The life of a high rise window cleaner

Having clean windows is like waking up after a long night of refreshing deep REM sleep, or the feeling of a hot shower after a long day of hard work. It makes you feel as though you are looking at the world with brand new eyes. If you’re like a lot of people, the feeling of seeing something that was dirty, now clean, brings a surprising sense of satisfaction and contentment.

However, the satisfaction of having freshly clean windows probably doesn’t give you a sense of exhilaration or adventure. That might be because you’ve never thought about the world of Commercial window cleaning.

Now, if you say the words commercial cleaning, or industrial cleaning to someone, don’t be surprised if they look at you with the face of stunned fish. It’s not always the most exciting thing to think about. 

But like most things that seem ordinary on the surface, often a quick peek behind the curtains can reveal something rather different.

SYDNEY’S SKYSCRAPERS

Sydney doesn’t have the tallest buildings in the world, but they’ve still got their fair share of buildings well over 200 metres. Our tallest is the new One Barangaroo which reaches an astonishing 271.3 metres! 

Have you ever imagined how many windows a building like that has? In case you’re wondering, the One Barangaroo tower has around 8,000 glass panels, all individually cut and unique in size and shape. And guess what, somehow, every single one of those glass panels are going to need to be cleaned at some stage.

THE COMMERCIAL WINDOW CLEANER

Suddenly, we’ve got quite the different perspective of what commercial window cleaning might look like! Cleaning windows on a high rise building is actually one of the most exhilarating jobs on the market. So much so, that at the moment there is actually a critical need for workers willing to take on the job.

It turns out cleaning windows is a little too scary for most, and for good reason:

You have to be suspended 200 metres into the air for hours at a time. If it’s summer, the scorching heat will bear down on you like a flame thrower, if it’s winter your hands will freeze. On the windy days you’d better get used to banging into the side of a building like a James Bond stunt gone wrong.

Oh, and what do you do if you need a quick bathroom break?

In short, some types of window cleaning is not for the faint hearted.  For those who love a bit of risk and adventure, and making dirty things clean again, there may be no better way to make a dollar. 

Perhaps next time you see a skyscraper or a clean window you’ll look at with slightly different eyes. Thankfully, if you need clean windows, but abseiling down a 200 metre tall building is not your idea of a fun time, you can call us and we’ll do it for you.