[michael papworth]

My son is now 16 and wondering what to do with the next couple of years of his life. He wants to go to circus school in London at 18.

I was wondering about advising him to do an abseiling course and be an abseiling window cleaner.

I reckon that it's work he could do during the Summer and Easter vacations and maybe at weekends as well.

Maybe he could even earn enough to come out of school with no debt!

So, my question is, would it be worth his while?

Is there plenty of work available? Is it all full-time work or is there the possibility of casual work?

And what about the pay?

He's interested in abseiling as he thinks it might help with his circus skills with the ropes!

(Bet this guy would be a great window cleaner, but maybe a bit too slow as he messes about quite a lot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MDBAfnmSRA)

[Blue Frog Systems]

I used to know a guy who worked for total access in Staffordshire some years back.

He was a fully trained abseiler. He did loads of stuff from window cleaning to changing lightbulbs from ropes.

Pay was dam good from what I remember.

Would love to do the abseiling myself

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

fr wot i re,member w/cs who used to do the pyramid in stockport were abseiliers now co-op bank gud ,money wally

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

circus school hey well i can uni cycle if dat helps 

[ronnie paton]

lammy were you from? the pyramid doesnt get leaned any more i dont think

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

lammy were you from? the pyramid doesnt get leaned any more i dont think

ronnie orginally stoke ,m8 but lived in bury for a while now wrexham but still go up bury ways

[jodan63]

lived in bury? where and when was that i am a bury boy ,until i moved to cornwall 9 years ago

[ronnie paton]

cool, did you used to clean pyramid

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

walmslersly rd den da dickie bird  fishpool all over bury ,m8 grrrrrrrrr8
 town  

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

cool, did you used to clean pyramid

no ronnie seen it being done workd for  subbed for a guy fr unsworth
nr bury croft w/cs loz harris grrrrrrrrrr8 money  though im craddle trained 

[michael papworth]

circus school hey well i can uni cycle if dat helps 

Here are my kids and a few others at circus school. My daughter's the one in blue pants and a purple top. She also does tight rope. No 2 son on a 4-foot unicycle wearing blue T shirt with white triangle. No 1 son (going to Circus Space when he's 18.) all in blue just at the end at 2.04 to 2.12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWZfasIYsFU

Circus Space: http://www.thecircusspace.co.uk/

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

excellent  took ,me ages to do love the kids no fear just going for it
nice one wally

[AJ]

to start off he will have a Level 1 (about £800 for the course) and can earn about £100- 125 a day. He will have to do 1000 hours then do a Level 2 (another £800), for about £150 a day. another 1000 hours (+ another £800) then he can do Level 3 and earn £200 per day.
Personally, I think you can earn the same and more from window cleaning with your feet firmly on the ground. Abseiler I know, know they can earn the same money doing normal wcing but they do it cos they love it.

[michael papworth]

to start off he will have a Level 1 (about £800 for the course) and can earn about £100- 125 a day. He will have to do 1000 hours then do a Level 2 (another £800), for about £150 a day. another 1000 hours (+ another £800) then he can do Level 3 and earn £200 per day.
Personally, I think you can earn the same and more from window cleaning with your feet firmly on the ground. Abseiler I know, know they can earn the same money doing normal wcing but they do it cos they love it.

Thanks for that. I see that your company actually does it, so you're obviously "in the know."

I'm a little surprised that the pay is not that much more. After all, an abseiler must be much more productive in terms of number of windows cleaned as there's so much less time spent getting from window to window. Also I would have thought that the cost per window would be a tad more to allow for difficulty of access.

What about the availability of work. Do you have more abseilers than you can use or are you struggling to find them?

[AJ]

It may seem that way but after each drop they have to get back to the roof and rig up for the next one, so a lot of time is used like that.
As for availability, I probably get 2 or 3 emails a week asking for work. Our company does not have enough abseil work to employ a full time team, so we sub it out.

[landy2]

ronnie a lad called alan does the pyramid just started the contract

[N'tro]

lammy where did ya get ya cradle training.4rm ive bin tryin every where spoke to wcf 4 wot help they was