Photo courtesy of Birds Eye Aerial Drones
Scott Painter displays one of his company’s drones.
Scott and Sheri Painter lease office space in Santee and a hangar at Gillespie Field, where they keep 75 drones and other equipment for their company,
“We want to grow big as quickly as possible,” Scott Painter said.
They plan to stay in East County.
“We love East County,” Sheri Painter said, adding that the East County Economic Development Council was a key resource for the fledgling company.
The company is now on track to have revenue of at least $15 million in 2021, Scott Painter said, with a goal to take the company global.
“We’ve really been able to see a dream of ours come true,” Sheri Painter said.
At the start, “We worked out of a room in our house, which was our office,” she said. “We converted a dining room into an office. We had people working remotely. It was like I had given up half our house to this business.”
Flourishing
Most of the company’s work has been in Southern California.
“Our goal is to cover the entire state of California by year’s end. The goal beyond that is to add a new state every year for the next three years,” Sheri Painter said.
Early on, BEAD hooked up with movie studios who wanted a less expensive way to film aerial shots than using fixed-wing aircraft, Scott Painter said.
“It was something new,” Scott Painter said.
These days, much of BEAD’s work is with utilities on fire prevention, flying drones over power lines looking for trouble spots and working with construction companies.
“We can do building interiors. We can do the whole interior, exterior of any building at any phase of its construction,” Sheri Painter said.
The company also works with law enforcement and others in developing policies for including drones in their work.
“We’re open to partnerships,” Sheri Painter said. “Not only is the drone industry really flourishing, but we’re innovators.”
Clients have included the University of Southern California, the PGA (Professional Golfers Association), Rick Engineering, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, San Diego Gas & Electric, SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments), and FedEx.
Aviation Background
Scott Painter said that he and his wife have long been interested in aviation.
He said his father-in-law worked as a pilot for Federal Express for 30 years in Memphis.
Scott Painter enlisted in the Navy straight out of high school as an inflight aviation engineer in 1987.
He was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2011 and worked for Lockheed Martin in Afghanistan for three years.
While still in the Navy, he earned a bachelor’s of science degree from Southern Illinois University in aeronautics, aviation and aerospace technology and a master’s degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
It was in Afghanistan that Scott Painter said he started developing his own drones and formally formed BEAD in 2014 while still in Afghanistan.
“We had to actually make them back then, ordering parts from here and there,” Scott Painter said. “There really was no manufacturer who was making any drone on a mass quantity scale.”
In early 2020, Scott Painter said he and his wife expanded their business, hiring a handful of drone pilots on a contract basis.
By mid-July, Shari Painter said that they had up to 152 people working under contract at any one time. The number goes up and down, depending on the work, she said. The goal is to change the industry standard from being contract-based to year-round careers for those who work for BEAD.
Every job requires a minimum team of a pilot and observer to watch for anything in the sky that would interfere with the drone’s flight and to keep curiosity seekers away, Sheri Painter said.
BEAD is a certified veteran owned business and gives preference to veterans in hiring, Sheri Painter said.
On the company’s website, Scott and Sheri Painter say that BEAD was founded “with the intention of creating a workplace for prior military to feel appreciated and supported. BEAD is structured to be a place where veterans can thrive and continue to use their military born strengths and acumen.”
Birds Eye Aerial Drones, LLC
Founded: 2014
CEO: Scott Painter
Headquarters: Santee
Business: Drone operations
Employees: 150
Notable: Birds Eye Aerial Drones (BEAD) is a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
Website: www.bead.global
Contact: bizdev@bead.global