Drone cleaning company: what one does, and how to check it before you hire

A drone cleaning company washes the outside of a building with a water-fed drone flown from the ground, so the glass and cladding get cleaned without a crew suspended over the building on ropes, a swing stage or scaffold. We are one, and we clean high-rise and commercial windows and facades with drones across Greater Victoria. In Canada that flight is a sheltered operation: since November 4, 2025 it takes a Transport Canada Advanced pilot certificate, and it holds the drone within 61 metres (200 feet) of the structure and more than 30 metres (100 feet) from anyone not involved in the work (Transport Canada, 2025 summary of changes to Canada's drone regulations). What follows is what the method cleans and what it does not, the weight and airspace rules that decide who may legally fly your building, and the eight questions to put to any operator quoting the job.

Published 27 August 2026.

What a drone cleaning company actually does

The drone is the cleaning head. A ground unit filters and purifies the water, a pump pushes it up a tether hose, and the drone holds a spray bar or soft brush against the facade while the pilot flies the pattern from grade. Purified water dries without leaving mineral spotting, so the glass does not need to be squeegeed dry the way a rope technician finishes a pane by hand.

Two roles are on site instead of one. A pilot flies the aircraft. A ground crew member manages the hose, the water supply and the exclusion zone under the flight path. Nobody goes over the parapet.

It is worth being blunt about what the method does not do. A drone washes and rinses. It does not scrape adhesive or paint off glass, it does not do sealant or caulking work, and it will not fly a building in gusty wind. On most towers the ground floor and the first storey or two are still cleaned by hand from a pole, because that is faster than flying them. Any company telling you a drone replaces every form of building access is overselling it.

The rules a drone cleaning company flies under in Canada

Drone work over a building is regulated by Transport Canada, and the rules changed materially on November 4, 2025. Three things decide what an operator may legally do: the weight of the aircraft, the certificate the pilot holds, and the airspace over the building.

Weight comes first, and it is the part buyers underestimate. Transport Canada classes microdrones as under 250 g, small drones from 250 g up to 25 kg, and medium drones as over 25 kg up to 150 kg, and the weight of anything attached or carried counts toward the operating weight (Transport Canada, drone operation categories and pilot certificates). A cleaning aircraft carrying a pressurised hose is not a hobby drone, and its class sets the certificate its pilot needs.

The certificate comes second. A Basic certificate does not allow flight close to or over people, in controlled airspace, or with a medium drone. An Advanced certificate does, and since November 4, 2025 it also covers sheltered operations, which is the category facade work sits in: flying a small drone no more than 30 metres (100 feet) above the structure, less than 61 metres (200 feet) horizontally from it, and more than 30 metres (100 feet) from anyone not involved in the operation (Transport Canada, 2025 summary of changes to Canada's drone regulations).

Airspace comes third. Controlled airspace needs permission from air traffic control before the flight, and Greater Victoria carries both an international airport to the north and a harbour water aerodrome downtown, so that answer is building by building rather than blanket. It is a fair question to put to any operator quoting your tower.

How the drone method compares with rope access and swing stage

Rope access and swing stage are not unsafe. They are heavily regulated, and that regulation is a large part of why they are slow to mobilise.

WorkSafeBC requires a fall protection system wherever work is done at a place from which a fall of 3 m (10 ft) or more may occur, under section 11.2 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (WorkSafeBC, OHS Regulation Part 11). Rope work then carries its own part on top of that: a written rope access plan, a two-rope system with a working line and a backup line, and permanent anchors with an ultimate load capacity of at least 22 kN (5,000 lbf) for each person connected to them (WorkSafeBC, OHS Regulation Part 34).

That is the honest comparison. Rope access asks the building to carry certified anchors, a rescue plan and a suspended crew. Drone cleaning moves the work off the building envelope and onto an aircraft, which shifts the compliance burden from fall protection onto aviation. Neither method is free of paperwork. The practical difference for a strata shows up at ground level: no anchor load testing, no sidewalk closure under a suspended worker, and a shorter window in which residents are asked to keep windows shut and balconies clear.

What to ask a drone cleaning company before you sign

The method is new enough that the quotes in front of you may not be comparable. These eight questions separate an operator that has done the compliance work from one that bought a drone.

1. Which pilot certificate covers this flight, Basic or Advanced, and does the planned work fall under sheltered operations?
2. What is the drone's operating weight with the hose and payload attached, and which Transport Canada size class does that put it in?
3. Is the aircraft registered with Transport Canada and marked with its registration number?
4. Is the building in controlled airspace, and who obtains the air traffic control authorisation?
5. What liability insurance is carried for the flight, and can the strata corporation be named on it?
6. What is in the water, where does the runoff go, and what notice do residents get?
7. What will the drone not clean on this building, and how is that remainder handled?
8. If anyone still works at height on the job, what is their WorkSafeBC coverage status?

An operator who answers 1, 2 and 4 without hesitating has planned the flight. An operator who treats those as trivia has not.

Get your building looked at

Send the building address, the storey count and a rough sense of the glass area, and you get a written scope back for the work. No flat rate is published here, because a fourteen-storey tower with a podium roof and a six-storey walk-up are different flights with different airspace answers. Start with drone window and facade cleaning, check the Victoria service area page if you want the local detail, or send the building details through the quote form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is drone window and facade cleaning legal in Canada? Yes. It is flown under Transport Canada RPAS rules. Cleaning work close to a building falls under the sheltered operations category, which came into force on November 4, 2025 and requires a Pilot Certificate for Advanced Operations.

Does a drone actually get the glass clean? On routine soil, yes. Purified water and a spray head or brush handle the general wash and the water dries without leaving mineral spotting. Bonded contamination such as paint overspray, adhesive or hard mineral staining still needs contact work.

What happens to the water and the area below? A routine wash uses purified water rather than detergent, so the runoff is water. The ground crew holds an exclusion zone under the flight path, and residents are asked to close windows and clear balconies on the flight day.

Is drone cleaning cheaper than rope access? Often, on the right building, because mobilisation is smaller and there is no anchor testing or suspended crew below. It is not automatically cheaper. A low building with certified anchors already installed can be quicker by rope, so ask for both methods to be priced when the building supports both.

What stops a drone cleaning flight? Wind, mostly. Flights are postponed rather than flown in gusts, so a drone schedule carries a weather contingency date the way exterior painting does.