The country's window-cleaning companies are booming as developers build taller and more unusually shaped towers.
The specialist cleaning company Grako said this week it had grown 100 per cent each year it has been in operation since 2004. Alain Tawail, formerly a marketing executive, started the company eight years ago in Dubai with three cleaners. Now he employs more than 300 people, many of whom spend their days abseiling down towers suspended only by ropes and clutching a squeegee and a bucket of soapy water.
"The market for us is growing rapidly because buildings are getting more and more complicated to clean," said Mr Tawail. "Each company wants to build something different. And that means making their buildings bigger and more complicated. We always have to keep recruiting in order to meet the demand."
This month, Grako was awarded the contracts to clean the capital's Sun and Sky Towers, which rise to 65 and 74 storeys, respectively, and the Etihad Towers complex, which range from 55 to 77 storeys high.
The deals add to Grako's bulging contracts file, which includes the world's tallest building, Dubai's 828 metre Burj Khalifa and the world's most steeply inclined man-made tower, Abu Dhabi's 160 metre tall Capital Gate. The Burj is clad with about 26,000 hand-cut glass panels, while Capital Gate has 12,500.
The boom is good news for the country's legions of window cleaners, most of whom hail from south Asia. According to Mr Tawail, the cleaners and their managers earn anywhere between Dh1,500 (US$408) and Dh25,000 a month, depending on experience.
The career is usually a short one, with most high-altitude cleaners retiring from the job by the time they are 30. The average age of a Grako window cleaner is 25, while the oldest cleaner is 32.
The training is rigorous. Grako adheres to guidelines set out by the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association, based in the United Kingdom.
New recruits must undergo 1,000 hours of training and work on the ropes for a minimum of a year before being allowed to work at height.
Meanwhile, Grako's hopes are a little more grounded: last week, it acquired Western Stone Restoration, an Abu Dhabi company that cleans marble and granite floors.
