Well, it’s official. The craziest workers in Denver ply their trade approximately a dozen stories above us on window scaffoldings. I mean, you think your job is tough? Imagine a middling breeze killing you.
By now, most of you have seen the dramatic footage of two men thanking the Lord – Vishnu, the Holy Spirit and the blessed Buddha, etc. – that they were tethered to their scaffolding as brutal winds swung them back and forth in the air for what seemed like half an hour.
After their platform smashed a number of windows at the Plaza Tower office building at 18th and Curtis, in a scene that resembled a dreadful Hollywood blockbuster, firefighters rescued the duo through a 12th-story window.
The men, according to one representative, were rattled but suffered no injuries. Reportedly, one of them was crying. Though, he should be comforted by the fact that most of us would have been screaming – or worse.
Which got me thinking.
There are many mysteries to the craft of window washing, most curiously, why anyone would be nuts enough to do it? What kind of individual decides to risk his life cleaning windows a mile and 12 stories above sea level?
Bob Popp, the owner of Bob Popp Building Services, started his window cleaning business in 1975 with two brave employees and one new pickup truck.
Today, Donn Popp, Bob’s brother, tells me that Popp Building Services is the largest such company in Colorado and “possibly in the United States.”
“Basically, I measure it by number of employees. We have 75, and normally a window cleaning company has eight employees,” Donn explains.
And from what Donn tells me, it’s a cutthroat business.
“It isn’t very lucrative actually, because other owners believe the only way to compete is to keep cutting their price and undercutting us. It takes a lot out of the profit percentage.”
That’s what we call a competitive market. But how does Popp decide what the cost will be? Basically, Donn explains, it comes down to how long a job takes, a count of the windows and the shape of the building.
Popp has a minimum charge of $50, but the price can climb to $10,000.
Workers, incidentally, top out around $15 an hour, which officially makes them the most underpaid employees on Earth.
“If the market would bear it out, we would be glad to pay them more. We always pay the top of what we can,” Donn says. “It’s a tough job.”
Donn would know. After graduating from college in 1976, he began working on the scaffolds for his brother’s fledgling company.
“It was a lot of fun,” he recalls. “And though it is really very safe, it’s never boring. You’re so far up there and you have to constantly monitor the weather, especially in Colorado because it changes constantly. I liken it to an elevator. We all ride an elevator each day and we feel secure because it’s closed. Basically, it’s just like an elevator.”
An elevator, huh? Maybe he’s right. Fact is, Googling the words “window washer,” “plummets” and “death” brings back few authentic hits, though a washer died in October in Portland, Ore.
“Each supervisor – we have four – is required to have in each of their trucks rescue equipment, ropes and devices to lower safety harnesses,” Donn says. “They are certified in CPR and first aid.”
I’m not sure what first aid is going to do for a window washer splattered across 18th street. But Donn says this sort of accident has never happened at this level before.
“And we have never had anything like today,” Donn says. “I don’t want to put a negative light on the company. This is a first-class company. We have done this for 30 years and this is the first major thing to happen.”
I have to be honest. As long as everyone’s appropriately tethered in, there’s nothing like a swinging scaffold in the middle of downtown to make life interesting for the rest of us.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
