Construction video production is the filming, editing, and delivery of video content built around a jobsite — progress documentation, project reveal films, crew and safety content, and marketing video used to win the next bid. It is not the same as corporate video. The site is loud, muddy, unlit, on a schedule that changes hourly, and the good shot exists for about nine days before drywall covers it.
We shoot builders, general contractors, and trades across Grand Rapids and West Michigan. This is what it costs, how long it takes, and what you actually get.
At a Glance
| Single project video | $2,500–$8,000 for a 60–120 second finished piece, one to two shoot days |
| Monthly progress documentation | $800–$2,400/month per site, typically 2–4 visits |
| Full brand film | $10,000–$25,000 for a multi-day, multi-location company story |
| Drone-only site visit | $450–$1,200 per flight day, FAA Part 107 licensed |
| Typical timeline | 6–8 weeks brief to delivery; 4 weeks on a fast track |
| Standard deliverables | One hero cut, 3–6 vertical social cuts, stills pulled from footage, raw archive |
Table of Contents
- What construction video production covers
- What construction video costs in West Michigan
- The five videos that actually book work
- How long a construction video takes
- What you get when we hand off
- Drone footage, Part 107, and jobsite safety
- Shooting a West Michigan jobsite
- How to choose a construction video partner
- FAQ
What construction video production covers
Construction video production covers four distinct jobs: documenting a build as it happens, marketing a finished project, recruiting and training crew, and telling the company’s story to owners and developers who are deciding who to hire next. Most builders start with one and add the others once they see which leads come from where.
The confusion in this market is that “construction video” gets used for two very different products. Progress documentation is a recurring, utilitarian service — a visual record for the owner, the bank, and any future dispute. Marketing video is a produced asset with a story and a call to action. Price them separately, or you will overpay for one and underbuy the other.
What construction video costs in West Michigan
Construction video costs $2,500 to $8,000 for a single produced project video, $800 to $2,400 per month for ongoing progress documentation, and $10,000 to $25,000 for a full brand film. Those are real Grand Rapids numbers, not national averages padded for a coastal market.
Single project video — $2,500 to $8,000
One or two shoot days, a 60 to 120 second hero cut, and social variants. The low end is a clean walkthrough of a finished build with drone exteriors and no on-camera interviews. The high end adds a superintendent or owner interview, a second visit to catch a milestone, licensed music, and motion graphics for specs and square footage. Most custom home builders land near $4,500.
Monthly progress documentation — $800 to $2,400 per month
Two to four site visits a month, each producing drone stills, ground stills, and short video clips filed by date. National rates for construction documentation run $100 to $200 an hour and $800 to $2,200 per visit; a recurring West Michigan contract lands lower per visit because the flight plan and the drive are already solved. Twelve-month contracts typically save 10 to 20 percent against one-off bookings. On an 18-month commercial build, that archive becomes the reveal film for free — you already paid for the footage.
Full brand film — $10,000 to $25,000
Three to five shoot days across multiple jobsites, the shop, and the office. Interviews with founders and long-tenure crew. This is the asset that goes on the homepage, plays at a Home & Building Association event, and gets sent to a developer before a bid meeting. Nationally, brand films run $15,000 to $50,000. A regional crew that already knows the territory delivers the same thing for less, because the budget is not going to travel and a 12-person unit.
Photo, time-lapse, and add-ons
Still photography added to a video shoot runs $600 to $1,800 per site visit. A fixed time-lapse camera mounted for the length of a build is generally $1,500 to $3,500 including installation, cellular data, and the final compiled sequence. Drone-only visits for progress or marketing stills are $450 to $1,200 per flight day.
One number worth knowing before you budget: HubSpot’s 2026 marketing research found the three highest-ROI content formats are all video — short-form, long-form, and live. For a builder whose average job is six figures, a single closed project pays for a year of content.
The five videos that actually book work
The five construction videos with the clearest return are the project reveal, the owner or superintendent interview, the progress time-lapse, the recruiting film, and the vertical social cut. Everything else is a variation on one of them.
1. The project reveal
A finished build, shot properly, with drone exteriors and a slow interior walk. This is the single most-shared asset a builder owns. Shoot it before the punch list is fully closed and before landscaping goes dormant — in West Michigan that means getting exteriors done before mid-November.
2. The owner or superintendent interview
Two to three minutes of a real person explaining a real decision. Homeowners hire builders they trust, and trust does not come from a b-roll montage. Shoot it on the completed site, not in a conference room.
3. The progress time-lapse
Foundation to final in 45 seconds. It is the most-watched thing most builders ever post, and it costs almost nothing if you are already documenting the site monthly.
4. The recruiting film
Skilled trades hiring in Kent and Ottawa counties is brutal. A 90-second film showing the shop, the crew, the benefits, and someone who started as a laborer and runs a crew now will outperform every job board post you have running.
5. Vertical social cuts
Nine-by-sixteen, under 30 seconds, hook in the first two. These come out of footage you already shot. If your production partner is not handing you six of these with every project, you are leaving the cheapest distribution on the table. We do this constantly — see how it works for short-form video for real estate agents, which runs on the same mechanics.
How long a construction video takes
A construction video takes six to eight weeks from brief to final delivery. Pre-production is two to four weeks, the shoot is one to two days, editing is one to two weeks, and client review adds one to three weeks depending on how many people have to sign off.
Four weeks is achievable when the scope is locked on day one and a single person holds approval authority. The thing that blows timelines is not the crew — it is a five-person review committee returning conflicting notes on round three. Name one approver and commit to 48-hour feedback windows and you will cut two weeks off the calendar.
Construction adds one variable that corporate video does not: the building will not wait. If the ask is “capture the steel going up,” the shoot date is set by the erector, not by us. We build progress work around milestone triggers — foundation pour, framing complete, roof dried in, drywall, final — and stay on call rather than scheduling six weeks out.
What you get when we hand off
A standard construction video package delivers one hero cut, three to six vertical social cuts, 15 to 40 edited still frames, and the full raw archive. Everything ships in 4K H.264 for web plus a ProRes master if you need it for broadcast or a trade show loop.
- Hero cut — 60 to 120 seconds, 16:9, licensed music, captions burned and separate .SRT
- Social cuts — 9:16 and 1:1, under 30 seconds, captioned for silent autoplay
- Stills — color-corrected, web-sized and print-sized, ready for your site and submittals
- Raw archive — delivered on a drive or cloud, yours permanently, no licensing games
- Alt text and file naming — so the assets are usable on your website without a second round of work
Ask about the raw archive before you sign anything. Some production companies keep it. We do not — you paid for the footage.
Building something worth filming this season? Send us the address, the timeline, and what stage it’s at. We’ll come back with a scoped quote in 48 hours. Start the conversation here.
Drone footage, Part 107, and jobsite safety
Any drone flight for a construction client is commercial operation and requires a remote pilot certificate under FAA Part 107. There is no hobbyist exemption when money changes hands. Ask your videographer for their certificate number and their liability coverage before they put an aircraft over an active site.
Grand Rapids adds a real constraint: much of the metro sits inside controlled airspace around Gerald R. Ford International Airport, and flights there require LAANC authorization. Most requests clear in under a minute if the operator knows the system. An unlicensed operator either does not know, or flies anyway and puts your project on the hook.
On the ground, expect the crew to show up with hard hats, high-vis, steel toes, and eye protection, and to sit through your site-specific orientation without complaining. We film around active work, not through it. If your safety officer needs a preconstruction meeting, we take it. Our product film for Ladder Safety Systems was shot on roofs with active fall hazards — that work only happens if the crew understands the environment.
More on the aerial side: GRMC’s drone and aerial photography services.
Shooting a West Michigan jobsite
West Michigan gives you about seven usable months of exterior light and a lake-effect weather pattern that will erase a shoot day with two hours’ notice. Plan accordingly.
Practical notes from shooting here: golden hour in Grand Rapids runs past 9 p.m. in late June and before 5:30 p.m. in December — a December exterior means starting the day at the site, not ending there. Snow cover from November through March flattens landscaping and hides site work, which is fine for a dramatic frame and terrible for a spec home reveal. Lakeshore builds in Grand Haven, Holland, and Saugatuck get consistent wind off Lake Michigan that limits drone work more than rain does.
Geography also affects scheduling. A crew based in Grand Rapids reaches Rockford, Ada, Cascade, Byron Center, and Caledonia inside 30 minutes, and Holland, Zeeland, Grand Haven, or Muskegon inside an hour. That matters for milestone-triggered documentation, where the difference between capturing a pour and missing it is being able to leave within a few hours of the call.
The regional market justifies the spend. Kent and Ottawa counties run among the state’s strongest residential permit volumes, and the Medical Mile keeps a steady flow of commercial work moving. NAHB research consistently ranks digital presence among the top factors buyers use to shortlist a builder.
How to choose a construction video partner
Choose a construction video partner on four things: whether they have shot an active jobsite before, whether they hold Part 107 and general liability, whether you own the raw footage, and whether they deliver vertical cuts as standard rather than as an upsell.
A short list of questions that separate the field fast:
- Can I see a build you shot from foundation to finish?
- What’s your certificate number, and can you send a COI naming us as additional insured?
- Who owns the raw files at the end?
- What’s the turnaround on a rush cut if we need it for a bid?
- Do you shoot stills at the same visit, or is that a separate booking?
If you are still comparing shops, we wrote a straight comparison of the local field: best video production companies in Grand Rapids. It includes companies other than us.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a construction video cost?
A single produced construction video costs $2,500 to $8,000 in West Michigan, depending on shoot days, whether interviews are included, and how many finished cuts you need. Ongoing progress documentation runs $800 to $2,400 per month per site. A full company brand film with multiple locations and interviews runs $10,000 to $25,000.
Do I need a licensed drone pilot for construction footage?
Yes. Any drone flight in support of a business is commercial operation under FAA Part 107 and requires a certified remote pilot. In Grand Rapids, much of the metro sits in controlled airspace and also requires LAANC authorization. Ask for a certificate number and proof of liability insurance before anyone flies over your site.
How long does construction video production take?
Six to eight weeks from kickoff to final delivery is standard: two to four weeks of pre-production, one to two shoot days, one to two weeks of editing, and one to three weeks of review. Four weeks is possible when scope is locked early and one person holds approval authority.
What’s the difference between progress documentation and a marketing video?
Progress documentation is a recurring visual record — dated stills and clips for the owner, lender, and dispute file. Marketing video is a produced asset with a story and a call to action. They cost different amounts and serve different departments. Budget them as two line items, not one.
Can you film while the site is active?
Yes. We work around active trades rather than pausing them, arrive with hard hats, high-vis, steel toes, and eye protection, and complete any site-specific safety orientation your superintendent requires. Full shutdowns are almost never necessary; the exception is a controlled drone launch, which takes a few minutes of cleared ground.
Do I own the raw footage?
With GRMC, yes — the raw archive is delivered with the final cut and it is yours permanently. This is not universal in the industry. Some production companies retain raw files and charge for re-edits later, so confirm ownership in writing before you sign a scope.
What’s the best time of year to shoot a build in Michigan?
Late April through October gives the best exterior light and landscaping. Snow cover from November to March hides site work and flattens grounds, which can work for a dramatic frame but hurts a home reveal. Interiors shoot year-round. If a project finishes in winter, we often shoot interiors immediately and return in spring for exteriors.
Get your project scoped
Tell us the address, the stage it’s at, and the date it needs to be done. We’ll send back a scoped quote with shoot days, deliverables, and a fixed price inside 48 hours — no discovery-call gauntlet. If it’s a fit, we’ll be on your site inside two weeks.
