The story of cleaning Mark Swartz's Boca Raton mansion — living walls, near-vertical tile roofs, and a job the general contractor didn't think could be done.
Every roof cleaner has a house or two they never forget. This one is mine. The gentleman was Mark Swartz — yes, that Mark Swartz, the CFO of Tyco from the corporate-greed headlines of the early 2000s. Him and CEO Dennis Kozlowski treated the company like a personal piggy bank — over $120 million in bonuses nobody approved, the infamous $6,000 shower curtain, the $2 million birthday party in Italy with the vodka-dispensing ice sculpture. Both got hauled off to prison in 2005.
Before all that came apart, Swartz paid $9.5 million for a house down in Boca Raton. That is the house I cleaned. And let me tell you — you could feel every dollar of it, and not always in a good way when you are the one holding the rag.
A House Nobody Else Wanted to Touch
The property was extreme. The roof was extreme. The plants growing up around it and onto it were extreme. Other cleaners had passed. The general contractor who built the place told me straight up he did not think the roof could be cleaned. That was the job.
Living Walls and a Botanical-Garden Yard
The walls had plants growing on them. Living plants. You ever try to dust a wall that is alive? The landscaping outside was not a yard, it was basically a botanical garden that shed leaves and dirt onto the house faster than we could keep up. Beautiful, but a nightmare for maintenance.
Near-Vertical Tile Roofs
And the roofs — these ridiculous, near-vertical slopes that made you say a little prayer before going anywhere near them. Flat white tile, plane after plane, pitched steep enough that walking them takes real care. Soft wash from the ridge, work the chemistry down, keep your feet planted, do not rush.
The General Contractor Couldn't Believe It
When we finished, the general contractor who built the house could not believe I had actually cleaned it. He got our contact information right there and put Texas Pure Clean on his properties for years into the future. That is how this work goes — you do the one nobody else will take, and the phone keeps ringing.
The Bigger Picture
It was not the most extreme house I have ever done, but it was pretty extreme. Beautiful place. A little humbling too, scrubbing living walls inside a mansion the owner basically stole his way into before it all came crashing down.
Every roof has a story. Some of them are just louder than others. Whatever your roof looks like — steep tile, low-slope shingle, metal, or something in between — we have probably seen worse. Since 1990, 35,000 roofs and counting.
Learn more about our roof cleaning service or request a quote.
Ready to get it done right?
Texas Pure Clean has been the trusted name in San Antonio exterior cleaning for over 30 years.