How Much Do Window Washers Make?

Cole and I live in an apartment building on 106th street, just down the road from busy Jasper Ave. It's a unique area - at least to me. After several weeks of staying with Cole over the summer I realized that I had yet to see anyone under the age of twenty on my walks to and from home. The majority of the area's population appears to consist of young professionals, which makes sense as we are minutes away from the downtown core. In fact, 106th street itself is largely occupied by large office buildings, and at least one structure that (weirdly) seems to house both residents and places of business.

This morning I left for work, trudging up and over the sloping hill leading down to our apartment building, and headed north. I sidestepped the clusters of suited men and high-heeled women on their way back to their cubicles with Tim Hortons coffee cups clutched in hand and crunched some drying leaves under my shoes just for fun. At some point I happened to glance up and over to the right, and spotted a window washer strung confidently over the lip of one of the neighbourhood edifices. 

Being an unapologetic gawker I stopped to watch for a moment, and wondered to myself how much I would have to be paid to hover so precariously along the open face of a multi-story building. Then I wondered how much the crazy guy above me was making. After doing some poking around online it looks like the general consensus is that an average window earns about seventeen dollars an hour. It also looks like instead of earning an hourly wage, they are paid according to how much ground (or window) they cover in a designated period of time. The few dollars more an hour they make than me is not enough to get me off the solid surface of the earth. 

But, kudos to the men and women keeping downtown skyscraper glass so clean the panes reflect the sky. 

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For some enjoyable insight into a day in the life of a window washer check out this article from the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/635557--skyscraper-window-cleaners-a-breed-apart.