The only thing that can slow down Ashley Phillips from talking about the Hardman Group’s new business is people interrupting him to give him money. Phillips and partners Bill and Clay Hardman have the North American rights for KTV Working Drones, poised to revolutionize the way the owners of tall buildings clean their windows.
“The device was invented by a gentleman by the name of Kennet Nilsen, he’s the founder and inventor of KTV Working Drones, and he’s located in Bergen, Norway,” Phillips said from a job site on Wednesday. “I work for the Hardman Group, and we had a very difficult time getting a building cleaned in Newfoundland. It’s eight storeys tall, and the cost was ridiculous, in excess of $15,000 to get it cleaned, because of its unique nature. That’s a bad example, but it’s a real example. It took weeks and weeks. You have to get your roof anchors checked, then you have to hang the staging over the side, then we had instances when the welds broke so they had to stop working. One other time the rope had a fray in it and they couldn’t work, then the employee called in sick, then the wind was too high.”
Fed up, Phillips started the research that ultimately led to him and Bill Hardman flying to Norway to meet with Nilsen.
“We were constantly looking online for ways to clean windows without using staging,” he said. “Early in November we came across it online, I immediately tracked Kennet down, had a Facetime call with him within 24 hours, and we jumped on a plane, Bill Hardman and I, and flew to Norway on November 7. We loved it, he’s exceptionally reputable, extremely intelligent and long story short, we ended up buying the rights for Canada and for the USA as well. So, we hold the franchising rights for North America, out of little old Halifax.”
At this point in the story, Phillips had to cut short a call because a potential customer from Toronto had arrived on his job site, aching to write him a cheque for “at least” a hundred thousand dollars.
Phillips and the Hardman brothers have agreements in principle for franchises in Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Manitoba, Calgary, the Kelowna area and Vancouver.
“A lot of building owners are extremely interested but want it proved to them. So, we’ve been making an effort – and we’re prepared to make an effort for people – to go and do a sample. Simply put, show us a building, we’ll go and do it and you can decide if you like it,” said Phillips. “The big benefit, of course, there’s nobody at risk, hanging off the side of a building. It’s extremely safe. It moves five to ten times faster than a swing stage operation, and the results have been excellent.”
Describing window-washing drones as a “game changer and a money maker,” Phillips said they are selling franchises mostly to people they already know and like. The product is evolving so quickly that the company is already thinking about customizing its drones so they can paint houses. The use of artificial intelligence is probably a year away.
Adam Langille, a KTV working Drone pilot, washes the windows at a Morris Street apartment building in Halifax – Tim Krochak
So far in Halifax, Phillips has just a small team of employees and a couple of vans, but he said he’ll be able to wash windows more cheaply than a crew hanging off a roof.
“There’s a fair bit of capital to getting started, the pump and the drone, separate from the truck, is almost a hundred thousand dollars,” he said. “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, I’ll just do this with my drone at home,’ or ‘I’ll hook up my pressure washer.’ That’s not the way. This took seven years for Kennet to develop.”
Top Photo: A window washing drone works in downtown Halifax – Tim Krochak
Source: Saltwire