What we would build for a drone, photography and video
Shoot dates booked with a deposit. Films delivered from a portal that carries your name.
We build the whole business end for a photographer or drone operator: a fast site with your showreel, quotes that price themselves by location and duration, a card deposit that locks the date, and a delivery portal your clients come back to. Built from the ground up, in your brand, and owned by you.
Built and delivered remotely from Cheshire, UK · fixed price agreed up front
What goes wrong today
Every quote starts on WhatsApp
A wedding, a villa listing and a hotel launch all arrive as messages, and each one needs a back-and-forth before there is a price. Drone operators we looked at in Fethiye have no quote form at all, so the enquiry stalls until you are back from a shoot.
Dates held without a deposit
You block a Saturday on a promise, the couple goes quiet, and a paying client is turned away. A card deposit at booking ends that, but only if the booking lives on your own site rather than in a chat thread.
Delivery by expiring links
Finished films go out as transfer links that expire, get lost, and get re-requested six months later. Nothing about that step says who you are, and nothing brings the client back to book again.
The showreel is buried in a feed
Your best work sits between reels of everyone else's. A launch page built around your film, with a campaign email that renders in every inbox, is how a hotel group or an estate agent actually finds you.
What we build for you, from the ground up
A fast site around your reel
Portfolio, packages and a booking button in your own voice, with the film playing instantly on a phone. No theme, no page builder, every font self-hosted, and structured data so the site ranks for the work you want more of.
Quotes that price themselves
The client picks the shoot type, location, duration and deliverables; the server prices it from your private rate card with travel, drone permits, editing days and VAT. The quote lands as a versioned document you approve in one tap, the same engine we run for Cheshire Lawns & Hedges.
Booking with a card deposit
Real availability against your diary, a hold while they decide, a deposit by Apple Pay or card, and a confirmation by WhatsApp and email with the meeting point. The booking engine behind The Buxton Barber, reshaped for shoot days.
Weather and reschedule flow
A drone day depends on wind. A reschedule offers the client the next open dates, keeps the deposit attached and rewrites the confirmation, so a cancelled Tuesday is a moved Tuesday.
Client gallery and delivery portal
Proofs for selection, finished films and photos in a branded space that does not expire, download in the sizes each client needs, and a balance that must be paid before the full-resolution files unlock.
Invoices, expenses and tax in one app
Every booking becomes an invoice with a PDF, every battery and permit becomes an expense, and a tax set-aside runs automatically. This is Hillcraft Finance, the system Hillcraft runs itself, in your brand.
A native iPhone app for you
The diary, today's call time, unpaid balances and delivery status in a Swift app signed in with Face ID. Notifications when a deposit arrives or a client has viewed their gallery.
A launch page and campaign for your showreel
A page built around your film with music-reactive visuals, plus a campaign email built to render in every client, the way we launched the AWOW Jukebox.
The Apple layer your guests actually notice
Shoot day on the lock screen
On the day, the client's iPhone shows a Live Activity: call time, meeting point, and then edit progress until the film is ready. The same technology Hillcraft Finance ships today on iOS 27.
A booking pass in Apple Wallet
The confirmed shoot becomes a Wallet pass with the date, the location pinned in Apple Maps and a reminder the evening before. It updates itself if the weather moves the day.
A QR on your card that quotes instantly
Scan the QR on your business card or a villa brochure and the quote flow opens as an App Clip, no download, Apple Pay ready. The hotel manager prices a shoot before you have left the lobby.
Widgets for the week ahead
Upcoming shoots, deposits due and edits outstanding as Home Screen widgets, with Siri shortcuts to mark a delivery sent.
Apple Pay for deposits and balances
Deposit at booking and balance at delivery, both in two taps on the client's phone, through your own payment account.
Payments in Türkiye, done properly
Built and running: the examples this comes from
Questions we get asked
Can clients choose photos from a proof gallery before I edit?
Yes. Proofs are watermarked and low-resolution, the client marks favourites, and the selection comes to your app as a list. Full files unlock when the balance is paid.
Do I have to give up my Instagram enquiries?
No. The link in your bio and your WhatsApp auto-reply both point at the quote flow, so the message still arrives, but it arrives priced and with a date held.
How is the price set?
Fixed price agreed up front for the full system after a video call where we go through your packages and how you work. No hourly surprises, no monthly platform rent.
What happens to the videos I already delivered?
We import them into the portal against each client, so their history starts full rather than empty, and the next booking is one tap from their last film.
Who owns the system?
You do: the code, the data and the accounts. It runs on your own domain and your own payment provider. If we part ways, it keeps running.
Show us your reel. We will show you the system behind it.
Send a link to your best film and how you take bookings today. We reply with a plain description of what we would build, delivered remotely from Cheshire, with a video call whenever you want one.