Drone Cleaning Price Singapore

Published rate card

Worked example. An 1,800 sqm mid-rise facade at S$1.20/sqm is S$2,160, delivered in one to two days. The same building via gondola requires several days of rigging before cleaning begins.

Why there is a minimum

Mobilising costs the same regardless of building size: crew, transport, the water and pump setup, the CAAS activity permit, and the airspace check. A 700 sqm facade does not cost meaningfully less to turn up for than an 1,800 sqm one — it just takes less time once we are there.

Below roughly S$2,000 the job does not cover its own setup, so we price small sites at the mobilisation floor rather than pretending a per-square-metre rate scales all the way down. If you have several small buildings, combining them into one engagement is how you get under that floor per building.

How we benchmark against rope access

We do not apply a fixed rate and call it a quote. The reference point is what rope access would charge for your specific building, because that is the real alternative you are weighing us against, and rope access in Singapore is competitively priced.

On straightforward elevations a drone is genuinely faster and we can price at or below the rope number. On complex facades — deep recesses, heavy soffits, profiled cladding — the drone cannot do everything, the job becomes hybrid, and our cost advantage narrows to roughly parity. There we compete on speed, disruption and having nobody at height, not on being dramatically cheaper.

Any contractor quoting a deep discount on a complex facade has either not surveyed it or plans to renegotiate on site. Full comparison on drone vs rope access.

What moves a quote

• Facade area and elevation count — the primary driver
• Substrate and its condition — chalking paint may need recoating, not washing
• Soiling type — biological growth needs more passes than atmospheric dust
• Airspace — proximity to Changi, Seletar or Paya Lebar adds coordination; Jurong Island adds JTC clearance. Restrictions are published on OneMap
• Water and power availability on site — trucking water is a real adder
• Working hours — after-hours work for pedestrian frontages costs more
• Hybrid requirement — any area needing pole or rope work is a separate visible line

Included and not included

Every quote includes:

• Site assessment before pricing is confirmed
• CAAS Activity Permit and airspace check
• Deionised water production and ground pump setup
• Pilot and spotter, with exclusion zone management
• Before-and-after photographic documentation

Not included:

• Remedial work — sealant, glazing repair, recoating
• Glass restoration where staining has etched into the surface
• After-hours access surcharges imposed by a building or MCST
• Water trucking where no site supply is available

Payment terms

Permit fees and lead times follow the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore schedule. Quotations are valid for 30 days. Payment is 50% on confirmation and 50% on completion; corporate clients with recurring schedules can arrange monthly invoicing. Prices quoted are final — Starspire Pte. Ltd. is not GST-registered, so there is nothing added on top.

Frequently asked questions