Before daybreak Wednesday 10/12/22 I went to the Methodist church downtown Walterboro to interview a couple of workers who built and would climb the scaffolding on the church steeple. I thought that if I went there early enough I might catch one of those hard workers readying up for a day at the top of the steeple many of us would dizzy at.
As I sat across from the church waiting for activity at the job site I saw what might be a neerdowell moping about the church building. I was tempted to call the law, but instead I brazenly approached the man to ask him if he worked for the church. I went up to the man and asked him his intention about the church. His answer, “I’m the owner.” Taken aback I asked what he owned. He humbly retorted, “The company fixing this steeple.” I was floored. There was not a single worker there, but him. The owner of the company repainting the steeple was the first on the job site.
His name is Barrett Ulm. He is a third generation contractor, or sub contractor as he kept correcting me, in a strong and long line of hard working Americans in the construction business. As for Barrett he was overseeing a cleaning and resealing job on the downtown Methodist church steeple. Looking at it one would conclude it was quite a task as the scaffolding went as high as 80 ft.
But Barrett is not an overseer, nor a spectator at the art of scaffolding, he is also a worker. Barrett is not an owner removed from the employees that he pays. Barrett is not a boss who stands on the ground looking up at the steeple he is repairing. The day I met him, Barrett scaled the 80 ft scaffolding alongside what he calls his co-workers.
ABC Exteriors is a outfit out of Charleston, but if anyone is need of exterior cleaning of any sort big or small, do yourself a favor and look up Barrett Ulm at ABC Exteriors, because if they are good enough to clean the house of the Lord, they are good enough to clean yours.
Mosey West
