Start a Drone Cleaning Business. No ladders, no scaffolding.
Add a maintenance round to your cleaning or solar panel installation business.
The Aspira AC Lite package is £17,000 ex vat - including pump, hoses, batteries and tips.
Maintain exterior surfaces before they become a problem
UK exterior cleaning is a £450m sector growing 5 to 7% a year.
The Aspira AC Lite is a coating drone built to maintain rooftops, skylights, windows and solar panels. Built from carbon fibre to keep it under 7 kg it folds to easily fit a van and can be in the air in minutes.
Using coatings that need little or no rinsing, it holds moss, algae and lichen back between visits, so the work is keeping surfaces clean rather than bringing them back to life.
Results that speak for themselves
Reach rooftops with ease. No ropes or scaffolding - even on a three storey town house.
Remove the dangers of working at height and the risk of damaging tiles walking on customer's roofs.
Before coating
After treatment period
Frequently Asked Questions about Starting a Drone Cleaning Business
Do I need a licence to fly a cleaning drone commercially?
Yes, two things. A CAA General Visual Line of Sight Certificate (GVC), which is the qualification to fly commercially, and an operational authorisation for spraying from a drone, which is built on a SORA risk assessment.
The GVC is around £500 to £1,000; budget around £3,000 for the SORA. Both are held by you, not by us. We supply a SORA template that's been through the CAA before and we'll point you at the right training providers.
How long does it take to get authorised?
The GVC is quick. With a practical flight assessment, which we recommend because the hands-on time counts towards your SORA as well, it's three to four days.
The theory can also be done as self-study with videos and an assessment at the end.
The SORA is the longer part. It's a written safety case that goes to the CAA for review, and the CAA works to its own timescales, so plan in months rather than weeks and start it the week you order.
Our template gives you most of the document from day one, we've been through the process, and by the time the authorisation lands the drone is built and you've completed your training.
Can I run a drone cleaning business on my own?
Legally, no and you also wouldn't want to. Commercial spraying flights need a spotter watching the airspace, make sure no one enters your working perimeter or attempts to open a window.
At a minimum it's a two-person job. In dense urban environments, it is recommended to have 3 or more spotters.
That's the whole crew: no rope team, no scaffolding gang.
Will the AC Lite cleaning drone fit in my van?
Yes. Folded, the AC Lite is 300 mm wide, 360mm deep and 410 mm high. It weighs under 7 kg.
The pump, hose reel and batteries go alongside it. A small van such as a Transit Connect or Caddy has room for the kit and a water tank.
Can the AC Lite clean a roof is heavily mossed or hasn't been cleaned in years?
Some surfaces need more than one application before they're clean, and some would benefit from a full soft wash.
The AC Lite is a coating & maintenance drone that best suits preventative care. For restoration work cleaning exteriors that haven't been maintained in years, we'd recommend our Aspira AC 4.2.
Talk to us about the job and we'll tell you straight which one it is.
Is the AC Lite cleaning drone a pressure washer?
No. It applies coatings and low-pressure rinses.
High-pressure washing damages tiles, strips render and voids solar panel warranties, which is why none of our drones are sold for it.
There are limited use cases where high pressure is important - such as graffiti removal, but even then it is achieved with chemicals and a full assessment.
Do you offer finance on your cleaning drones?
Yes, finance is available upon request through one of our partners. Subject to status - please ask for details.
How long is the wait for a cleaning drone to be delivered?
Our drones are built in the UK by our expert team and generally take about 6 weeks to be tested and ready for deployment.
Worked starts on your drone build as soon as we have received a deposit which secures a place in our build queue.
What is included in the package
Aspira AC Lite Coating Drone
Purpose built for coating and made in the UK, it has an impressive flow rate of up to 10.5L per minute
SIYI MK15 Controller
Professional grade controller allowing precision movements of your drone, with a large screen to see the cleaning face
ARBC 615 Pump
Compact and powerful pump operating at 10.5L/min at 1900 PSI
Supplied with a 30 metre hose.
Also includes rifled tip with 45 degree adapter, 3 batteries and charger and a SORA template for gaining flight authorisation
£17,000*
AC Lite Coating Drone
SIYI MK15 Controller
3 x Li-ion Batteries
Rifled nozzle & lance
ARBC 615 Pump
30 Metre Hose
What returns could you make starting a drone cleaning business?
This varies region to region and depends on a few factors.
But, for a single property we estimate you're looking at charging between £300 and £800.
You're not tied to one patch. A drone packs into a van, so your market is as wide as you're willing to drive, from residential streets to the commercial units and industrial estates that traditional access can't reach economically.
Work also has a way of multiplying on its own: treat one visible rooftop and the enquiries tend to follow, because a moss-free rooftop is its own advertisement. Just remember that coatings work over time and need reapplication for the best results, so build that into your pricing and your customers become repeat business, not one-off jobs.
Ready to take to the skies?
Talk to the team.
We'll run through the system, the full startup list, what certification you'll need to arrange, and the training we give you on the machine.
Straight answers on whether this fits your situation.
Looking to clean more than rooftops?
The AC Lite is fantastic at coating residential and light commercial spaces.
If you're looking to soft-wash or pressure-wash buildings, solar panels, wind turbines and industrial infrastructure, we'd recommend our Aspira AC4 range of drones.
