Terms of Service
Beacon Aerial LLC · Boston, Massachusetts Last updated: July 9, 2026
Beacon Aerial LLC ("Beacon Aerial," "Beacon," "we," "us," or "our") is a Massachusetts limited liability company providing aerial photography and videography services. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of our website, our communications, and all photography, videography, editing, delivery, and related services we provide (collectively, the "Services"). By booking the Services, paying a deposit or invoice, signing a Scope of Work, or otherwise engaging Beacon Aerial, you ("Client" or "you") agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not book or use the Services.
1. Definitions
"Deliverables" means the edited photographs, video, and other media files Beacon agrees to provide under a given Scope of Work.
"Scope of Work" or "SOW" means the written description of a specific engagement — including site/address, shoot window, deliverable counts, formats, turnaround, usage rights, and travel zone — agreed between Beacon and Client for that engagement.
"Engagement" means a single booked project governed by an SOW and these Terms.
"Client Files" means the Deliverables and any limited Client information Beacon stores in connection with an Engagement.
2. The Services
Beacon Aerial provides solo-operator aerial photography and videography, together with associated post-production editing and digital delivery. The specific Deliverables, scope, pricing, and turnaround for any Engagement are defined in the applicable Scope of Work, which forms part of these Terms. In the event of a conflict between an SOW and these Terms, the SOW controls for that Engagement; these Terms control on all matters the SOW does not address.
Beacon exercises professional creative judgment over framing, composition, timing, editing, and color treatment. Aerial conditions are dynamic, and specific shots cannot be guaranteed; Beacon will use commercially reasonable efforts to capture the Deliverables described in the SOW.
3. Regulatory Compliance — FAA, Part 107, and Airspace
Licensed and registered operations. Beacon Aerial's operator holds a current FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. All commercial flights performed by Beacon Aerial are conducted under that certification, by a certificated Remote Pilot, using aircraft registered with the FAA under its UAS registration program and compliant with applicable Remote ID requirements. Beacon does not undertake any commercial operation without the required certification, registration, and airspace authorizations in place.
Compliance handled by Beacon. Beacon manages all flight-authorization and regulatory compliance for each Engagement. Prior to every flight, Beacon secures all required Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) and other FAA airspace authorizations applicable to the shoot location, and observes applicable federal regulations, state law, and local ordinances governing the operation. The Client need not obtain or manage any aviation authorization on Beacon's behalf.
Assumption of flight liability. Beacon Aerial carries aviation liability insurance of no less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) and does not conduct any commercial flight under an Engagement without such coverage bound and in force at the time of that flight. Beacon accepts responsibility for liability arising from its own flight operations — including third-party property damage, bodily injury, and regulatory compliance relating to the conduct of the flight — addressed by that coverage. A Certificate of Insurance is available on request (see Section 9). This assumption of flight-operations liability is not subject to the general liability cap in Section 11.
Operational limits. Certain locations, altitudes, or operations may be constrained or prohibited by airspace classification, temporary flight restrictions, controlled-airspace ceilings, operations-over-people rules, property or venue restrictions, weather, or other regulatory and safety factors. Where any such constraint affects the Deliverables, Beacon will communicate the limitation to the Client as far in advance as practicable. Beacon will not conduct any flight that, in its sole professional judgment, cannot be performed safely and lawfully, and no provision of an SOW shall be read to require otherwise.
4. Scheduling, Weather, and Rescheduling
Aerial photography is weather- and daylight-dependent.
Weather and safety rescheduling. Beacon Aerial reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to deem conditions unsafe or unsuitable for quality work based on prevailing or forecast weather (including high wind, precipitation, low visibility, or extreme temperature) and to postpone or reschedule a shoot. Beacon will reschedule any such shoot at the Client's earliest convenience at no additional cost, and weather or safety reschedules carry no penalty to either party.
Client rescheduling. Client may reschedule without penalty with at least five (5) days' notice; the booking deposit transfers to any new date within twelve (12) months. Reschedules requested inside five (5) days, or no-shows, forfeit the deposit.
Beacon cancellation. If Beacon cancels an Engagement, or if weather prevents the shoot and no mutually workable reschedule can be made within twelve (12) months, the deposit is fully refunded.
5. Fees, Deposits, and Payment
Pricing for each Engagement is set out in the applicable quote or SOW.
Pricing basis. Price is driven primarily by shoot length and the number of edited Deliverables. For larger shoots, Beacon performs a first-pass cull of the raw capture and delivers Client a proof containing flagged favorites; Client then confirms which images or clips are to proceed to final edit. The number of Deliverables Client ultimately elects to have edited is entirely within Client's control and is the primary variable determining final price.
Travel. Locations outside a thirty (30) mile radius of Boston, Massachusetts incur an additional travel fee, a secondary driver of price. Following a complimentary phone consultation, Beacon provides Client a budgetary estimate — inclusive of any applicable travel fee — for Client's review and approval prior to booking.
Deposits. A deposit of twenty-five percent (25%) of the Engagement fee is required to hold a date. Deposits are refundable only as expressly stated in Section 4 and Section 11.
Balance. Unless otherwise stated in the SOW, the balance is due on delivery of the Deliverables. For approved recurring or volume Clients, Beacon may bill on a consolidated monthly statement on terms stated in the SOW.
Late balances. Overdue balances may accrue a service charge of one and one-half percent (1.5%) per month, or the maximum permitted by law, whichever is less.
Credit card surcharges (Massachusetts). Consistent with Massachusetts law, Beacon does not impose any surcharge for payment by credit card. Beacon may, at its discretion, offer a discount for payment by ACH bank transfer or check; any such discount, where offered, is stated on the invoice.
Payment information. Beacon does not collect, process, store, or retain Client payment-card numbers or bank-account credentials. All payment transactions are handled by secure, industry-compliant third-party financial and accounting platforms (for example, bank-operated transfer services and accounting/invoicing software). Beacon's relationship with those platforms is governed by their respective terms and security practices, and Beacon is not responsible for their operation. See Section 8 regarding limitations on liability for third-party platforms.
6. Copyright and License
Beacon Aerial retains all copyright and ownership in all photographs, video, and other works created in the course of an Engagement, including raw and intermediate files, unless a written copyright assignment is separately purchased.
Upon full payment, Client receives a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the delivered Deliverables for the purpose stated in the Scope of Work (for example, marketing of the specific listing, the couple's personal wedding use, or personal display of a commissioned piece). Any use beyond the stated purpose — including resale, sub-licensing, broad commercial distribution, or use by a party other than the Client — requires a separate written license. Exclusive rights, publicity restrictions, or full copyright assignment may be purchased at a premium quoted per Engagement.
7. Publicity and Marketing Rights
By default, and as partial consideration for any marketing-rights discount applied to an Engagement, Beacon may feature the Deliverables and the general nature of the Engagement in its portfolio, website, and social-media channels. A Client requiring confidentiality may decline publicity in writing and forgo any associated discount, in which case Beacon will not publicly display the Deliverables for that Engagement. Beacon will not publish identifying private information (such as a home's interior security details) and will honor reasonable, specific publicity restrictions agreed in writing.
8. Client Files, Data Storage, and Retention
Beacon takes reasonable, industry-standard measures to protect Client Files.
Storage and redundancy. Deliverables are made available to Client through a third-party online client-gallery platform that encrypts data both in transit and at rest. Master copies of the Deliverables are additionally retained with a third-party cloud storage provider that maintains SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001 compliance, with data encrypted in transit and at rest and access governed by role-based access controls, multi-factor authentication, and least-privilege identity and access management (IAM) practices. Deliverables are also backed up to local storage drives maintained by Beacon for redundancy.
Scope of stored data. The data Beacon stores in connection with an Engagement is limited to (a) the photographic and video Deliverables and associated working files, and (b) limited Client metadata such as Client name, contact details, and project/Engagement information. Beacon does not store, process, or retain any Client payment-card information, bank-account information, or other financial credentials. All such payment information is handled exclusively by the third-party financial and accounting platforms referenced in Section 5.
Retention and deletion. As a convenience to Client, Beacon retains master copies of an Engagement's Deliverables for a period of one (1) year following delivery at no additional charge, after which they may be deleted in the ordinary course. Client may request deletion of Client Files at any time. Upon written request, Beacon will delete the Client's stored files and, on request, provide a written certificate of destruction confirming the deletion. Client is responsible for downloading and independently preserving the Deliverables; Beacon does not guarantee availability of files beyond the retention period.
Security disclaimer. While Beacon and its service providers employ commercially reasonable safeguards, no method of electronic storage or transmission is perfectly secure, and Beacon does not warrant absolute security of any data. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Beacon disclaims any and all liability for any unauthorized access to, interception of, breach of, corruption of, loss of, or disclosure of Client Files or Client data arising from the act, omission, defect, outage, or compromise of any third party — including any first-party or third-party software, application, platform, hosting, storage, gallery, financial, or supply-chain provider used in connection with the Services — or from any other event outside Beacon's reasonable control. Client's sole remedies for loss of Deliverables are as stated in Section 11.
9. Insurance
Beacon Aerial carries aviation liability insurance of no less than one million dollars ($1,000,000), and does not conduct any commercial flight without such coverage bound and in force at the time of that flight. A certificate of insurance is available to Clients and venues on request. Except as expressly stated, no representation is made that any particular loss is covered, and the existence of insurance does not expand Beacon's liability beyond the limits stated in Section 11.
10. Disclaimer of Warranties
The Services and Deliverables are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Beacon disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Beacon does not warrant that any specific shot, condition, vantage, or aesthetic result will be achievable, that any flight will be authorized in any particular location or window, or that the Services will be uninterrupted or error-free.
11. Delivery Remedy and Limitation of Liability
Delivery remedy. Beacon captures and backs up footage across multiple independent layers. In the rare event that files are corrupted or lost and the contracted Deliverables cannot be provided, Client's sole and exclusive remedy is, at Client's election: (a) a full one hundred percent (100%) refund of the fees paid for the affected Engagement, or (b) a re-shoot at the earliest mutually convenient date at forty percent (40%) off the Engagement fee.
Limitation of liability. Except for liability arising from Beacon's flight operations as described in Section 3 (which is addressed by Beacon's aviation liability insurance), and to the maximum extent permitted by law, Beacon's total aggregate liability for any and all claims arising out of or relating to an Engagement, the Services, the Deliverables, or these Terms — whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise — shall not exceed the total fees actually paid by Client to Beacon for that Engagement.
In no event shall Beacon be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any lost profits, lost business, lost opportunities, lost or delayed sales, diminished property value, lost or corrupted data, or reputational harm, even if advised of the possibility of such damages and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose.
12. Indemnification
Client agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Beacon Aerial LLC and its members, agents, and contractors from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) Client's breach of these Terms or any SOW; (b) Client's use of the Deliverables beyond the licensed purpose; (c) Client's failure to obtain any property-owner, tenant, venue, or third-party permission required for a shoot location that Client represented was authorized; or (d) any third-party claim arising from information, access, or instructions Client provided.
13. Force Majeure
Beacon is not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including weather, acts of God, equipment failure, loss of airspace authorization, regulatory action, FAA restrictions, illness or injury, supplier or platform outage, labor disruption, civil unrest, or governmental order. Beacon will make reasonable efforts to reschedule affected Engagements; the deposit and refund provisions of Section 4 govern.
14. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
These Terms and any Engagement are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The parties will attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute informally before pursuing other remedies. Any action arising out of or relating to these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Massachusetts, and the parties consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
15. Changes to These Terms
Beacon may update these Terms from time to time. The version in effect at the time an Engagement is booked governs that Engagement. The current version is posted at this URL, with the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the Services after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms for new Engagements.
16. General
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the applicable Scope of Work and invoice, constitute the entire agreement between the parties regarding the Services and supersede all prior or contemporaneous understandings.
Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force, and the unenforceable provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law.
No waiver. Beacon's failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of its right to do so later.
Assignment. Client may not assign these Terms or any Engagement without Beacon's prior written consent. Beacon may assign its rights and obligations in connection with a sale or reorganization of the business.
Independent contractor. Beacon performs the Services as an independent contractor. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship.