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Window Washers Make Tampa High Rise Squeegee Clean

Photo by Jay Nolan/Tampa Tribune

Nearly a dozen window washer worked on the Bank of America building in Tampa.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 6, 2007

Updated: 12/06/2007 03:40 pm

TAMPA - There's something special about peering over the edge of a 450-foot-tall building just after dawn and then climbing over the roof's railing; the only thing protecting you from plummeting to your death is a thin length of rope and a narrow swing seat.

Still, nearly a dozen window washers took the chance early this morning, all swinging their legs over the edge of the Bank of America building in downtown Tampa, intent on cleaning the windows and doing it in a couple of days.

"It's a nice view," said Anthony Holland, 27, of Brandon, who has been using a squeegee on windows of high-rise buildings for seven years. "It's the best I've ever seen."

All of the window washers on today had scores of years of combined experience under their safety belts, said Bay Area Window Cleaning manager Dave Brockway, as he watches the operation from the ground.

All have at least two years' experience, he said, and one has more than 20 years. "They have to have experienced before I put them on a building like this. These are the elite." He said that to enjoy this kind of job, a person must have an appreciation of heights.

"There are two kinds of people who do this," he said, "those who grew up with it in their families and climbers who love to be outside rappelling. In the mornings up there, it's awesome. It's quiet and peaceful."

Normally just a couple of cleaners would be put on such a building and it could take weeks to finish, but Bay Area Window Cleaning managers decided to put the whole crew to work on this building today and get the job done before the weekend. It's not a common sight to see so many dangling by ropes and gawkers paraded by all day, faces to the sky, watching the washers scrub, squeegee and drop; scrub, squeegee and drop.

Despite the looks of it all, Brockway said washing windows on high-rise buildings is not very dangerous. The equipment makes it safe. Each washer has $1,600 worth of equipment, he said, including 600-foot lengths of rope that cost $500 each and last no longer than a year. Much of the equipment is owned by the washer, he said.

"The equipment is set up not to fail, ever," he said. "Driving a mail truck is more dangerous than this."
Workers moved quickly in the brisk early morning air. Every moment, for the most part, was economical and strategic. Every swipe with the squeegee was calculated, every swab with the brush, the same way. Never is a spot on a window cleaned twice.

They sat in boatswains' seats, swaying back and forth, with a bucket of water mixed with Dawn dish soap dangling beneath them.

"These are the elite."

The dish soap works on the thin coat of jet fuel exhaust that builds up on windows high up, Brockway said.

Keeping the washers working along a level line is also critical, he said. Otherwise, soapy water can splash onto windows already cleaned, and that's not good.

Bay Area Window Cleaning bids on high rises all around the area, he said. Cleaning windows in buildings like the Bank of America building costs between $5,000 and $12,000, Brockway said, depending on the size of the building, the windows and how difficult it is to get to them.

Workers spend hours on each job strapped to the seat, he said, but no longer than six hours because after that, their concentration may lag, not to mention the toll taken on backs and legs.

Each worker makes two drops a day from the roof along the sides of the building. Depending on their experience, they can make up to $75 a drop, said company general manager Brett Hemphill, watching the crew from the roof of the Sykes Building across the street.

He fidgets watching a worker with a little less experience than the others climb over the roof railing.
"This makes me nervous, even now," Hemphill said.

The company is some 25 years old and has never lost anyone. But there have been times when workers froze halfway down, he said. And inexperienced washers can get disoriented when they first step over the side, if they focus on the ground, then the wall in front of them, then the reflection in the window of the horizon behind them.

Tony Bennington was stationed on the ground today, making sure pedestrians didn't walk beneath the window washers. He didn't want anyone to get wet or bonked on the head by a dropped squeegee.
"I'm in training," he said. Bennington said he hopes to be up in the seat on future jobs. He said he thinks he has mastered the technique.

"It's just getting used to the feeling of just hanging by a rope," he said. That, and to, "just look straight ahead."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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