It was while watching window cleaners in a basket while he was studying that Sébastien Méthot-Thibault had the idea of launching a Quebec drone window cleaning company.
“Looking at them, I thought there must be a better way to clean windows at heights more safely. In the United States, there are 1,000 accidents per year involving a window cleaner,” explains the CEO of Nettoyage Windo.
With his business partner, Émilie Normand, he purchased a drone on which he was able to install everything necessary for cleaning, including a pressure cannon.
When it arrives at a client’s home, mostly condo building owners, it connects to the building’s water source. The water passes through a demineralization system before going into the barrel of the drone using a hose.
Subsequently, Sébastien or Émilie puts the drone into action and starts cleaning the windows one after the other. Moreover, they use a special soap, which is designed by a Quebec company, for their tasks.
“We use these special products to avoid leaving marks on the window after drying is complete,” adds Mr. Méthot-Thibault.
The Windo company drone can work on buildings of 20 floors or less.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Big savings
The window cleaning industry has existed for several decades. We can still see a company employee washing the window of a business with a squeegee and a cleaning brush.
There are still companies that clean the windows of large buildings using a cherry picker. With its concept, Windo believes that it can carve out an enviable place in this sector of activity because of its prices, in particular.
“Our prices are between 30 and 50% cheaper than our competition,” indicates Sébastien Méthot-Thibault. We specialize in buildings that are difficult to access.”
Another interesting point, thanks to their knowledge acquired at the École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS), the two partners are able to update their system on their own.
“We pay a fraction of the price and we are still able to be a step ahead,” explains Émilie Normand. We have control of the technology and can customize it according to our needs.”
The future is AI
The duo of young entrepreneurs has big ambitions for their company. In addition to building a solid base of customers, they would like to automate their services.
This is the area of expertise of Émilie, who is currently doing a master’s degree in artificial intelligence at ÉTS.
“One of our projects is to automate the drone so as not to need an employee to pilot it,” she explains. There aren’t many pilots and those who are ask for big salaries.
“We also noticed that the precision was not constant from one pilot to another.”
With an “intelligent” drone, she believes that the work carried out could satisfy their customers.
In the long term, they would like to expand with franchises throughout Quebec. However, there is no question of skipping steps.
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