Talking Business
by Shelly Leachman
Eli and Susan Giaquinto were never planning to start a fire-escape service company. That is, until the business literally fell into Eli's lap.
On the job one day with his now-defunct janitorial service, a fire escape came barreling down into the street from the building where Eli was working. After learning what an existing company would charge to replace the faulty cable, the building's owners asked Eli what it would take for him to do it. Discovering he could handle it easily, Eli agreed. The owners were so pleased with his work they soon offered him 30 more such jobs, and Great Escape Fire Escape was born.
That was in 1988. Today, the Giaquintos say they have far more business than they ever expected. And if they were so inclined, the couple agreed they could book themselves solid for years to come in a city full of fire escapes, many of which are serviced rarely, if at all.
“We're busy all the time and we've barely touched the tip of iceberg,” said Susan. “It's amazing to me that there are people who buy and own buildings with fire escapes, but don't know how to work them. I mean—it's metal, it's moveable—maybe it needs to be serviced now and then.”
San Francisco's Housing Code stipulates that fire escapes should be serviced regularly and ready for use at all times. It does not, however, specify just how often “regularly” is. Most fire-escape manufacturers recommend annual service. The Giaquintos concurred, and added that buildings near the beach, where the fog and damp air can quickly rust fire escapes, should really have twice-yearly maintenance.
The Giaquintos have become the de facto go-to guys for fire-escape issues and advice. They played a major role in setting up a fire-escape service program for San Mateo County, where local regulations stipulate that escapes be serviced immediately whenever a building changes ownership or management. The couple has also led demonstrations for some San Francisco building inspectors, who now include fire escapes in their regular inspections.
Their schedule is pretty packed considering Eli initially intended Great Escape to be just a part-time venture. He originally just plugged the escape services into his existing work rotation, already heavy with daytime janitorial duties and bartending at night. But Eli's part of that rare breed—he likes to work. A lot.
“Even when I was in the fire department, I bartended on the side and drove a limo for weddings and funerals,” he said. “Plus I worked for a textbook company and collected rents in East Harlem.
It was in that five-jobs-at-once era that Eli met Susan, who more or less fell into his lap as their business would years later. The two met by chance in the late 1970s, when Susan was visiting a friend in New York City.
“I picked her up in a bar,” Eli said with a nostalgic smile and quick look to his wife. “It was actually my local bar, and lucky for me it was her friend's local bar too.”
At the time Eli was a firefighter in the tough South Bronx neighborhood, where in one year, he said, his engine alone did over 9,000 calls. Then on track for a promotion in the department, Eli's priorities changed after meeting Susan.
“I wanted to move to New York, but Eli told me I was too much a California candy-ass to make it there,” said Susan. “I think he just wanted to come to California.”
And so he did. Eli retired from FDNY with a pension and, he said, as much money in overtime as he would've made in seven years if he'd stayed. He said he's never regretted that decision, and never looked back.
Neither has Susan, who in 1997 gave up her successful dog-grooming business to help Eli full-time. She first was outside with Eli, servicing the equipment alongside her husband. But as her promotions started bringing in more clients—and allowed them to hire extra staff—she transitioned from the escapes to a desk, overseeing all aspects of the ever-growing business.
Susan said she attributes Great Escape's success to her simple but essential business philosophy—listen to your customers.
“The customer may not always be right, but you have to respect and treat them as if they are,” she said. “You need to treat that fire escape like it's your property and treat that client like they're family. A little respect goes a long way, and I think the fact that in all these years we've really never had problems with people paying us is a sign that our clients appreciate the way we operate.”
Just how long they plan to operate is something they're both unsure about. Despite Eli's worker-bee ways, they're both open to slowing their pace, Susan said. Yet Great Escape is busier than ever.
“We could probably promote it even further,” said Susan. “We've even had people suggest we move the business to Portland, Oregon, where there are a ton of fire escapes. We're at the age that we don't want to expand too much, because we're getting ready to retire, but it's not out of the question. It's actually a great business for somebody younger to take over, and take even further.”
What makes it a great business is a combination of many things, including exposure to some of the most incredible views of the city—“views that make you feel like you're in a picture show,” Eli said. And for Eli in particular, it's also provided fodder for great stories to tell at happy hour. He said he's twice been removed from buildings by police officers—both times in the Tenderloin—when residents who hadn't read the posted notice of his visit called the cops to report a strange man on their fire escape. And while working one day at a Geary Blvd. building, an escape came down with such force that a nail holding it in place shot clean through his hand.
“Luckily the building was across the street from Kaiser,” he said. “So when I got the fire escape back up and the nail came out, I walked right over to the emergency room.”
So all things considered, will he miss the business once retirement day actually arrives? “Well I'm getting too old to go up and down fire escapes all day, but I don't know what else to do with myself,” Eli said. “I can't play that much golf.”
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Shelly Leachman is the assistant editor of San Francisco Apartment Magazine. She has written extensively for the Santa Barbara News-Press, the Sacramento Bee and Frontiers Newsmagazine. Copyright © 2005 by the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.