Pricing
What drone and property photography costs
Every job is scoped and quoted before you book. Here is what moves that number, what a booking includes, and how to get one.
What moves the number
Five things decide what a shoot costs.
A village lot in Collingwood and a hundred acres outside Creemore need different amounts of flying and a different number of frames. One rate card would get both wrong.
The property and its grounds
Size, the lot around it, and how much of both has to be in frame. A condo and a waterfront home on acreage are not the same amount of flying or the same number of frames.
Aerial, ground, or both
A flight alone sits at one end. Adding exterior ground stills of the buildings moves it up from there. Most property sets want both — the aerial places the property, the ground frames show what is standing on it.
How much has to be covered
A short exterior set and a full set that has to carry a property listing or a season of a business's marketing are different amounts of shooting, and different amounts of work after it.
Where the images are going
Web, social, print and paid campaign use are scoped up front rather than settled after delivery, so a set built for one listing and a set built for a season of marketing are quoted differently.
Where the property is
How far it sits from Thornbury, where Pete is based. The towns around South Georgian Bay are routine ground, and so is the Nottawasaga corner of Simcoe County behind them; anything further afield is quoted with the travel already included.
Which of those matter most depends on the work. Aerial and drone coverage turns on the property and the airspace over it; commercial and tourism work turns mostly on where the images end up; and aerial and exterior property photography turns on how much of the parcel has to be in frame.
What you get
What a booking includes.
The same things every time, whatever the number turns out to be.
Aerial and ground on one visit
The drone work and the ground work happen on the same booking, so the set is consistent in light and season instead of stitched together from two shoots.
Files ready to use
Web-sized and print-resolution files, delivered in a single link. Nothing to resize, nothing to chase separately.
A flight that is certified and insured
Pete flies on a Transport Canada Basic Operations Pilot Certificate (RPAS) and carries $1,000,000 in liability insurance. The airspace over your specific address is checked before the shoot is confirmed.
Use agreed in the quote
Where the images are going is written into what you book, so nothing is held back after delivery.
How a property shoot runs start to finish is on the aerial property photography page.
Getting a number
What happens after you call.
Quoting a job takes one conversation. This is what is in it.
You send three things
The address, roughly when the images are needed, and what they are for. Call, or use the form on this page.
Pete looks at the address
The property, the lot, and the airspace over it. If a property sits somewhere a Basic Operations certificate cannot fly, you hear it then rather than on the day.
The coverage gets scoped
How much flying the property actually needs, how much exterior ground work goes with it, and where the images are going to be used.
A number comes back
Before anything is booked, with the travel already inside it. If it works, the slot is held and the date confirmed.
Mention anything unusual about the property while you are at it: a large lot, a tight closing date, or a location near an airport, where drone rules change what can be flown. Pete would rather factor that in up front than revise a quote later.
Why it works this way
A rate card prices the average job, not yours.
A published price has to be set at a size that works for the average job, which means the small ones subsidise the large ones and nobody is quoted for the property they actually own. Scoping each job instead takes one extra conversation and gets you a number built around your address: the parcel it sits on, the coverage it genuinely needs, and where the images are going. You are not paying for a flight your property has no use for, and nothing is discovered mid-shoot and added afterwards.
Get a quote
Send three things.
The address, roughly when the images are needed, and what they are for. That is usually enough to quote it.
Once a date is set, there is an hour of work at the property that changes the gallery more than anything done afterwards: How to get a property ready for photos.
519-599-3855pete@petematherphotography.caPrefer to send it from the booking page? Same form, same inbox.
Questions
Before you ask for a number.
- How much does property photography cost in Collingwood?
- There is no fixed rate card. Pete quotes each job once he knows the address, the size of the property, and whether you need the flight alone or exterior ground stills with it. Send those details or call 519-599-3855 and you will have a number before anything is booked.
- How much does drone photography cost?
- It depends on the property and what the flight has to cover. A single set of exterior aerials over an in-town lot and a full aerial pass over a farm or a shoreline parcel are different jobs. The address and what you need the images for are enough to get a number back.
- Why are there no prices listed?
- Because the jobs are not the same size. A one-price list would either overcharge the small properties or shortchange the large ones, so every job is scoped and quoted individually instead.
- What happens after I ask for a quote?
- Pete looks at the property and checks the airspace over that specific address, scopes the coverage the job actually needs, and sends a number back before anything is booked. If the property sits somewhere the drone cannot legally fly, you find out at that point rather than on the day.
- Do you charge extra for travel?
- There is no separate travel line. Whatever the drive turns out to be, it is already inside the number Pete quotes you. Shoots beyond the towns around South Georgian Bay are quoted with the travel included the same way.
- What do I get for the price?
- Web-sized files and print-resolution versions of the same frames, delivered in a single link. The aerial and the exterior ground coverage happen on the same visit, so the set is consistent in light and season rather than stitched together from two shoots.
- Where am I allowed to use the photos?
- Use is agreed in the quote rather than after delivery. Tell Pete where the images are going — the listing, your own site, social, print collateral or a paid campaign — and that scope is written into what you book.
- Is the drone work certified and insured?
- Yes. Pete holds Transport Canada's Basic Operations pilot certificate for remotely piloted aircraft, carries $1,000,000 in liability insurance, and completed real estate-focused drone training with AlteX droneHUB. The certificate classes, the airspace limits that come with them and the paperwork a brokerage can ask to see are set out in drone rules for a listing shoot.
Keep reading
What a quote can cover.
Have a property to quote?
Call Pete directly, or send the details through the form above. Either way you get a number back, and the slot held while you decide.