"Skywalkers"

They rappel down the skyscrapers of Makati in teams of six.

Called "skywalkers", these employees of City Service Corp. clean windows at half the time it takes using the traditional gondola and at less cost.

"We borrowed the rope descent technique commonly used by mountain climbers and by members of the military in Europe and the United States and adapted it to our line of work," said City Service senior vice-president and chief marketing officer Gonzalo Gonzalez.

The company currently has two all-male teams, which were trained to rappel, rig ropes, and tie knots during a 108-hour course at Kampo Uno Rescue Camp in Quezon City. Kampo Uno is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for such training.

At the core of the training program is the buddy system, where teammates monitor each other’s physical condition for factors such as dehydration, hypothermia, and apprehension.

"Because they spend eight hours everyday hanging on the face of a skyscraper and are exposed to wind, sun, and rain, each team member is required to use a life line with provisions for rescue. All our equipment meet existing standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the US Department of Labor. All our equipment are inspected before rigging. The ropes have a minimum tensile strength of 5,000 pounds," said Gonzalez.

Sustainable

City Service was founded in 1950 by chairman Valentin Prieto, Sr., who came to the Philippines from Spain as a boy. Through the years, the single proprietorship was transformed into a 100% family corporation , with a subscribed capital of P20 million and a paid-up capital of P5 million.

Last year, the company generated P240 million in revenues from scrubbing buildings clean. Clients number over 300 firms, all among the country’s top 1,000. Most of these customers, including the World Health Organization, University of Sto. Tomas and the Ayala Group., have been using the company’s services for decades.

"Being the first and only ISO certified janitorial company in the country has helped us market our services to choice contractors," said Gonzalez.

Cleaning the windows of an average-sized, 20-story high building does not come cheap at P50,000. Traditionally, a gondola is rigged to the top of the structure and cleaners ride it up and across the face of the high-rise for between 20 and 30 days. To look their best, building windows should be cleaned twice a year.

Competitive

"Many people think it’s a very easy business to get into because they can put up a company with a minimum of capital. While it’s true that there’s a lot of money in it, the business is also highly competitive. Many new players pull down their price to land the contracts. But when they realize they cannot make profits, they just don’t pay the janitors the minimum wage and do not remit payments to the Social Security System. A lot of clients, for their part, close their eyes to this practice for the sake of cost savings,’ said Gonzalez,

City Service employs 5,000 janitors, of which only 30% are women. The average monthly take home pay is P8,000.

"There is still room for growth in the janitorial service sector. We deal with clients who can give us a decent return. We leave the crumbs to the fly-by-night firms,"said Gonzalez.