How to Vet a Drone Cleaning Contractor

Aviation & UAV liability insurance

Standard commercial general liability insurance does NOT cover drone crashes or aerial property damage. The FAA classifies commercial small UAS as aircraft, and virtually every commercial GL policy carries an aviation/aircraft exclusion. A drone cleaning contractor must carry a dedicated UAS aviation liability policy plus hull coverage — typically $2 million to $5 million minimum for commercial properties, with $5M as the standard floor for high-rises, oceanfront towers, and condo associations.

The Certificate of Insurance (COI) must be issued before mobilization and must name the building owner, property manager, and condo/HOA board as additional insured. A contractor who promises to send the COI after the work starts is operating outside industry standard.

Water quality: 0 TDS pure water

Ask whether the ground rig uses a multi-stage RO/DI (Reverse Osmosis / Deionization) filtration system. The water must test at or near 0 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) at the pump. Anything higher — even municipal tap water at 150–300 TDS — leaves visible mineral residue once it dries. On tinted, mirrored, and low-E coated glass, that residue shows up as the heavy white spotting and streaking that defines a botched drone cleaning job.

Pure water is also the manufacturer-preferred rinse for Solarban, SunGuard, SageGlass, and similar low-E coatings. Ask the contractor to show you the in-line TDS meter reading on the rig before the first flight of the day.

Chemistry & SDS documentation

Any proprietary soft-wash surfactant, detergent, or biocide the contractor sprays on your building must come with a published Safety Data Sheet (SDS). The chemistry should be certified eco-friendly, biodegradable, and explicitly rated safe for the specific facade material, window seals, sealants, and the surrounding landscape and storm drains.

Substrate matters: glass curtain wall, low-E glass, painted stucco, EIFS, GFRC, ACM panel, anodized aluminum, tile roof, and shingle roof each need a different surfactant and dwell time. A one-size-fits-all chemistry plan is a red flag. Ask the contractor to walk through every substrate on your building and the matched chemistry before they bid.

OSHA ground safety & perimeter control

The contractor must have a strict written protocol for cordoning off the ground area directly beneath the drone's flight path to protect pedestrians and parked vehicles from overspray, dropped equipment, and the unlikely event of an in-flight failure. Expect:

• A dedicated ground spotter in radio contact with the pilot
• Coned/taped exclusion zone matched to the elevation being cleaned
• Pedestrian and vehicle re-routing through the property
• A written equipment-failure contingency

This protocol aligns with OSHA 29 CFR 1926 ground-safety requirements for overhead work. Google and HOA insurance carriers both treat documented ground safety as a baseline qualifier — without it, the contractor is not bid-eligible.

FAA Part 107 & LAANC

The pilot in command must hold a current FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. Most of urban Florida — Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville — sits in controlled airspace, so the contractor must also file LAANC airspace authorization with the FAA before each flight. Ask for the certificate number and the LAANC authorization for your specific job site and date. See the full breakdown in our commercial drone cleaning guide.

The 10-step vetting checklist

Hand this list to any drone cleaning bidder before signing a contract. If a contractor cannot answer all ten with documentation, they are not operating at industry standard — disqualify them.

1. Confirm dedicated aviation/UAV liability insurance. Standard commercial general liability does NOT cover drone crashes or aerial property damage. Require a dedicated UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) aviation liability policy plus hull coverage. Minimum $2M for low-rise; $5M is industry-standard on commercial high-rises. The COI must name the building owner, property manager, and condo/HOA board, and must be issued before mobilization.
2. Verify FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. Every pilot in command must hold a current FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. Ask for the certificate number and verify against the FAA Airmen Registry. Hobbyist Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) does not authorize commercial operations.
3. Verify LAANC airspace authorization. Most of urban Florida sits in controlled airspace. The contractor must file LAANC authorization with the FAA before each flight. Ask to see the authorization number for your specific job site and date.
4. Confirm 0 TDS pure-water filtration on the ground rig. The ground rig must use a multi-stage RO/DI (Reverse Osmosis / Deionization) filtration system that produces water at or near 0 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). Anything above ~10 TDS leaves visible mineral spotting on tinted, low-E, and mirrored glass once it dries. Ask to see the in-line TDS meter reading on site before the first flight.
5. Request Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for every chemical. Any soft-wash surfactant, detergent, or biocide sprayed on the building must come with a published Safety Data Sheet. Verify the chemistry is biodegradable, certified eco-friendly, and rated safe for the specific substrate — paint, EIFS, low-E glass coatings, window seals — and for surrounding landscape and storm drains. A contractor unwilling to share SDS documentation should be disqualified.
6. Require an OSHA-compliant ground-perimeter protocol. The contractor must have a written protocol for cordoning off the ground area directly beneath the drone's flight path to protect pedestrians and vehicles from overspray, dropped equipment, or unlikely equipment failure. Expect cones/caution tape, a dedicated ground spotter in radio contact with the pilot, and a documented exclusion zone matched to the elevation being cleaned.
7. Substrate-matched chemistry plan. Soft-wash chemistry is not one-size-fits-all. Glass curtain wall, low-E glass, painted stucco, EIFS, GFRC, ACM panel, anodized aluminum, tile roof, and shingle roof each need different surfactant and dwell time. Ask the contractor to walk through their chemistry choice for every substrate on your specific building before they bid.
8. Pre-mobilization Certificate of Insurance (COI). The COI listing aviation liability, hull, commercial general liability, and (where applicable) workers' compensation must arrive in your inbox before the crew shows up — not after. It must name the owner, property manager, and condo/HOA board as additional insured.
9. Written flight plan and 48-hour tenant notice. Expect an elevation-by-elevation flight schedule, a 48-hour tenant notification template, and a balcony/window protocol (close shades, retract awnings) for tenants on the active elevation. This is standard HOA-approval documentation; if the contractor can't produce it they are not operating at industry standard.
10. 4K before/after documentation deliverable. Every elevation should be filmed in 4K before and after cleaning, with the footage delivered to property management within 48 hours of job completion. Insurance carriers, condo boards, and asset managers all want this for their records, and it protects both sides if a pre-existing condition is later disputed.