How To Wash The Windows At Frank Gehry’s

To get to the next floor, the crane moves the rig out from the curtain wall, realigns the basket, and drops.

How to Wash the Windows at Frank Gehry’s 76-Story Eight Spruce Street: Conventional window-washing rigs slide up, down, and side to side to get around a building, but at Eight Spruce, the apparatus has to contend with lots of curves and angles. (Only the south face is flat.) Starting on the roof, two washers load their low-tech supplies—squeegees, dish soap, a bag lunch—into a custom-designed rig comprising six “baskets,” which move individually. A telescoping crane lowers the rig to a fixed position. Then a basket—or baskets, depending on the location—is pushed snugly against the glass-and-steel exterior. To get to the next floor, the crane moves the rig out from the curtain wall, realigns the basket, and drops. The job is managed by R&R Scaffolding, which also handles other unusually shaped skyscrapers, like the under-construction One57. Business is up 500 percent over the last five years.

$1.5 million to $3 million: Estimated combined cost of system installation (sans rig purchase) plus one round of cleaning.
428,000: Square feet of surface area.
2,000+: Windows.
25 mph: Maximum wind speed at which the rig actually works.
6: Months to complete annual cleaning

“I’m not really afraid of heights, but the first few months were a little iffy. You’re just looking out at those cables holding you up, wondering, Is this going to be enough?” —Juan Portelles, R&R Scaffolding

"How To" Clean Windows Professionally

Mark Henderson shows how to clean windows professionally.

Mark Henderson of Window Cleaning Resources UK has released his window cleaning "how to" videos through Unger Europe. If you haven't seen them, they are well worth a look & can be viewed directly in HD on Youtube here. The one below is on auto-play and should lead you through the 10 minute (average) each 1 - 4 parts.They can also be viewed in German here. If you have any problems viewing them, they can be played independently here...

Part 1: Unger Window Cleaning-Tutorial 1 - Know your tools

Part 2: Unger Window Cleaning-Tutorial 2-Cleaning techniques

Part 3: Unger Window Cleaning-Tutorial 3-Cleaning at height

Part 4: Unger Window Cleaning-Tutorial 4-How to clean windows

How To Rescue A Window Washer

Firefighters Conduct Window Washer Rescue Training at Portland Providence: This week, Portland Fire & Rescue firefighters from Station 1 participated in a rescue drill at Portland Providence Medical Center in NE Portland. Pictured above, rescuer en route to victim; time is of the essence in these types of rescues.

Rescuer contacts the victim. The drill included a simulated rescue of a window washer whose equipment malfunctioned.  The window washer began by rappelling about one story down the side of the six-story building and then tied off, playing the part of a victim awaiting rescue. Portland firefighters took turns being lowered to the window washer, securing to the victim’s harness, removing the washer off his rope system, and lowering him safely to the ground.

The edge person oversees the rescue and is in charge of overall safety and communication with the rescuer. During the drill, firefighters utilized “two points of contact” in their system. This means that the rescuer and patient are always attached to the system by two ropes, a mainline and a safety line, that are part of a system. The mainline is the working rope that is used to do all the work. The belay (safety) line is attached to a separate anchor and a different point on the rescuer and patient on their harness. In the event of a failure of the mainline, the belay (safety) line is always there to catch the load. This type of redundant system is essential in maintaining a sufficient safety factor for not only the firefighters but also those being rescued.

The rescuer performs an assessment of the victim upon initial contact. Firefighters used specialized equipment including helmets, gloves, harnesses, static rescue and safety ropes, pulleys, and other hardware.

The rescuer attaches rescue equipment to victim and lowers the victim to safety. The simulated rescue went smoothly.  The close to 40 firefighters involved in the rescue drill are members of Portland Fire & Rescue’s Technical Rescue Team. These members are trained in high angle rope rescue and are skilled in the use of ropes and other rigging gear to use in high angle rescue scenarios. 

According to Station 1 Lieutenant Jamie Ziegler, “Our firefighters frequently practice rope rescue skills and this drill was a great way to prepare for a complicated rescue.” Photos by Dick Harris, Portland Fire & Rescue.

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Weather Got Your Window Cleaning Service Down?

Mike Draper of "Clearly Windows" in Illinois shows us how it's done.

Weather Got Your Cleaning Service Down? Has the weather got you down? You are not alone! Snow, sleet, ice...STOP WE CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE is the cry I am hearing from many. There is no doubt about it. When you see piles of snow, your balance sheet is likely to see RED...and there is nothing more depressing than that. Staff can't get to work, clients become indifferent, and the phone definitely stops ringing. What can you do?

Move, Don't Cancel - One way to reduce the pain of foul weather and to take charge with your clients and reschedule due to weather, and take no prisoners. Saturdays, Sundays, whenever. Nothing is off limits. Tell your staff, that you know it is going to be painful to miss out on the income, so you are scheduling extra jobs for them to make up for it. When your clients try to say "let's just skip it", use your powers of persuasion to let them know that your staff who is counting on income, has room on Saturdays, and we are even throwing in some free snow-day extras.

Become a Chauffeur - If it is safe jump in your car early and go pick your staff up and ferry them to and from the jobs. Clients will be impressed that you made the effort, and staff (though sad they did not get the day off) will be happy to not lose out on the revenue.

Money Talks - Do everything in your power to be sure that your staff does not come out of a two week period with no money. One year we had a big snow storm that hit Seattle between Christmas and New Years. What horrible timing! Clients all said "I'll just spend time with my family and see you next time". Oh dread. Nobody made money for ten days, and then came in the on-slot of resignations.

For Next Time - Make sure that for the future you have a "foul weather policy" that protects you from lots of losses. Make it your policy that in case of foul weather client homes will automatically be rescheduled, and that staff know exactly how they will be notified of what to do, so you don't scramble to fill schedules, only to find out that staff isn't coming into work.

Plan Your Spring Attack - Spring Cleanings can add tens of thousands of dollars onto your income, but only if they are well thought out. Take the time now to create a tantalizing package that nobody can resist. Think of 10-12 extra things beyond your normal cleanings that really make your spring cleaning a "must have" event for your clients. And, plan how you will get this message out. Press release, door hanger, direct mail, newspaper advertisement. How will you get fresh new leads in the door ready to spend money in the spring, and beyond.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow - Hang on...I guarantee that the second it looks like spring that phone will ring and you can be ready to start making some money again.

Severe Weather - 5 Tips For Coping With Weather Stress (by Sara Healy). When severe weather is upon us, we experience weather stress. Our bodies go into crisis mode. Adrenaline starts to flow in reaction to the emergency situation. This helps us take action. We seek safety and protect ourselves and our family from the impact of the weather. It's after things calm down that weather stress begins to turn on us. The adrenaline that helped us during and immediately after the severe weather does not go away. Even as flood waters begin to recede, stress levels often continue to rise. This is when weather stress can be very dangerous.

Unfortunately, we frequently don't realize what's happening. The physical crisis has passed. Therefore, we may ignore our stress. That is, until our normally calm and cool neighbor suddenly blows up in anger, our children begin to have nightmares, or we find ourselves crying on the shoulder of a stranger for no particular reason. Suddenly, we realize somethings not right. We got through the worst of it, but our friends, family and others are still showing symptoms of severe weather stress. What can we do? Here are some tips that may help you, or people around you, cope more effectively with prolonged weather stress:
 

Recognize that people may feel irritable, sad, angry or guilty after a weather disaster: These feelings are very common! So, be patient with yourself and others. People may not act normally after severe weather hits. Like any crisis, this kind of weather causes emotional trauma. Usually with time, this trauma heals itself. If it doesn't, seek out qualified help for yourself or encourage others to seek it.
 

Share your experiences with others: Getting your feelings out about a weather disaster is very important. It helps you feel more in control and less vulnerable. In addition, sharing what's happened to you and hearing the stories of others, creates a feeling of togetherness in the weather crisis, which keeps you from feeling isolated.
 

Take good care of your physical condition. Stress takes a BIG toll on your body. Eat healthy foods as much as possible. When it's safe, find ways to exercise or get out of your house. Also, remember to relax and rest, even if you've got a lot of cleaning up to do. Taking good care of yourself and your family will help relieve the effects of weather stress.
 

Help others in your neighborhood, community and town: Assisting others in your community is a way to do something positive. When you're involved in helping someone else, you don't have as much time to feel stressed about your own situation. In addition, sharing the work created by a weather disaster reinforces your sense of community.
 

Remember to laugh: However incongruent it may seem to laugh, it's actually good for you during a weather crisis. Laughter is a wonderful stress buster. It has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve the immune system and, in general, make you feel better. So, go ahead and laugh and encourage others to do so too.

Severe weather is a fact of life. When it hits where we live, there WILL BE weather stress. Therefore, as we prepare our homes for severe weather, so too should we prepare ourselves emotionally for the impact of this weather. Recognizing weather stress and taking steps to alleviate it is the best way to keep it from overwhelming us.

How To Get My Job: High-Rise Window Cleaner

Do they hum the Spider-Man theme song all day? Probably!

How to get my job - High-rise window cleaner (By Thorin Klosowski): We've always been fascinated with risky jobs, but there are few in the world more insane to anyone with a fear of heights than a high-rise window washer. There is no amount of money you could pay us to rappel off of a giant glass building. Thankfully for people who live and work in those buildings, there are workers with the balls to do it, which is why we reached out to Reflection Windows & A Premier Services LLC to have a few of their employees answer some questions for us this week.

Tell us a little about your histories as window cleaners.

Nate Carr (owner): After working in a corporate setting for many years I just couldn't take it any longer. An acquaintance turned me on to window cleaning, and within a month I was sold. When the amount of work got to be too much, I had to hire on service techs to assist me in the cleaning of houses and large office buildings, and here we are today.

Mr. Garcia: I started cleaning windows after working at a construction site, where I saw Nate cleaning windows on a house. At that time we were cleaning anything from houses to large buildings.

Chris Trujillo: I've been a window cleaner for five years. I started off working for a maintenance cleaning company, but I ran out of places to go there so I pursued an opportunity with Reflection Windows, where I'm now going on my third year.

Why did you start working in the industry?

NC: Two benefits of this profession are working outside and freedom. What else do you want in life?

CT: I started in this industry for its job security, and it became more than that to me. I enjoy the personal satisfaction I get at the end of each day when I see the finished projects.

How would you recommend someone get started in your field? What type of person is best suited for hanging off the side of a building?
MG: Make sure that you are healthy, in shape and have an open mind. Of course, it's also someone who is not afraid of heights and can be safe.

NC: I'd also recommend you should go into it with an open mind, because more than likely, it's not going to be what you expect. It's much harder than most people think. It might be a surprise, but customer service and satisfaction is key in this industry. A person best suited for high-rise would have to be one that isn't afraid of heights and who is very safety oriented.

Can you describe an average day?
CT: It's hard to say what an average day would be, because we have so many different types of jobs. From route work, which is cleaning store fronts/retail jobs, to high-rise, which is chair work/stage work, and residential, where we service individual residences.
 

What's the best part of the job?
MG: I enjoy seeing a completed job. No one bothers you 200 feet up in the air, and it's peaceful with a beautiful view.

CT: One of the best parts about my job would have to be the fact that every day is different and I get to be outside each and every day.

You think you have what it takes to hang off a building in a swing?

What's the worst part?
NC: The worst part of the job is when instructions are not followed, as it pertains to either schedules not getting completed because of weather conditions or individuals that do not follow company policy, which results in reprimand or suspension. Communication is an important key in this industry, and if for whatever reason instructions are not followed, it really frustrates me to issue warnings and/or terminations.

CT: The worst part about my job would have to be the weather, because if it's too windy we have to move out of the wind and if it's too cold or too hot it makes it more challenging to safely and effectively clean the glass.

MG: I have found that ensuring safety from the time we leave the shop to the time we return can sometimes be difficult. We have a lot of guys, so ensuring their safety can be challenging.
 

How about the biggest misconception?
MG: That I don't care about anything and that we are not responsible for the jobs. People think it is easy and the labor is unskilled. Not true.

NC: I agree - the biggest misconception is that the window cleaning industry is full of unskilled workers and it's an easy job. These guys dedicate their lives to this profession and truly possess a skill that not just everyone can do. It takes a real unique type of person to do what we do, someone who cares about the well-being of everyone on the crew, someone who is passionate, and someone who can think quickly to overcome any obstacles or challenges that may be set forth on any given day. Those that are in this industry know the time and skill needed to do the job right the first time -- without any accidents. Many people think we are renegades with a death wish. Not true. We all want to go home to our families at night.

CT: The biggest misconception to me would be that people think cleaning a window is more of a simple task than an art. The high-rise chair work is more like rock climbing, not just dangling from a rope!