Not certified yet? Start with where commercial pilots can fly under Part 107.
Ranges reflect the US market as observed in 2026 across multiple independent sources; rates run 20 to 50% higher in major metros and for licensed thermal/LiDAR work. Quote every job on your own costs.
A certified operator carries costs a hobbyist doesn't: Part 107 certification and recurrent training, insurance, equipment amortization, travel, and processing time. That's why roughly $150 functions as a practical floor across the smaller consumer-facing jobs; below it, a properly insured, certified operation is usually running at a loss even on a busy day. Pricing low competes against uninsured hobbyists. Certification competes in a different market.
Cost-plus beats copying the competitor down the street:
Plenty of people own a drone; far fewer are Part 107 certified, insured, and current on training. Commercial clients, insurers, and most procurement processes require exactly that. When you're certified, you're not competing on the hobbyist's price; you're one of the operators who can legally take the job at all. That's the argument for holding your rate, and it's why certification pays for itself.
A video file is the baseline. What clients pay more for is what they can't get themselves: processed technical outputs (orthomosaics, volumetrics, inspection reports with evidence) and live access to the flight when a client genuinely needs to see it in real time. That last piece doesn't require building your own streaming setup: Hover for certified drone operators puts a live feed on a private link, with recording included.
Around $150 covers most consumer-facing jobs as a floor (a basic real-estate aerial add-on, a residential roof inspection, a single photo shoot). Below that, most pilots apply a flat trip/minimum fee rather than trying to meter a smaller job. It's a market reference, not a rule; your real floor comes from your own costs.
A full package (10 to 25 edited photos plus a short video) for a single-family listing typically runs $300 to $700. As an add-on to an existing ground shoot, expect $75 to $200; a standalone aerial-only shoot runs $100 to $350.
A residential roof runs $150 to $400. Commercial or multi-structure buildings run $400 to $1,500, and large thermal or multi-site jobs can run $2,500 to $8,000 or more.
A small site (up to about 10 acres) with an orthomosaic and elevation model typically runs $1,500 to $3,000, scaling to $3,000 to $10,000-plus for 10 to 50 acres. Per-acre pricing is inconsistent across the industry (photogrammetry vs. LiDAR, minimum fees on small parcels), so treat any per-acre number you see elsewhere as a rough guide, not a quote.
From your costs, not from what competitors charge: equipment amortization, insurance, certification and recurrent training, travel time, and processing or editing hours, plus margin. Underpricing to win the job is the fastest way to make the business unsustainable.
Yes. Commercial clients, insurers, and most corporate procurement processes require a certified pilot; a large share of hobbyist operators aren't. Certification moves your pricing conversation from competing against a hobbyist's free time to competing on professional deliverables.
Rates gathered from multiple independent US drone-service and pricing-guide sources in 2026 (real estate, roof/building inspection, mapping/survey, agriculture, solar). Per-acre mapping figures vary widely across the industry and are reported here as project-based ranges where sources agree; treat any single per-acre figure elsewhere with caution.