Over the top

Every high-rise office worker will recognise these guys. You’re sitting working quietly at your desk when suddenly a guy drops down right in front of you, giving you a heck of a fright, and them a laugh, as they squeegee the separating glass before dropping off and away down to the
next level.

It looks a scary business, but Peter Howcroft, founder of Off the Ledge, insists it is safe.

“Although abseiling is perceived to be incredibly dangerous, the gear is so good and the systems and methodology so well thought out that there is actually no risk. It’s all perceived risk really. Back in the day, there was actual risk. You could actually die very easily.”

He lets this hang in the air for a second before laughing and telling me how he got his start back in the early 1980s. After making the decision to move on from cleaning house windows and into the more lucrative high-rise market, he found himself staring up at his first contract.

“My first job was a five storey building in Wellington. It had a ledge about half a metre wide that sloped down. I climbed out of a window, no ropes or anything, and just started walking along with my little bucket. I quickly realised I’d underestimated how scary the whole thing could be. It had looked good from the ground!”

While safety was always a concern, it simply wasn’t a criteria back then. “Most buildings were built with little ledges and you’d walk around the outside of the building. If there was no ledge, then you’d open a window, stand in the window sill, lean out across the glass and hold on.”

The industry has definitely moved on from those hairy days. The abseiling revolution ushered in a new generation of safety. Now, it's the number one method for high rise window cleaning.

Pictured: Off the Ledge window washer Dan Rust.