You’re forgetting a big one: mountain rescue, lost climbers, avalanche survivors etc. Finding new climbing routes on big mountains, lots of outdoor opportunities & security capabilities.
And most of those are freebie jobs, i have done plenty of that with my Part 107 and just about ready to get out of the drone BS all together with the remote ID fixin to kick in. I have found it was nothing but a service everyone loves to have, as long as they don’t have to pay for it, and dumping all of my money into massive losses, I have had enough.
You make it sound very inviting. If you are doing it as basically a hobby that you are trying to pay for, or just for a few extra bucks, then go for it anyway you can. I've seen a lot of competitors come and go in the last few years and the big thing I've seen is they don't realize what the costs are when they get in the business. Say you start up by buying a thermal drone and get about $150 a job. Your cost per job is the mileage (you can use the Govt estimate of .58 per mile to start for gas, oil, repairs, and purchase cost), depreciation on the drone (assume they last 3 years, which is generous), cost of buying new batteries every year (I use 68 charges as an estimate and two batteries per job), and insurance...say $40 per month. You can put it in a spreadsheet, but if you get a couple of jobs a week, and the average is 60 miles per job, your cost per job is Cost of the Drone or $26 per job+$5 insurance+$4.41 for batteries+$34.80 travel+about $22.50 in taxes or a total of $92.75 per $150 job. Say you spend 1 hour on the job. You made $57 per hour. Well not really. Your driving time and upload time has to go into it. Say another 1.5 hours....so actually, you made almost $23 per hour. Add in getting FAA authorizations (I have to do that for about 50% of my jobs and some of them can take a lot of time) and suddenly, you are making minimum wage or below. It's not a good field to get into, unless you are going to buy the equipment anyway, have a ready source of jobs and/or own your vehicle already and plan to run it until you die. As far as fire departments and police, they all have their own drones around here. I see Dronebase jobs come out and be snapped up at $50. Those guys are definitely losing money and probably don't realize it. My point is you have to go into this business with your eyes wide open...and don't depend on it as your only source of income right away.
great info!. much appreciated. With all those cost in mind for someone wanting to get their feet wet in the industry, what drone would you start with before upgrading to the mavic 2 enterprise if things go well for someone starting out?
@@hermanhale15 You have to decide what your goals are first...supplement income or make a living. That will tell you what type of work you need, which will help you with what drone to buy. You need to look at your potential market after deciding what your goals are (current drone pilot users in the area, type of work they do, and the big one, your potential competition, etc), to see if you can even develop a customer base to make the money you need. Competition is a big factor because some of them will drive the market price for a service below costs. You need to do all that before you even decide to spend the money. You may be able to get by with much less. ....oh and while I believe DJI has the best hardware and software, don't buy one from them if your potential clients are located in controlled airspace because while the FAA may tell you to fly, DJI may say no when you arrive onsite. I have never been so embarrassed as when I spent a month planning and getting permissions, then showed up on site, after using the self-unlock, when an airboss was actually delaying helicopter training for my op and my Phantom said no, I'm not taking off...so don't forget to consider your airspace too before you decide. There are a lot of factors in choosing a business drone, but it all starts by coming up with a business plan.
@@TheDroneAngle wow even more awesome information I appreciate your time and info will consider all of these factors. I was showing to get away to get away with like a mavic mini to do some minor inspection jobs and maybe some real estate stuff. If I like it and I see some business in it I would ideally use some of the funds from those gigs to upgrade to the pro models to be able to do more inspections of sorts .
@@hermanhale15 Most commercial real estate people require a 20 megapixel sensor, want it shot in RAW, and require 4K video, so your minimum should be that for real estate (unless you are working for someone you know). If you plan to do mapping, a mechanical shutter is definitely nice, but not an absolute requirement. The newer drones are much smaller, and have great features, but don't discount something like a Phantom, especially if you are careful and don't need obstacle avoidance. You can get a like-new one pretty inexpensively and many still consider it to be a Swiss army knife of drones. You still have to consider the airspace around you though. I happen to live within 20 miles of 4 class D (only 1 covered by LAANC), 1 class C, and 1 class e2 (controlled to the ground). That's why I always have non-DJI backup.
I wanted to thank you for this little nudge of encouragement to look into this side hustle. I've been meaning to find one and just couldn't find something fitting, but this totally fits my needs. Thanks again and cheers!
Russ - once again, you’ve provided an enormously informative video with great fact-based information. I’m FAR too big of a novice at this point, but I am very, very intrigued by the notion of making money with my drone. Consider that I’m a 61 year old guy who has retirement in his sites. What a fun and potentially lucrative way to create supplemental income in retirement.
I'm inspired. Thanks for putting this video together. I'm working on a Marine Protected Area in the Philippines that will affect over 1500 families' livelihood from tourism and fishing. Been using drones for coral reef conservation and mangrove monitoring. This year we had someone die from drowning because of a lack of lifeguards and search and rescue capabilities. If we can use this technology to save just one life and protect the coastal communities from illegal fishing we will really make an impact. More power.
Do this while you have a chance! If Amazon's plans to do delivery via autonomous drones pan out then it would not be long before DroneBase decides that they can also use autonomous drones as well (if they're not planning for that right now). Then it would be a matter of setting up lightly-staffed drone bases across strategic areas from which they could dispatch cheap drones to do thermal imaging or other jobs, no drone operator needed.
So 2 years ago I saved paychecks and got a mavic air 1. Since then that drone has rescued 3 dogs, a cat, and 2 horses that ran away. I have helped survey roof damage. The work comes naturally and I've only been doing favors. People say I need to start making money at this point. This would take things off to whole new level. Like using a sharp knife instead of a spoon finding the correct animal instead of a baby cow. The owner can even yell its name on the loudspeaker. Great presentation! Time to start saving paychecks...a lot of them. I was almost considering the splash drone 4, but this is way better using the professional DJI apps and a smart controller with occusync. Way worth it! This beats the Mavic 3 from what Ive seen leaked so far as well! Thank You!
All excellent points you've made here. Large corporate interests are going to take over the opportunities if the small business does not persist until the opportunity arrives. It's only a matter of time. Create examples of what you can do, and work the relationships, that's how most business is done. What you feed is what will grow.
Thank you Russ for creating this video! It's very timely for me as I'm considering all my options for when I get my 107. Lots of food for thought! Great video as always. I'd be interested in more videos related to this material.
This is outstanding. As a professional photographer who owns a flower business...in the incredibly busy market of Central Florida, I am looking for a way to perhaps transition my life to something new. I love my time flying and doing landscape photography with my drone. I am encouraged and excited to look at the possibility of making extra income and this will work. Thanks for the huge amount of time and effort you have put into this video. As a creator of a less than successful channel, I can really appreciate the intense amount of work and time that goes into putting content together. I wish you much future success.
Great video demonstrating practical inspection opportunities. Another opportunity is with local, state, or federal disaster assessments as a contractor. Following flooding, tornado, oe hurricane damage, aerial images (not necessarily thermal) can expedite damage reporting for emergency declarations. One community in NJ recently used drone images to help a debris removal contractor more accurately estimate how much tonnage of household furnishings needed to be picked up. Instead of manually assessing, a few quick missions through neighborhoods gave enough data for trucks and dumpsters. In NC, the state uses sUAS for road inspections after damage to assess. Bridge inspections may present another opportunity as an independent contractor, especially to smaller towns and counties. Thanks for the video and insight!
Thank you so much for your information! I’m starting to do some research and investigation into how I can build an income from this. I saw that there is a new Mavic 3E; so I’ll take a look into that, and obviously learn about the uses you mentioned. Thank you again.
This is the time to start your own business...there is so much potential on social media, fb marketplace, it just takes a bit of work but definitely doable.
Hello Russ, Thank you for your informative video. It helps put the option in perspective and brought up other ideas as well. Did you ever find that “ear” that would listen to what you had to say?
This is right up my alley. I love flying and surveying roof damage. I've been very interested in getting into thermal imagery. I will keep an eye out for a used model. Also interested in the auto piloting you mentioned.
If I wasn't retired and already comfortable and non-motivated at this point in life, I would definitely go for that. That is an investment that could pay back itself very quickly as you noted, as long as one put in a little bit of effort to get some jobs. I'm sure once a person got started, if they did a good job, the money would roll in quite nicely.
First video I’ve watched from you Russ and I’m really grateful. Thank you for providing inspiration and quality content. All the best and blessings. 🙏🏽
Hey Russ, what a GREAT video, this is what I love about your channel, straight information and you think outside of the box. I know consumer gear reviews likely get a lot more views but I applaud you covering these subjects. One thing though this does raise for me are a lot of questions, I'm sure I'm not alone in having the desire to make some side income from my drone but owning another small business (swimming pool repairs) I know it can be a lot more complicated. As soon as something becomes a "business" stuff like liability insurance, accounting and many other expenses come up, for example we pay over $20,000/year JUST in liability. I'd love to hear your input and listen to your experiences as someone that does make income from drone photography in regards to all this. Can you just declare this as extra income under a certain amount? Can you get insurance within reason for doing roof inspections or does the company that gave you the work cover that? How are you paid, is it as a subcontractor or another way? I've yet to make any income off my drone but have had many people ask because of things I share on social media... mostly local townships. I politely decline for fear of setting myself up to get in hot water. Thanks again for a fantastic refreshing video, this really sets your channel apart from others imho.
My dad has a Mavic Air 2, and he got his drone license too. I've been trying to find ways to make money with it, have you any information on what I can do, or where to start with that?
Individual $1m liability insurance is around $900 a year for drone coverage. Most of the time this includes drone damage coverage; as well as property rights coverage
This is very interesting, thanks for the insightful information and excellent presentation. Funny, I work remotely in Customer Success for a tech company and love my job but I’ve been looking for a cool side gig and I think this could be it! Now to chose a drone, the certification for thermal readings look very intriguing.
Thank you for the knowledge Russ, you always deliver Awesome content! I have dabbled in mapping and noticed it’s very time consuming and will explore the roofing side of the business 👍🏽
Hi. I love to see that your channel is growing at a great pace. Can I use the Parrot Bebop-Pro Thermal Drone to begin with? Can you make a video if you have one at hand to see if the clients are willing to use your services with this king of drone. Thanks in advance.
Great information. I have been flying a drone for a year and a half, just retired and thinking about getting my Part 107 license. What is really interesting to me is that I could pick and choose the jobs ( after getting established.)
@@matthewhebbert9712 They are saying that because the drone, payload, and certifications are all remarkably expensive, only someone who is already wealthy could actually afford to peruse commercial drone work. Plus you will need a lot of proprietary batteries that typically cost over a hundred dollars each and have a built-in system to limit their lifespan
Russ great intro to the practical use cases. I'm a part 107pilot with a UAS Level 1 Thermography rating from our friends at FLIR, and I operate a small drone service provider business. There are a few issues with this aircraft that gives me pause. 1. The thermal files are NOT compatible with FLIR thermal files. This is important because so many tool chains have been developed using FLIR files and this limits your tools for delivering top notch thermal deliverables to clients. There are file converters out there in the wild and DJI thermal tools are getting better but it is a VERY real issue. 2. Thermal temperatures (not just the colors on the images) can be considerably different from actual temperatures based on initial testing. I've yet to put hands on this aircraft and do the tests myself in a controlled environment but if you're looking for relative temperatures or just hot and not hot, this should be fine. 3. A lot of the DJI features were missing when the aircraft was released. Limitations on flight operations, 12 MP sensor is small and old tech, several other issues with flight control. 4. DJI broken NFZs and painful unlocking is an included feature in this aircraft for no additional charge! I know the price is sub $7K and that's a value proposition but it wasn't clear to me this was the immediate choice. I really wanted to love it when it was released but it just fell short for me. Your video prompted me to take another look. Thanks. Again, great job. Any thoughts on the EVO 2 Thermal?
I have 2 friends with the Evo and they say the thermal is equivalent to this drone. The benefit would be the Geo unlock. That is quite frustrating, especially when it’s not working properly like for me right now
@@51Drones How much would one charge for a thermal drone inspection? Or have you done any thermal inspections for drone base app? If so how much does it pay for a thermal inspection.. like a range if it?
Recently - I had my driveway replaced. I took aerial photos and a few videos of their progress (start to finish). When they (the contractor) completed the job, I gave them copies of everything. They were Very appreciative. They ended up using some of these photos in their advertising (website). I told them that I would be available for them if they ever wanted to document more of their jobs. I still haven't heard back from them. Perhaps they went with another. BTW - I too have my Part 107. I'd sure like to have this drone with the Thermal. That would motivate me to get my night-flight endorsement. Best! Maybe I'll go out and look for Bigfoot!
Nice video and thank you for sharing, can you be able to use a mini 2 to do rooftop inspection or it have to be the mavic 2 enterprise only. Looking to get into this as a side hustle money 😁
I just ordered the new Mavic 3 cine and I am very interested in this information! This is very helpful information as I start my own business. I already have a part 107 and I’ve been posting on TH-cam for quite some time. Getting quite a bit of practice with my drone. Really liking the information you put together, i’m looking forward to any and all information on this. Thank you!
Thank you again Russ. I make one more comment. I was displaced by the Santa Cruz (CZU) fires, living on Empire and near Ice Cream Grades. It was a very long day when I lost my place. Drones could not have made a difference in this case, but that is somewhat because they were not used and not part of the arsenal to fight against it. I don't think they would have made a difference in this case either because the fire became so massive so quickly. But I do believe, when this fire started, if drones were used immediately and in number, they could have determined it's direction, velocity, and (with thermal) particular hot spots. They would have helped immensely if immediately deployed. But they are not part of the fireman's arsenal as far as I know. In fact I met many young people employed by Cal Fire with shovels on this particular fire. I state that because it was absolutely true - shovels only. Helicopters gave up after a day of drops, and then the fire came back up the mountain. So yeah, I have a viewpoint on this. Drones should be used extensively during these occasions, flown by professionals in conjunction with local fire departments and air patrol. These are not mutually exclusive things. It's high time our emergency responders use drones, in numbers, to combat these types of disasters... and it was a disaster for many of us in Bonny Doon, and Santa Cruz County in general.
IM sorry to hear that. I used to live in Napa and the fire was insane a few years back that started by the country club, its very hard to explain but I do understand your point of view and agree. If you ever need help let me know anyway i can.
If you wanted to just test things out and take a couple of missions on DroneUp and DroneBase, would you recommend creating an LLC, or is that a little overkill to work through one of the drone aggregators? Thanks for the video.
Another use under the "Wildlife Conservation and Management" category is the recovery of deer wounded by hunters. There is a local deer recovery person in my state who charges $250 to look and another $100 when the deer is found. I have seen the thermal videos of the search and often within a short period of time the deer is located.
I’m looking into this for wild game retrieval and herd management. Also, I could use this for HVAC because I have been in the HVAC industry for 30 years.
Russ Great info thank you. Right now I’ve got one year in flying. I have an Air 2 and Air 2S only. Besides the lack of thermal equipment on board do you think either one is capable of providing necessary resolution for roof inspection? I’ve been thinking of these opportunities a lot lately. I am nearing the end of my current career as an RN and this seems very appealing to me. Look forward to your response. Wes
Russ, the fact that Drone Base is putting jobs out for bidding is why they are an awful choice. I hvae found that their "bidding" process has drone pilots doing the jobs for peanuts. Most do not know how to price the job value. Travel, insurance, cost of equipment. Drone pilots are their own worst enemy for oprrations like these. Have been chasing these kinds of jobs for my M2A. Same kind of deflecting from those that are in City or State positions. Will keep at it. Thanks for one of the best common sense vids on the M2A applications.
love your vids. I just got my part 107 and want to start a drone company is there any talk of a new version of the m2e or is this my best bet for entry thermal? i own 5 dji drones but no thermal drones thanks and again love this site you rock....
Great review. I saw a bad review on this drone due to the thermal images. It said the images were good, but this stores in DJI's proprietary format rather than an industry standard. Because of this they are useless. Is this right? What are your thoughts. Thanks!
Commenting to get a video about the DJI Pilot App. I'm only 3:30 minutes in so I can't say anything else about the video, lol. You're always great, though! :)
Great video Russ. Question, in my research for roof inspections it appears you need to have some sort of inspection certification apart from a Part 107. If that’s the case I see the possibility of working alongside a local company in your area that has a certified inspector and just providing the images? Am I missing something? Thanks!
Can you answer a question for me? When you take a panorama with the M2EA using Pilot are both regular images and IR images taken? Are those images automatically stitched into a spherical panorama as in the Mavic 2 Pro using DJI Go4? Thanks!
It's a great work and idea tools to useful on now a days. Want to learn and earn helping people that can't reach using these and be a part of it. Let's do it... thank you for all the tips and advice sir,.
Hey Russ, I am getting into the drone industry and am going to start with local roof inspections. My question is would my current drone inventory be sufficient enough to get the job done or should I invest in a drone with thermal imaging (like the enterprise advanced)? I have the DJI Mavic 3 and DJI Mini 2. Please let me know. Thanks!
Can a LiDAR camera be mounted to the above said drone? being able to switch back and forth if one should choose to. If not can 2d be downloaded into software such as PIX4D, or, to create 4d footage for clients?
Could a dji mini (gen 1) be used to start at first and then (when I have enough) later upgrade to a better system? Or is that to old of tech? My drone has been sitting around for a few months (got it on sale early 2021) and want to find a use for it as well as it would be nice to get some more money. Edit…damn the hoops needed to even get a license is annoying. Any guides or training you recommend or should I look it up and guess as to which are up to date or are correct…and I thought getting my other certs for another job was bad.
You’re forgetting a big one: mountain rescue, lost climbers, avalanche survivors etc. Finding new climbing routes on big mountains, lots of outdoor opportunities & security capabilities.
Only issue is Chinese made and linked information sharing with them ?
And most of those are freebie jobs, i have done plenty of that with my Part 107 and just about ready to get out of the drone BS all together with the remote ID fixin to kick in. I have found it was nothing but a service everyone loves to have, as long as they don’t have to pay for it, and dumping all of my money into massive losses, I have had enough.
You make it sound very inviting. If you are doing it as basically a hobby that you are trying to pay for, or just for a few extra bucks, then go for it anyway you can. I've seen a lot of competitors come and go in the last few years and the big thing I've seen is they don't realize what the costs are when they get in the business. Say you start up by buying a thermal drone and get about $150 a job. Your cost per job is the mileage (you can use the Govt estimate of .58 per mile to start for gas, oil, repairs, and purchase cost), depreciation on the drone (assume they last 3 years, which is generous), cost of buying new batteries every year (I use 68 charges as an estimate and two batteries per job), and insurance...say $40 per month. You can put it in a spreadsheet, but if you get a couple of jobs a week, and the average is 60 miles per job, your cost per job is Cost of the Drone or $26 per job+$5 insurance+$4.41 for batteries+$34.80 travel+about $22.50 in taxes or a total of $92.75 per $150 job. Say you spend 1 hour on the job. You made $57 per hour. Well not really. Your driving time and upload time has to go into it. Say another 1.5 hours....so actually, you made almost $23 per hour. Add in getting FAA authorizations (I have to do that for about 50% of my jobs and some of them can take a lot of time) and suddenly, you are making minimum wage or below. It's not a good field to get into, unless you are going to buy the equipment anyway, have a ready source of jobs and/or own your vehicle already and plan to run it until you die. As far as fire departments and police, they all have their own drones around here. I see Dronebase jobs come out and be snapped up at $50. Those guys are definitely losing money and probably don't realize it. My point is you have to go into this business with your eyes wide open...and don't depend on it as your only source of income right away.
great info!. much appreciated. With all those cost in mind for someone wanting to get their feet wet in the industry, what drone would you start with before upgrading to the mavic 2 enterprise if things go well for someone starting out?
@@hermanhale15 You have to decide what your goals are first...supplement income or make a living. That will tell you what type of work you need, which will help you with what drone to buy. You need to look at your potential market after deciding what your goals are (current drone pilot users in the area, type of work they do, and the big one, your potential competition, etc), to see if you can even develop a customer base to make the money you need. Competition is a big factor because some of them will drive the market price for a service below costs. You need to do all that before you even decide to spend the money. You may be able to get by with much less. ....oh and while I believe DJI has the best hardware and software, don't buy one from them if your potential clients are located in controlled airspace because while the FAA may tell you to fly, DJI may say no when you arrive onsite. I have never been so embarrassed as when I spent a month planning and getting permissions, then showed up on site, after using the self-unlock, when an airboss was actually delaying helicopter training for my op and my Phantom said no, I'm not taking off...so don't forget to consider your airspace too before you decide. There are a lot of factors in choosing a business drone, but it all starts by coming up with a business plan.
@@TheDroneAngle wow even more awesome information I appreciate your time and info will consider all of these factors. I was showing to get away to get away with like a mavic mini to do some minor inspection jobs and maybe some real estate stuff. If I like it and I see some business in it I would ideally use some of the funds from those gigs to upgrade to the pro models to be able to do more inspections of sorts .
@@hermanhale15 Most commercial real estate people require a 20 megapixel sensor, want it shot in RAW, and require 4K video, so your minimum should be that for real estate (unless you are working for someone you know). If you plan to do mapping, a mechanical shutter is definitely nice, but not an absolute requirement. The newer drones are much smaller, and have great features, but don't discount something like a Phantom, especially if you are careful and don't need obstacle avoidance. You can get a like-new one pretty inexpensively and many still consider it to be a Swiss army knife of drones. You still have to consider the airspace around you though. I happen to live within 20 miles of 4 class D (only 1 covered by LAANC), 1 class C, and 1 class e2 (controlled to the ground). That's why I always have non-DJI backup.
@@TheDroneAngle Sounds like KBUR, KWHP, KVNY and KSMA, most under KLAX... with KVNY covered under LAANC to 400 ft. drawing the blank on the e2
I wanted to thank you for this little nudge of encouragement to look into this side hustle. I've been meaning to find one and just couldn't find something fitting, but this totally fits my needs. Thanks again and cheers!
Hey. I gotta say that I loved the video. The way you talk about all the opportunities really made me excited. Thanks man.
Russ - once again, you’ve provided an enormously informative video with great fact-based information. I’m FAR too big of a novice at this point, but I am very, very intrigued by the notion of making money with my drone. Consider that I’m a 61 year old guy who has retirement in his sites. What a fun and potentially lucrative way to create supplemental income in retirement.
I'm inspired. Thanks for putting this video together. I'm working on a Marine Protected Area in the Philippines that will affect over 1500 families' livelihood from tourism and fishing. Been using drones for coral reef conservation and mangrove monitoring. This year we had someone die from drowning because of a lack of lifeguards and search and rescue capabilities. If we can use this technology to save just one life and protect the coastal communities from illegal fishing we will really make an impact. More power.
You're a pioneer, Russ! Great practical ideas to approach running a commercial drone business!
Excellent video Russ. You always come through with great content. Bravo!!
This video is the key to success thank you. I have been struggling on what area to tap into with my drone and I believe I have the tools to do so!
Do this while you have a chance! If Amazon's plans to do delivery via autonomous drones pan out then it would not be long before DroneBase decides that they can also use autonomous drones as well (if they're not planning for that right now). Then it would be a matter of setting up lightly-staffed drone bases across strategic areas from which they could dispatch cheap drones to do thermal imaging or other jobs, no drone operator needed.
Great info, I really appreciate you taking the time to share these ideas!
So 2 years ago I saved paychecks and got a mavic air 1. Since then that drone has rescued 3 dogs, a cat, and 2 horses that ran away. I have helped survey roof damage. The work comes naturally and I've only been doing favors. People say I need to start making money at this point. This would take things off to whole new level. Like using a sharp knife instead of a spoon finding the correct animal instead of a baby cow. The owner can even yell its name on the loudspeaker. Great presentation! Time to start saving paychecks...a lot of them. I was almost considering the splash drone 4, but this is way better using the professional DJI apps and a smart controller with occusync. Way worth it! This beats the Mavic 3 from what Ive seen leaked so far as well! Thank You!
Well done Russ. Thank you so much. Spot on with everything you suggest. Can't wait to get started.
All excellent points you've made here. Large corporate interests are going to take over the opportunities if the small business does not persist until the opportunity arrives. It's only a matter of time. Create examples of what you can do, and work the relationships, that's how most business is done.
What you feed is what will grow.
very good info and demonstration Russ found very interesting thanks
Lots of great ideas! Thanks for the video!
Excellent information Russ!
Great information Russ, and thanks for sharing.
Thank you for all your efforts.
Such a great video, tanks! And yes, definitely want to see an exemple of the Pilot App automatic mission feature!
Always good content thanks.
Another great video! Thank you!
I hope Rex gets his department one of these. It would be a great tool, and a very minor cost. Thanks for the great video!
Thank you Russ for creating this video! It's very timely for me as I'm considering all my options for when I get my 107. Lots of food for thought! Great video as always. I'd be interested in more videos related to this material.
I wish I could give this video two thumbs up!!👍👍 great information, thank you.
Would love to see how the DJI app automates a mission like this. Awesome content - thanks for the info!
Thank you for doing the video!
Excellent video. Thank you.
This is outstanding. As a professional photographer who owns a flower business...in the incredibly busy market of Central Florida, I am looking for a way to perhaps transition my life to something new. I love my time flying and doing landscape photography with my drone. I am encouraged and excited to look at the possibility of making extra income and this will work. Thanks for the huge amount of time and effort you have put into this video. As a creator of a less than successful channel, I can really appreciate the intense amount of work and time that goes into putting content together. I wish you much future success.
Never even heard of a dji mavic 2 enterprise until watching your channel, the ideas are great and you have a new subscriber.
welcome!
Thank you so much for the valuable insights.
Thank you for this informative video
Amazing drone mate great video dear.
Great video and info thanks
Great info, Thanks
Identifying hot spots that could flare back up seems like it would be great use.
Great video demonstrating practical inspection opportunities.
Another opportunity is with local, state, or federal disaster assessments as a contractor. Following flooding, tornado, oe hurricane damage, aerial images (not necessarily thermal) can expedite damage reporting for emergency declarations. One community in NJ recently used drone images to help a debris removal contractor more accurately estimate how much tonnage of household furnishings needed to be picked up. Instead of manually assessing, a few quick missions through neighborhoods gave enough data for trucks and dumpsters. In NC, the state uses sUAS for road inspections after damage to assess. Bridge inspections may present another opportunity as an independent contractor, especially to smaller towns and counties.
Thanks for the video and insight!
Love the content, yup I would definitely be interested in the auto inspection mission.
Thank you so much for this video
great video!!
Thank you so much for your information! I’m starting to do some research and investigation into how I can build an income from this. I saw that there is a new Mavic 3E; so I’ll take a look into that, and obviously learn about the uses you mentioned. Thank you again.
I love this idea👌🏾😌
Thanks for all your work in these videos. I think one DJI Pilot would be great. Not many on the subject.
This is the time to start your own business...there is so much potential on social media, fb marketplace, it just takes a bit of work but definitely doable.
Hello Russ,
Thank you for your informative video. It helps put the option in perspective and brought up other ideas as well. Did you ever find that “ear” that would listen to what you had to say?
Hey sir thanks for inspiring me!
This is right up my alley. I love flying and surveying roof damage. I've been very interested in getting into thermal imagery. I will keep an eye out for a used model.
Also interested in the auto piloting you mentioned.
Super hard to find used ones. New they are not that expensive if you have contracts to work on.
If I wasn't retired and already comfortable and non-motivated at this point in life, I would definitely go for that. That is an investment that could pay back itself very quickly as you noted, as long as one put in a little bit of effort to get some jobs. I'm sure once a person got started, if they did a good job, the money would roll in quite nicely.
I love how you said that👍😂
First video I’ve watched from you Russ and I’m really grateful. Thank you for providing inspiration and quality content. All the best and blessings. 🙏🏽
Thank you, truly!
Thanks!
Good information. Nice drone. Let’s stay on top with the FCC regulations for DJI. Nice information.
Thank you
Hey Russ, what a GREAT video, this is what I love about your channel, straight information and you think outside of the box. I know consumer gear reviews likely get a lot more views but I applaud you covering these subjects. One thing though this does raise for me are a lot of questions, I'm sure I'm not alone in having the desire to make some side income from my drone but owning another small business (swimming pool repairs) I know it can be a lot more complicated. As soon as something becomes a "business" stuff like liability insurance, accounting and many other expenses come up, for example we pay over $20,000/year JUST in liability. I'd love to hear your input and listen to your experiences as someone that does make income from drone photography in regards to all this. Can you just declare this as extra income under a certain amount? Can you get insurance within reason for doing roof inspections or does the company that gave you the work cover that? How are you paid, is it as a subcontractor or another way? I've yet to make any income off my drone but have had many people ask because of things I share on social media... mostly local townships. I politely decline for fear of setting myself up to get in hot water. Thanks again for a fantastic refreshing video, this really sets your channel apart from others imho.
My dad has a Mavic Air 2, and he got his drone license too. I've been trying to find ways to make money with it, have you any information on what I can do, or where to start with that?
Individual $1m liability insurance is around $900 a year for drone coverage. Most of the time this includes drone damage coverage; as well as property rights coverage
This is very interesting, thanks for the insightful information and excellent presentation. Funny, I work remotely in Customer Success for a tech company and love my job but I’ve been looking for a cool side gig and I think this could be it! Now to chose a drone, the certification for thermal readings look very intriguing.
Thank you for the knowledge Russ, you always deliver Awesome content! I have dabbled in mapping and noticed it’s very time consuming and will explore the roofing side of the business 👍🏽
Hi. I love to see that your channel is growing at a great pace. Can I use the Parrot Bebop-Pro Thermal Drone to begin with? Can you make a video if you have one at hand to see if the clients are willing to use your services with this king of drone. Thanks in advance.
Great information. I have been flying a drone for a year and a half, just retired and thinking about getting my Part 107 license. What is really interesting to me is that I could pick and choose the jobs ( after getting established.)
Yeah it’s great if you are already wealthy
@@Heyemeyohsts explain?
@@matthewhebbert9712 They are saying that because the drone, payload, and certifications are all remarkably expensive, only someone who is already wealthy could actually afford to peruse commercial drone work. Plus you will need a lot of proprietary batteries that typically cost over a hundred dollars each and have a built-in system to limit their lifespan
Russ great intro to the practical use cases. I'm a part 107pilot with a UAS Level 1 Thermography rating from our friends at FLIR, and I operate a small drone service provider business. There are a few issues with this aircraft that gives me pause.
1. The thermal files are NOT compatible with FLIR thermal files. This is important because so many tool chains have been developed using FLIR files and this limits your tools for delivering top notch thermal deliverables to clients. There are file converters out there in the wild and DJI thermal tools are getting better but it is a VERY real issue.
2. Thermal temperatures (not just the colors on the images) can be considerably different from actual temperatures based on initial testing. I've yet to put hands on this aircraft and do the tests myself in a controlled environment but if you're looking for relative temperatures or just hot and not hot, this should be fine.
3. A lot of the DJI features were missing when the aircraft was released. Limitations on flight operations, 12 MP sensor is small and old tech, several other issues with flight control.
4. DJI broken NFZs and painful unlocking is an included feature in this aircraft for no additional charge!
I know the price is sub $7K and that's a value proposition but it wasn't clear to me this was the immediate choice. I really wanted to love it when it was released but it just fell short for me. Your video prompted me to take another look. Thanks. Again, great job.
Any thoughts on the EVO 2 Thermal?
I have 2 friends with the Evo and they say the thermal is equivalent to this drone. The benefit would be the Geo unlock. That is quite frustrating, especially when it’s not working properly like for me right now
@@51Drones How much would one charge for a thermal drone inspection? Or have you done any thermal inspections for drone base app? If so how much does it pay for a thermal inspection.. like a range if it?
Recently - I had my driveway replaced. I took aerial photos and a few videos of their progress (start to finish). When they (the contractor) completed the job, I gave them copies of everything. They were Very appreciative. They ended up using some of these photos in their advertising (website). I told them that I would be available for them if they ever wanted to document more of their jobs. I still haven't heard back from them. Perhaps they went with another. BTW - I too have my Part 107. I'd sure like to have this drone with the Thermal. That would motivate me to get my night-flight endorsement. Best!
Maybe I'll go out and look for Bigfoot!
Great idea!
You haven’t heard back because you gave them something they weren’t looking for and you gave it for free anyway!
@@5grasmere You figured that out all by yourself?
Nice video and thank you for sharing, can you be able to use a mini 2 to do rooftop inspection or it have to be the mavic 2 enterprise only. Looking to get into this as a side hustle money 😁
Great info! What’s differents between the DJI Dual and advanced drone?
I just go one for the first time, always wanted one. Got to flying it getting good at it. Lost it in the woods somewhere. 😢😢
I just ordered the new Mavic 3 cine and I am very interested in this information! This is very helpful information as I start my own business. I already have a part 107 and I’ve been posting on TH-cam for quite some time. Getting quite a bit of practice with my drone. Really liking the information you put together, i’m looking forward to any and all information on this. Thank you!
Have you gotten Any income yet?
@@Hughleik yes.
@@scottkint Nice. Good Luck mate
Thank you again Russ. I make one more comment. I was displaced by the Santa Cruz (CZU) fires, living on Empire and near Ice Cream Grades. It was a very long day when I lost my place. Drones could not have made a difference in this case, but that is somewhat because they were not used and not part of the arsenal to fight against it. I don't think they would have made a difference in this case either because the fire became so massive so quickly. But I do believe, when this fire started, if drones were used immediately and in number, they could have determined it's direction, velocity, and (with thermal) particular hot spots. They would have helped immensely if immediately deployed. But they are not part of the fireman's arsenal as far as I know. In fact I met many young people employed by Cal Fire with shovels on this particular fire. I state that because it was absolutely true - shovels only. Helicopters gave up after a day of drops, and then the fire came back up the mountain. So yeah, I have a viewpoint on this. Drones should be used extensively during these occasions, flown by professionals in conjunction with local fire departments and air patrol. These are not mutually exclusive things. It's high time our emergency responders use drones, in numbers, to combat these types of disasters... and it was a disaster for many of us in Bonny Doon, and Santa Cruz County in general.
IM sorry to hear that. I used to live in Napa and the fire was insane a few years back that started by the country club, its very hard to explain but I do understand your point of view and agree. If you ever need help let me know anyway i can.
@@prodbydramatic You just did. Thank you.
I would love to see a automated mission for this application.
If you wanted to just test things out and take a couple of missions on DroneUp and DroneBase, would you recommend creating an LLC, or is that a little overkill to work through one of the drone aggregators? Thanks for the video.
Dam good video TY
Another use under the "Wildlife Conservation and Management" category is the recovery of deer wounded by hunters. There is a local deer recovery person in my state who charges $250 to look and another $100 when the deer is found. I have seen the thermal videos of the search and often within a short period of time the deer is located.
This is very interesting. Please show the demo of the DJI PILOT APP for the mission. Keep up the good work.
Yes I'd like to see the DJI demo you mentioned?
I’m looking into this for wild game retrieval and herd management. Also, I could use this for HVAC because I have been in the HVAC industry for 30 years.
I was a level 2 certified Thermographer while employed by an Electric utility. I wish I had a thermal drone back then!
Awesome!
I'd like to see the example you mentioned in the video. Thanks!
Thank you Ross for your great videos. Question if you can answer... roughly about how much was the hospital aerial project job? Thanks in advance.
Thanks for showing part of the process of how you do rooftop inspections. Totally makes sense. Would like to see you using the app you referred to.
Russ
Great info thank you. Right now I’ve got one year in flying. I have an Air 2 and Air 2S only.
Besides the lack of thermal equipment on board do you think either one is capable of providing necessary resolution for roof inspection? I’ve been thinking of these opportunities a lot lately. I am nearing the end of my current career as an RN and this seems very appealing to me. Look forward to your response.
Wes
Absolutely!!!
Great idea. I'm at the point now though were I have to figure out how to get funding to even get started.
Russ, the fact that Drone Base is putting jobs out for bidding is why they are an awful choice. I hvae found that their "bidding" process has drone pilots doing the jobs for peanuts. Most do not know how to price the job value. Travel, insurance, cost of equipment. Drone pilots are their own worst enemy for oprrations like these.
Have been chasing these kinds of jobs for my M2A. Same kind of deflecting from those that are in City or State positions. Will keep at it. Thanks for one of the best common sense vids on the M2A applications.
As I said, it’s just a suggestion to get started and get experience. Didn’t say they were an end all.
Which drone do you have
Hello, thank you for sharing. Just have a question, does the Phantom 4 Pro Plus can do thermal inspections?
Thank you 🙏🏻
This is the Drone I wanted 3 years ago... but I was talked into the MP2..
Either way I live a HOT DRY WINDY state of NV
love your vids. I just got my part 107 and want to start a drone company is there any talk of a new version of the m2e or is this my best bet for entry thermal? i own 5 dji drones but no thermal drones thanks and again love this site you rock....
Great review. I saw a bad review on this drone due to the thermal images. It said the images were good, but this stores in DJI's proprietary format rather than an industry standard. Because of this they are useless. Is this right? What are your thoughts. Thanks!
New Sub!!! 💪🏿
Commenting to get a video about the DJI Pilot App. I'm only 3:30 minutes in so I can't say anything else about the video, lol. You're always great, though! :)
As a retired , but motivated , person , this sounds very interesting 🤔 😏. Just needs a little imagination as to how to get started ! Interested !
Great video Russ. Question, in my research for roof inspections it appears you need to have some sort of inspection certification apart from a Part 107. If that’s the case I see the possibility of working alongside a local company in your area that has a certified inspector and just providing the images? Am I missing something? Thanks!
Where is that a rule? Not saying it’s crazy or anything but just wondering as I’m in Canada
Please give a tutorial on how to overlap/merge multiple pictures.
Can you answer a question for me? When you take a panorama with the M2EA using Pilot are both regular images and IR images taken? Are those images automatically stitched into a spherical panorama as in the Mavic 2 Pro using DJI Go4? Thanks!
How cool this will be for fishing.
They are used for fishing. You can buy a hook holder for your drone to carry your bait far out in ocean
It's a great work and idea tools to useful on now a days. Want to learn and earn helping people that can't reach using these and be a part of it. Let's do it... thank you for all the tips and advice sir,.
Hey Russ, I am getting into the drone industry and am going to start with local roof inspections. My question is would my current drone inventory be sufficient enough to get the job done or should I invest in a drone with thermal imaging (like the enterprise advanced)? I have the DJI Mavic 3 and DJI Mini 2. Please let me know. Thanks!
I just started using the Pilot PE app last month on a Mavic 2 Pro. A video about the app would be great!
Hi .. what is Pilot PE app. I am interested in learning new opportunities thank you.
Can a LiDAR camera be mounted to the above said drone? being able to switch back and forth if one should choose to. If not can 2d be downloaded into software such as PIX4D, or, to create 4d footage for clients?
great info looking for a service liker this in australia
I would be interested in a video showing how to use the app to do an inspection
Could a dji mini (gen 1) be used to start at first and then (when I have enough) later upgrade to a better system? Or is that to old of tech? My drone has been sitting around for a few months (got it on sale early 2021) and want to find a use for it as well as it would be nice to get some more money.
Edit…damn the hoops needed to even get a license is annoying. Any guides or training you recommend or should I look it up and guess as to which are up to date or are correct…and I thought getting my other certs for another job was bad.
Do you need to use a 3d model software like Drone Deploy or DJI terra to do this?
the Mavic 3 T sounds like a game changer.
How would you go about checking if there is a local demand for such said services?
Have you use DJI Terra Pro?? I was wondering about it, it's the competition for Drone Deploy