The Washington Monument covered in scaffolding, in January 1999. (Photo by Leon Reed)

Just this week a Massachusetts-based contractor was chosen to do $9.6 million worth of repairs on the Washington Monument, which was damaged in last year’s earthquake. Those repairs will involve wrapping the monument in scaffolding, and could stretch on into 2014. And as the Washington Times reported earlier this week, there’s an unexpected challenge that could regularly slow work on the monument—the president:

Crews fixing the damage to the 555-foot monument caused by last year’s earthquake expect they will have to abandon their workspace atop scaffolding around the structure up to five times a week for as much as two hours at a stretch to comply with White House security measures, National Park Service officials said Wednesday.

“The people up there have these lines of sight that no on else has,” said Michael Morelli, project manager for the National Park Service Denver Service Center. “Anytime the president moves, we have to bring everyone off the scaffold.”

Notice to abandon the monument because of a presidential takeoff or landing could come with as little as 20 minutes’ warning, and crews are expected to start the 900-step descent to the ground regardless of what the workers are doing, which could be something time-sensitive such as mixing mortar.

“Obviously, any materials that end up getting lost — like mortar that dries and we’ve got to toss it out — will be replaced as well,” Mr. Morelli said. “There’s a price for this delay.”

The costs of those delays have been worked into the contract. All of the repairs are expected to cost $15 million, half of which is being covered by philanthropist David Rubenstein.