The guys at REIG (Real Estate Investment Group) called me up recently to see if I could fly another site for them. They were totally stoked on the imagery I captured of the Land Rover dealership for them earlier in the year. This time it was a Sportsman’s Warehouse out in Hillsboro, OR. This job was an interesting experience for me. They had tried to go through Drone Base again but were super unhappy about how long it was taking the pilot that accepted their job to get over to the site to capture it. So, they gave me a call. Ok… let me pause for a moment to rant…
When sites like Drone Base and Droners.io popped up online to farm jobs out to qualified FAA Part 107 UAV Pilots such as myself I thought it was a cool idea. I could make a nice $200-$300 per site and of course the website would take a cut as well. It meant they would find the contracts and work and I could easily fly them and get paid… Fast forward 2 years and prices per job have dropped to a miserable $50-$90 and with all the new pilots on the market now everyone is chasing them, including young college kids and those seeking to make a quick buck. Professional quality has diminished and it’s no longer worth my time to chase after these low paying jobs. But, the clients, such as REIG seem to also be suffering as they aren’t receiving timely, quality work anymore because people like me have bailed on the system. Hence, why they called me.
Flights went smoothly and I was even able to capture some nadir imagery to make a quick 3D model to show them the other side of my business. While I was there I saw another Phantom 4 Pro buzzing around nearby and when I had finished my capture and found the kid flying with is FPOV goggles on I told him the job had been cancelled at Drone Base and he seemed super pissed about it. But I am 100% that REIG received far higher quality work from me and I was able to fly it within 4 hours of them calling me and delivered it within 8 hours. You can’t ask for faster service than that.
Gallery & Prints Here
