The Conversation
Adam Shanks is a senior politics reporter at the San Francisco Examiner. He spoke with Vic Pellicano, founder and CEO of SkyPSI, about drone cleaning for commercial buildings, the operators building businesses around it, and why the work is so rewarding.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
What was the trip to Vegas about?
Vic Pellicano
There was a drone industry show, and we met with property managers and salespeople to plan a big drone cleaning demo. A large part of this side of the business is raising awareness. Most people don't know that drone cleaning exists, what it can do for them, how it can lower the price of getting a property's windows cleaned, or that it can make money for anyone who buys the equipment. Vegas is a great place for that. The typical visitor is close to my target customer: someone retiring from a prior career, or someone whose career is being reshaped by AI, who is looking for a way to be their own boss.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
I think people have two polar-opposite thoughts about drones: war, or a hobbyist taking photos of the scenery. They don't think of a drone as a useful tool.
Vic Pellicano
Exactly. When people think drones, they think of war. Seeing one do something useful and safe, so that people no longer hang off buildings, is eye-opening. Robots are also new to working in the real world. I don't expect one big robotics moment. I think it will happen slowly, the way computers came online. Everyone is familiar with robot vacuums now, and those once felt futuristic. A few years ago you would see them run only in the middle of the night in Vegas. Now they run all day on every floor, and people simply walk around them. It is a slow build toward bringing robots into society where they are valuable.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
In other countries, like Korea, robots bringing food to your table is far more normalized. But for your purposes, nobody is really having an interaction with the person cleaning the windows of their office building anyway.
Vic Pellicano
That's true. The main thing is awareness. Most people have never seen a drone clean a building. When you ask, they say no. Then you explain that it's a flying pressure washer, and they say, how does that work? It's a simple idea. A lot of research and development has gone into it over the past decade, but at heart it's a flying pressure washer that holds steady beside the building. What gets me excited is the home services boom, with so many people becoming their own boss through pressure washing. I see this as another tool in the toolkit for those business owners, and that's what I'm positioned around. My dad was a truck driver. He invested in a tractor trailer and made a living for his family with it. He could go out and earn his own work or subcontract with another company, and he had a sense of ownership and expertise. I see a lot of that in these operators.
Seeing one do something useful and safe, so that people no longer hang off buildings, is eye-opening.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
What is the difference in capacity? If a business owner hired his own team of human cleaners, that would take hiring and insurance. How do you describe the difference between that business and what yours offers?
Vic Pellicano
The crew size is similar. With a drone you have a pilot, someone on the ground managing safety and the hose, and a helper handling chemicals: a crew of two or three. It's a different job, and a much safer one, because everyone stays on the ground. The big difference is insurance. For rope work it's tacked on top of the labor, and it drives the cost.
I see this as another tool in the toolkit for those business owners, and that's what I'm positioned around.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
How common are accidents? You don't think about the person cleaning those windows.
Vic Pellicano
Working at height is a serious workplace hazard, and most falls are from ladders. Professional crews work very carefully, but when a fall happens on a building it is serious. Property managers want to avoid that above all, and nobody wants their building in the news for it. There is also a simple reason to change: nobody should have to hang off a building when there is another way to do the job. And it's cheaper for property managers. Rope access costs an average property $70,000 to $100,000, which is why it happens once or twice a year at most. At that same price, a drone lets them clean two, three or four times a year, so the buildings are cleaner more often. Property managers want to be sure about safety, so you educate them and bring them along. It's a brand-new field, and everyone is getting used to it.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
How do you raise awareness without a billion-dollar marketing budget? I would imagine the best advertisement is people walking through downtown and seeing a drone in action.
Vic Pellicano
You've got it. Right now it's a manual process. Operators who sign up and see a good financial outcome, and a lot of them do, go out and do demos and talk to people for us. There are millions of buildings, not counting silos, solar panels and everything else these machines can clean. When enough operators are motivated and equipped, they raise awareness in these older, handshake industries. Popular areas with foot traffic are the best showcase, which is why we picked Vegas. We want to do demos there every couple of months.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
What do you need to succeed in terms of regulation? Just letting a drone fly in some places can be a legal labyrinth.
Vic Pellicano
AI has made that labyrinth much easier to navigate. When this space started about ten years ago, it was difficult, and the manufacturers did much of the work for their customers. Today the forms are straightforward and the people processing them understand drone cleaning. Operators earn their pilot certification, follow the weather guidance, and check the local rules wherever they fly. We tell everyone to check local regulations. As the technology becomes familiar, I expect exceptions to be written into the rules over time, because the alternative is people on ropes or dirty buildings. As more property managers say, I need this done, they talk to their city council and things move.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
Did you see a dip in people willing to spend money on cleaning and maintaining their property? How is it looking now?
Vic Pellicano
I've been part of this ecosystem for about five years, and I've seen investment go up in the Sun Belt, where there's growth. Those cities want to attract new people and new industry, so property owners there are the most interested in keeping buildings clean and beautiful. Cleaning is optional, since no ordinance requires it. The market drives it, because there is real competition. One of the best places to find a drone cleaning job is next to a property that is already spotless. You say, did you see that building's windows? They're beautiful. And that opens the conversation.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
Are these growing Sun Belt cities your best opportunity and where you're focused, or are you looking all over the country?
Vic Pellicano
Our headquarters is in Dallas, which is strategic. There is a lot of glass there, and Florida gives us organic growth. We also run a services arm with our own commercial drone cleaning contracts. That's how we dogfood the product and our sales cycle, so we can serve customers better. An operator can call from anywhere, and we will connect them with equipment and training. When we have a job and need another operator, we bring one in, and they get to fly without having to sell the job. The Sun Belt also has a longer cleaning season, about nine months, and a more consistent weather pattern for where the technology is today.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
How do you navigate such different conditions, in weather, regulations and business environment, whether you're in New York or Miami?
Vic Pellicano
It's the same everywhere. The building is dirty and it has to get cleaned. As long as the value is there, the rest is paperwork. The property manager gets a result that is cleaner, cheaper and safer, and the operator makes money. Incentives line up on both sides, and the details in the middle get figured out.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
A lot of property managers probably don't know about this. The outside of the building is likely low on their list of priorities.
Vic Pellicano
Right. They have many vendors to manage and something breaking every day. But where demand is high, the outside of the building becomes marketing instead of a pain in the neck. If you're focused on growth, on rooms and utilization, you invest in the facade and the windows, because that helps sell the property. Think of a hotel that looks dirty on the outside. How many people a day decide not to stay because of it? So we go in the front door and talk to property managers, and also to the people selling rooms and conference space. They have the incentive to look at the outside objectively, and they know the property managers and building engineers. Sometimes we do a demo, and after they see it in person, the contract to clean the building follows.
The building is dirty and it has to get cleaned.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
How competitive is this space? I'm assuming you wouldn't have entered it if you thought there was no room for growth.
Vic Pellicano
There is a lot of room. It's the same logic as the truck: you buy a tool and go make your own money, and working-class business owners keep investing in them. There are millions of buildings that need drone cleaning, and a lot of room to go.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
What is the first reaction you usually see when people try it, either clients at a demonstration or the people you hope will operate these drones? Is it immediate that this will work?
Vic Pellicano
As soon as they see it, they get it. That's the nice thing. If you show someone a drone cleaning a building, or a good video, it all connects. Operators fall into two groups. Some already have a pressure washing or window cleaning business and may have heard about drones. Those are the quickest deals. The others are career changers who want to work with their hands. Everyone's first question is how much money they can make on a job. I'm honest with them: the average is about $13,500 per job. You may not hit the average right away, but you'll land some big ones. It's like a running back in football. He may not gain four yards on every carry, but his average is four yards a carry. Then there are published prices per square foot for window cleaning. You show them the square footage of a building and the going price, and it's just math. The missing piece in this industry is what happens after someone buys the equipment. So we built a services operation where new operators learn on the job from experts, and our experts can come to their jobs. We help with marketing and with running their own leads. They don't have to figure everything out alone, and that builds confidence.
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
I look around at all these buildings that are dirty, and they're always going to need to be cleaned. I think that may be your best selling point. You can look around and see tangible evidence of its relevance and permanence, which is increasingly uncommon.
Vic Pellicano
That's very well put. I love cleaning because it's a simple job, you can see the result, and there's no negotiation about whether you succeeded. It was dirty, now it's clean, and you feel accomplished. So much of what we do all day has an uncertain outcome. Cleaning gives you something tangible, and there is a benefit to the brain from that. It's hard to squeeze into a line on a website, but it's a good feeling. And the people who clean windows are the ones nobody thinks about. This puts them in the limelight a little. Now they're pilots, and you can see them at work. I think it makes people feel seen in their work.
Edited for length and clarity.