How Much Does a Drone LiDAR Survey Cost?
Priced per project. Here is what moves the number, and what to send us to get one.
A drone LiDAR survey is priced per project. We do not publish a rate card, because no honest one exists — a 60-acre pond site in open pasture and a 60-acre pipeline corridor through hardwood bottom are not the same job. What we can do is show you what moves the number, why bigger tracts get cheaper per acre, when we will tell you not to buy LiDAR at all, and what to send so the quote comes back fast.
Paragon Aerial Solutions flies drone LiDAR out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and has mapped 53,000-plus acres in the last 12 months across timber, river bottoms, mine ground, and construction sites. Every one of those was quoted the way this page describes.
The five things that drive the price
1. Acreage. The boundary sets the flight time, the number of flight lines, and the size of the point cloud we process. It is the biggest single driver, but it is not linear — see the next section.
2. Canopy and terrain. Open ground is fast. Timbered ground is slower, because getting enough pulses through the canopy to the dirt means flying lower and slower with tighter line spacing. Steep ground adds terrain-following. Closed-canopy loblolly, cedar thickets, and leaf-on hardwood bottoms are the hard cases, and they cost more to fly and to classify than a cutover or a pasture.
3. Accuracy needs — ground control and checkshots. We run an RTK base station on every LiDAR flight, which is included. If your engineer needs a measured accuracy statement — a levee crown, a pad, a stormwater design — we set ground control points, collect independent checkshots, and report the numbers. That is crew time on the ground and it shows up in the price. If the data is for planning, harvest layout, or a duck-hole feasibility look, you may not need it, and we will say so.
4. Deliverables. A classified point cloud and a bare-earth DTM are the base. Contours, orthomosaic, breaklines, DWG/DXF surfaces, volumes against a design surface, PDF exhibit sheets, and custom coordinate systems each add processing time. Tell us what your engineer or surveyor actually works in and we will build only that.
5. Mobilization distance from Tuscaloosa. The fleet and the 24-foot mobile command trailer go to the site. Most of Alabama is inside a half-day drive; Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansas are regular trips. A site two hours away costs less to reach than one eight hours away, and if we are already flying nearby we will stack the dates and pass along the savings.
Why larger tracts price lower per acre
A big share of what you pay for is fixed regardless of acreage. Rolling the trailer out, setting up the RTK base, laying out and shooting control, planning the mission, and building the processing project all cost roughly the same whether the tract is 40 acres or 400. Once the aircraft is in the air and the base is running, adding acres is cheap by comparison.
So per-acre pricing falls as the tract grows. Two practical consequences:
- If you have adjoining tracts, or a neighbor who also needs mapping, combining them into one mobilization is the single best way to bring the cost down.
- Small sites are not a bad fit — we fly plenty of them — but do not expect the per-acre number from a big timber job to apply to a 10-acre pond.
When photogrammetry is cheaper and good enough
LiDAR is not always the right buy, and we will tell you when it is not.
Photogrammetry builds a surface from overlapping photos. It is faster to fly, and on open ground — a graded pad, a stockpile yard, a pasture, a row-crop field, a cleared cutover — the surface is excellent for volumes, drainage, and site planning. In those conditions it usually costs less than LiDAR and there is no reason to spend more.
Where it fails is anywhere the ground is under something. A camera sees the tops of the trees, and the surface it builds is the tops of the trees. If your project has timber, brush, or a wooded drainage running through it, you need LiDAR ground returns, and no amount of photo overlap changes that. The full comparison walks through the trade-offs.
What you would pay for that the free data does not give you
You can download LiDAR of most of the Southeast for free from the USGS 3D Elevation Program. It is good data and you should use it to scope your project. Here is what a paid project flight buys you on top of it:
| USGS 3DEP (free) | Project drone LiDAR | |
|---|---|---|
| Point density | Typically about 2 points per square meter (QL2) | Hundreds of points per square meter |
| Date of collection | Whenever the county block was flown — often years old | The week you need it |
| Ground control | Regional accuracy, not tied to your control | RTK base on site; control and checkshots tied to your engineer's datum |
| Deliverables | Point cloud and DEM tiles | Contours, DWG/DXF, orthomosaic, volumes, breaklines — to your spec |
| Change since collection | Not captured | Captured — cleared ground, new pads, stockpiles, regraded slopes |
Current specs and coverage: USGS 3D Elevation Program and the Alabama 3DEP summary. Check the collection date for your area before you rely on it.
If the question is "roughly how does this watershed drain," the free data answers it. If the question is "where does the levee crown go and how many yards of fill," it does not, and that is what you are paying for.
What to send for a quote
We do not need a site visit to price most jobs. Send:
- A boundary. An onX share link is easiest. A KML, a shapefile, or a marked-up map works just as well.
- What the data is for. Levee design, pond feasibility, subdivision grading, stockpile volumes, harvest planning, corridor routing. This tells us the accuracy you need and the deliverables that matter.
- Coordinate system, if your engineer or surveyor has one. State Plane Alabama East or West, NAD83, NAVD88 — whatever they work in.
- Contour interval, if you know it. One-foot is common for design; two-foot or five-foot for planning.
- Control requirements, if any. Whether the engineer wants ground control and a checkshot report, or is fine with RTK-only.
- Timing. Leaf-off winter flights get more pulses to the ground under hardwoods; if the site is timbered and the schedule is flexible, say so.
We will come back with a price, a date, and — if your site is open ground — a note that photogrammetry would do it for less.
Where our part ends
Paragon is not a licensed surveying firm. We collect and process aerial data — the point cloud, the bare-earth model, the contours, and the volumes — that a licensed land surveyor or professional engineer designs from and certifies. Boundary surveys, plats, and sealed drawings are their work, and their fee is separate from ours. The same trailer runs our drone deer surveys in winter, and the Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansas pages cover the ground we fly most.
Frequently asked
Do you charge by the acre?
No. Every job is priced per project. Acreage is the biggest single driver, but canopy, terrain, the accuracy your engineer needs, the deliverables, and how far the site is from Tuscaloosa all move the number. Two tracts of the same size can price very differently.
Why do larger tracts cost less per acre?
Because a large share of the cost is fixed. Mobilizing the trailer, setting the RTK base, laying out control, and building the processing project cost about the same whether the tract is 40 acres or 400. Spread those over more acres and the per-acre number drops.
Is photogrammetry cheaper than LiDAR?
Usually, yes, and on open ground it is often the right call. A camera builds a surface from overlapping photos, so on a graded pad, a pasture, or a bare stockpile yard it is excellent. If the ground is under trees or brush, the camera surface is the top of the canopy and you need LiDAR. We will tell you which one your site needs before we quote.
What do I need to send for a quote?
A boundary — an onX share link, a KML, a shapefile, or a marked-up map — and a sentence on what the data is for. If your engineer has a coordinate system, a contour interval, or a control requirement in mind, include it. That is enough for us to come back with a price and a date.
Can I just use the free USGS 3DEP LiDAR instead?
For scoping, yes, and you should. It is free, it covers most of the region, and it is good data at regional density. What it is not is current or dense — it may be years old and is typically a couple of points per square meter. If you are designing a levee, a pond, a pad, or a road, or you need a volume from this month, you need a project flight tied to control.
Call or text (205) 394-6256 with a boundary and we will quote it.
Get a quote on your tract
Send a boundary and tell us what the data is for. We will come back with a price, a date, and an honest word on whether photogrammetry would do it for less.