Dubai: Suspended 150 metres over a city skyline while trying to bolt together two huge pieces of steel is about as far away from a normal office job as it gets.
But for David Chambers and Warren Felters it's all in a day's work as their UAE-based company, Trident Support, specialises in erecting the world's tallest unsupported flagpoles.
The corporation has already received four Guinness World Records for flagpoles erected in Abu Dhabi, Turkmenistan and Jordan and they're well on their way to receiving a fifth award for their latest project in Baku, Azerbaijan which will also feature a dazzling light show.
Chambers, the managing director, and Felters, the marketing director, say they are in negotiation with countries from all over the world regarding future projects.
"We have a lot of fun in our job, especially during the production phase. In many ways it's like an extreme sport as you get a real adrenaline rush when you're at the top of the pole. Our wives didn't really appreciate how dangerous our job was until they had seen footage of us in Turkmenistan on YouTube," Chambers said.
Dangerous
"We have a team of seven people and it takes us around three weeks to erect each flagpole depending on the weather and availability of cranes. It can be quite dangerous at the top when we're bolting the pipes down but we're all certified rope access technicians and we adhere to the strictest safety procedures," he added.
Trident Support Corporation was founded in the United States in 1998. It has offices in San Diego, California and in Jebal Ali Free Zone.
The team has just returned from Baku where they are underway in their most ambitious expedition to date.
The Baku flagpole will stand at a record breaking 162 metres and will feature a red, green and blue laser show across the night sky. Gulf countries including Oman and Qatar have also expressed an interest in having a flagpole erected in the near future.
Chambers said: "It's a very patriotic business and the people we deal with take it very seriously. We deal directly with governments and people working at the top level. There is no time wasting with middle management or worries about paying a commission fee.
"We build the flagpole in 12 metre sections at our base in Jebal Ali, which is one of the biggest steel fabrication units in the Middle East.
The sections are then shipped individually to whatever country we are working in and bolted together and painted on site."
One of the key challenges facing the company is that every country wants to break the record by having the tallest flagpole; a demand that affects every step of the process.
Height: A tall order
- Abu Dhabi: 123 metres
- Amman: 127 metres
- Aqaba, Jordan: 132 metres
- Ashgabat, Turkmenistan: 133 metres
- Baku, Azerbaijan will be: 162 metres
