You’re hiring a person, not a platform.
I’m Justin, founder of Novo, and I shoot the listings — every time you hire me, you’re supporting local.
This is my whole living.
I live in Geneva and I shoot listings across the Chicago area. Novo is not a side project and it is not a franchise. It is the thing that pays my mortgage, feeds my kids, and keeps an unreasonable number of cats in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
COVID left my mechanical engineering degree in limbo, so I decided to follow my passion for photography instead. I started out shooting weddings and families; now I specialize in headshots and real estate.
I mention it because it is the real difference between booking me and booking a national platform. There, a contractor gets dispatched, paid a fraction of what you were charged, and has no idea whether you ever book again. Here, the person who answers your email is the person who rings your seller’s doorbell.
That is not a reason to hire me on its own, and I would not ask you to book on sympathy. It is the reason everything further down this page is possible. Published prices, unlimited re-edits, a reshoot if editing cannot fix it — I can promise those because there is nobody above me who can overrule them, and because if your listing looks bad it is my name on it and my next month that suffers.
Most of this exists because an agent said it was annoying.
Novo is built for one job: making a listing easier to sell and easier to hand off. Almost every decision on this site started as a complaint.
- Published prices — because nobody wanted to make a phone call to find out whether they could afford a shoot before pitching a seller.
- The photo-day checklist — because every agent has the same awkward conversation about the kitchen counter, and would rather a web page had it for them.
- The 2pm cutoff and next-morning delivery — because listings go live on a schedule that has nothing to do with when a photographer feels like editing.
If something here is still annoying, I want to hear it. That is not a customer-service line — changes on this site have come from exactly that. Tell me what would make this easier.
Four things that are actually different.
The price is on the screen
Not “starting at,” not a quote form, and not a phone call. Put in the property and you see the number you will pay, before anyone knows your name.
The price follows the property
A small condo does not pay what a large house pays — the number moves with the list price and the floor area, not a flat rate.
One visit covers the shot list
Photos, drone, floor plan, 3D tour and video come from the same visit by the same person. No coordinating three vendors around one seller’s schedule.
If it is not right, it gets fixed
Unlimited re-edits at no charge, and a reshoot if re-editing cannot get there. The risk of booking sits with us, not with you.
The things agents ask before they book.
“I can get a shoot for $150.”
So can you here — that is our Basic package and it is a real one, not bait. The difference is not the floor, it is what happens above it. Basic is a fixed set of photos with no drone. Every other package is unlimited photos with drone coverage included and a full marketing license. If a small condo genuinely needs eight good frames, book Basic and keep the rest of your money. Every package and price is here.
“I already have a photographer I like.”
Then keep them. A photographer who already knows how you work is worth something real, and we would rather not talk you out of that. The listing to try someone new on is the awkward one — the estate, the land parcel, the property that needs a drone and a floor plan and a tour in a single visit, or the one where the timing is tight. Book one and compare the result against what you normally get.
“I won’t know what it costs until I call someone.”
You will not call anyone. Pick the property type, put in the list price and the square footage, and the exact number appears — along with a live calendar to book it. Most listings we shoot land between $200 and $800. See your number now.
“What if the photos come back wrong?”
Tell us what is not right and we edit it again, as many times as it takes, at no charge. If re-editing cannot get there — wrong light, wrong angle, something that needed to be shot differently — we come back and shoot it again, also at no charge. That is the whole policy; there is no claim form and no threshold you have to clear first.
“I need them tomorrow morning.”
If the shoot starts before 2pm, the photos are in your inbox by 11:30am the next business day. Book later than 2pm and they land by 6pm the next business day instead. If we miss it, you get a $20 credit against your next shoot without having to ask.
“Do I actually need a 3D tour and a floor plan?”
Often, no — and we would rather say so than sell you both by default. A floor plan earns its place when the layout is the thing buyers will wonder about: anything unusual, multi-level, or renovated in a way the photos do not explain. A 3D tour earns its place at higher price points and with out-of-town buyers who will not see it in person before they decide. On a straightforward starter home, photos and a drone shot usually do the job.
“Is the drone extra?”
No. Drone coverage is included on every package except Basic. It is not an upsell, it is part of the shoot, and it is the single thing most likely to make a listing look like it belongs at its price.
“My seller’s house isn’t ready.”
That’s okay. We do what we can on the day — move things, help rearrange, put away small items like cleaning products left out on a counter, pull trash bins out of frame before we shoot. AI declutter covers some of the rest. The one time it genuinely becomes a problem is a listing video, where there is no fixing it afterwards. You know your client better than we do, though: if you already know they will not be ready, reschedule for a better time. And if you want to give them a head start, send them the photo-day checklist — they tick it off room by room on their phone, and we will put your own branding on it if you book with us regularly.
See the number before you decide anything.
Pick the property, get the exact price, book the date. Your first shoot with us includes a twilight photo and virtual staging, free.
See your price →