
Most of us price from the bottom up: an hour to drive, an hour to fly, gas, editing, a little margin. Bigger clients look from the top down: what's this building worth, what happens if the data is wrong, what does a delay cost the project. When your quote only reflects the bottom-up number, it can read as cheap, and cheap can read as risky.
Signs you've got room to step up
The client has a regional or national footprint, a procurement process, or asks about insurance certificates and data handling. The work feeds a bigger decision, like a sale, a claim, or a construction schedule. And you've got a track record: a stack of completed jobs, or you win most of what you quote. If you're winning nearly everything, that's usually a sign your price is too comfortable, not that you're a great negotiator.
Offer three options instead of one number
An all-or-nothing higher quote feels like a gamble. Three options take the edge off. Essential is your fair rate. Professional adds a step-up for the client's size and risk. Premium adds the extras they'll probably want anyway: rush turnaround, extra deliverables, or the paperwork their insurance folks will ask for. Plenty of clients pick the middle one. Even if they pick Essential, you haven't lost anything.
Keep it honest
Stepping up isn't padding. The higher number has to match more responsibility, more polish, or more paperwork. Don't invent line items, and don't quote a big client more than you'd be comfortable explaining out loud.
How Rotor Rate helps
On a direct-client job in the paid calculator, pick who the client is. If they're a regional, national, or government client, you've got a track record, and your quote sits at or under your fair rate, Rotor Rate shows a small 'Room to step up?' card with a suggested number and three ready-made options. The suggestion is guidance, not market data, and your fair rate stays exactly where it was. Tap 'Not this time' and it goes away.
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