Drone facade cleaning for commercial buildings
The whole building envelope, cleaned from the air with a tethered soft-wash drone and a pure-water rinse. No scaffolding, no swing stage, no rope access, no boom lift in a traffic lane. The same equipment, method, insurance and published rate nationwide.
Fully Insured
$2M Liability
FAA Compliant
Part 107 Certified
Commercial Projects
Up to 200 ft by drone
Drone facade cleaning, in short
A tethered Lucid Bots Sherpa drone applies heated, chlorine-free soft-wash chemistry and a 0 TDS pure-water rinse to stucco, EIFS, glass, concrete and metal panel at low pressure, reaching up to 200 ft (about 18 stories) per staging position. Commercial facades are $0.12–$0.25 per square foot, fixed after a free site survey, with no minimum charge. FAA Part 107 crews, $2M liability. Rates shown are our published national rates. Every job is a fixed price after a free site survey.
- Surfaces
- Stucco, EIFS, glass, concrete, metal panel, stone
- Method
- Heated soft-wash, 0 TDS pure-water rinse, low pressure
- Reach
- Up to 200 ft (about 18 stories) per staging position
- Rate
- $0.12–$0.25 / sq ft, published nationally
- Access equipment
- None: no scaffolding, ropes or lifts
- Compliance
- FAA Part 107 · $2M liability
What drone facade cleaning is, and what it replaces
A building facade collects everything the local climate throws at it. In the Southeast that is salt aerosol, humidity and year-round biological growth. In the Northeast and the Mountain West it is road salt spray, freeze-thaw grime, diesel soot and the mineral streaking left behind when snowmelt runs off a parapet. Whatever the source, the result is the same: a dull, streaked envelope that reads as neglect to a tenant, a buyer or a lender, and that shortens the life of the coating underneath.
The traditional answer is to put people at height. Scaffolding, swing stages, rope access and boom lifts all work, and all of them come with the same overheads: engineering and permits, a sidewalk shed or a closed lane, weeks of setup before anyone cleans anything, and an insurance load that climbs with every floor. Drone facade cleaning removes the access problem entirely. The pilot stands on the ground, the drone carries the spray bar, and the building is cleaned elevation by elevation with nothing attached to it.
We clean the full envelope, not just the flat planes. Vertical fins, horizontal sunshades, parapets, cornices, porte-cochere soffits, recessed balcony walls, cabinet signs and the undersides of overhangs are all reachable, because the drone holds position at any height and angle. These are the surfaces a lift skips and a rope crew charges extra for, and they are where dirt shows first.
Surfaces we clean
- Painted stucco, EIFS and synthetic stucco finish coats
- Precast, cast-in-place and painted concrete
- Glass curtain wall, spandrel glass and window wall systems
- Aluminum composite panel, painted steel and metal screen
- Brick, natural stone, porcelain and terra cotta rainscreen
- Architectural detail: fins, louvers, sunshades, parapets, soffits and signage
Tethered drone, heated chemistry, pure-water rinse, low pressure
The aircraft is a Lucid Bots Sherpa, a purpose-built cleaning drone that flies on a tether. The tether carries power and the cleaning solution from the ground rig, so the drone never lands to refuel or refill and never lifts a tank of water into the air. The rig heats water to a working temperature and injects chlorine-free chemistry, a sodium percarbonate based soft-wash, so the solution lands hot and lifts biological growth, atmospheric soot and traffic film without abrasion.
Pressure stays low throughout. This is a soft-wash, not a pressure wash: the chemistry does the work during its dwell time, and the rinse simply carries the loosened soil off the surface. That is what makes the method safe on EIFS finish coats, sealant joints, gaskets and coil-coated metal, where a pressure washer would drive water behind the cladding or scar the finish.
The final pass is a rinse with 0 TDS pure water. Water is run through multi-stage pre-filtration into de-ionization resin until it carries no dissolved solids, so it dries spot-free on glass and leaves no mineral haze on dark panel. Every elevation is documented in 4K before and after, and the footage is delivered with the invoice.
What is not on the building
- No scaffolding and no sidewalk shed
- No swing stage, davit or roof anchor inspection
- No rope access crew or rescue plan
- No boom lift in a traffic lane or on a landscaped bed
- No crew at height at any point in the job
Up to 200 ft per staging position, taller by staging
The drone reaches up to 200 ft, about 18 stories, from each staging position. That covers the majority of mid-rise and many high-rise commercial buildings from grade. On taller towers we stage from podium roofs, setbacks, amenity decks or the main roof, and clean the elevation in stacked sections. The survey maps every staging position before we quote, so the proposal already reflects how the building will be worked.
Competitors publish inconsistent reach figures for the same aircraft models. We publish one number and explain how anything above it is handled, because the method is the trust signal, not the figure.
FAA Part 107 crews, $2M liability, and nobody at height
Every flight is conducted by an FAA Part 107 certified remote pilot with a visual observer on the ground. Where a building sits in controlled airspace we file LAANC authorization in advance; where LAANC is unavailable, as it is over Manhattan, we file for manual FAA authorization and schedule the job around the approval. The work area under the active flight is coned, and the drone is tethered, so there is no free-flight risk over the public.
We carry $2M commercial general liability plus dedicated UAS aviation liability, and issue certificates of insurance naming the owner and the property manager before mobilization. Because there is never a person on a rope or a stage, the fall-from-height exposure that drives the cost of traditional facade work is simply not part of the job.
Wash water is managed to the local rule. Pittsburgh and Denver both prohibit contaminated wash water from entering storm sewers, and New York requires DEP approval for discharge to the sanitary system, so runoff capture and disposal are planned at the survey and written into the proposal.
Six things that move a facade quote
Every quote is a fixed price built from a measured facade area and a walkthrough of the building. The rate per square foot moves inside the published range according to the factors below, and the total moves with size: bigger jobs get lower rates.
- Facade area, measured from drawings and confirmed on site
- Height and the number of staging positions the elevation needs
- Substrate mix: glass, stucco, panel and stone each take different chemistry and dwell
- Soiling level: light film versus heavy biological growth or embedded soot
- Access and site logistics: where the rig stages, and what has to be coned
- Scheduling: business hours, after-hours or weekend work
Facade cleaning pricing, per square foot
Commercial facades are priced at $0.12–$0.25 per square foot of facade, fixed after a free site survey, with no minimum charge. The rate eases as the job grows: at 40,000 sq ft and up the range is $0.12–$0.20. The totals below are computed from that model at the size shown.
Commercial facade
$0.12–$0.25 / sq ft
Fixed price after a free site survey. No minimum charge.
40,000 sq ft and up
$0.12–$0.20 / sq ft
Bigger jobs get lower rates; the slide continues on very large projects.
10,000 sq ft facade
$1,200–$2,375
Computed from the model at this size.
20,000 sq ft facade
$2,400–$4,500
Computed from the model at this size.
40,000 sq ft facade
$4,800–$8,000
Computed from the model at this size.
100,000 sq ft facade
$10,364–$20,000
Computed from the model at this size.
Recurring maintenance schedules run 20–30% below the one-off price per visit, for every service. Portfolios of several buildings under one owner or manager are priced 20–30% below single-building rates as an alternative to the maintenance discount, not on top of it.
Drone facade cleaning typically lands 30–60% below scaffolding, swing-stage or boom-lift work on the same building, because the rate is the cleaning and not the rigging.
Rates shown are our published national rates. Every job is a fixed price after a free site survey.
Where we work
Every state, the same standard: tethered Lucid Bots Sherpa drones, heated chlorine-free chemistry with a 0 TDS pure-water rinse, FAA Part 107 crews and $2M liability coverage. Crews and equipment mobilize anywhere in the United States, with travel built into a fixed quote after a free site survey. In Florida we operate as Vista Drone Cleaning.
In New York, drone flights are scheduled around the city's takeoff and landing permit process, and water-fed pole and ground crews cover work that cannot wait for a permit.
A full-envelope facade project, documented
Belmont Village Senior Living · Coral Gables, FL, a 130,000+ sq ft luxury senior living high-rise. Delivered in Florida, where we operate as Vista Drone Cleaning.
Belmont Village needed its entire exterior - facade, windows and floor surfaces - cleaned without closing a single entrance or moving a resident. Lifts, scaffolding, swing stages and rope access were all off the table.
Before
After- 130,000+
- sq ft of exterior cleaned
- 7 days
- start to finish
- Zero
- lifts, scaffolding or closures
- 2×/year
- asked back on a semi-annual schedule
Frequently asked questions
What is drone facade cleaning?
Drone facade cleaning uses a tethered industrial drone, flown by an FAA Part 107 certified pilot on the ground, to apply low-pressure soft-wash chemistry and a pure-water rinse across the whole building envelope. The pump, water treatment and chemistry stay on the ground and travel up the tether. Nothing is rigged to the building: no scaffolding, no swing stage, no rope anchors and no boom lift in a lane.
Which facade materials can you clean by drone?
Painted stucco, EIFS and synthetic stucco, precast and cast-in-place concrete, glass curtain wall and spandrel glass, aluminum composite panel, painted steel, brick, natural stone, porcelain and terra cotta rainscreens, and architectural details such as fins, louvers, sunshades, parapets and soffits. Chemistry and dwell time are matched to the substrate at the site survey, because what lifts biological growth from EIFS is not the same treatment that clears mineral haze from glass.
How high can the drone reach?
Up to 200 ft, about 18 stories, per staging position. Taller buildings are handled by staging from podiums, setbacks or the roof, so the reach limit is a planning question rather than a ceiling on which buildings we can take. The survey maps the staging positions before we quote.
How much does drone facade cleaning cost?
Commercial facade cleaning is $0.12–$0.25 per square foot of facade, fixed price after a free site survey, with no minimum charge. Bigger jobs get lower rates: at 40,000 sq ft and up the range is $0.12–$0.20. A 20,000 sq ft facade runs $2,400–$4,500 and a 100,000 sq ft facade runs $10,364–$20,000. Rates shown are our published national rates. Every job is a fixed price after a free site survey.
Is soft-washing safe for sealants, gaskets and coatings?
Yes. The method is low pressure by design. Chlorine-free chemistry does the work, heated so it acts faster, and the rinse is 0 TDS pure water that dries without spotting. There is no impact force driving water behind cladding and no chemical stripper touching coil coatings, anodized aluminum or elastomeric paint. Where a facade carries a coating with a manufacturer maintenance requirement, we match the process to that document and say so in the proposal.
Do you need to close the sidewalk, lobby or parking?
Rarely. The ground crew works from a single parking space or service drive and cones only the area directly under the active flight. Entrances, valet and pedestrian routes stay open. That is a material difference from scaffolding, which needs a sidewalk shed for weeks, and boom lifts, which close a lane for days.
Do you clean facades nationwide?
Yes. Crews and equipment mobilize anywhere in the United States, with travel built into a fixed quote after a free site survey. In Florida we operate as Vista Drone Cleaning, working year-round. In New York City every drone takeoff and landing needs an NYPD/DOT permit with at least 30 days' notice, so flights there are scheduled around that process and water-fed pole and ground crews cover work that cannot wait.
What insurance and documentation come with the job?
$2M commercial general liability plus dedicated UAS aviation liability, with certificates naming the owner and property manager issued before we mobilize. Every flight runs under 14 CFR Part 107, with LAANC airspace authorization filed where the building sits in controlled airspace. You receive 4K before-and-after documentation of every elevation for the board, the asset file and the warranty record.
Get a fixed facade cleaning price
Send the address and, if you have them, the elevation drawings. We measure the facade, walk the site and reply with a fixed proposal.