Interview by Andrew Joseph

As we all know, growing one’s painting business from the ground up can be fraught with multiple challenges, such as trying to find a proper work/home life balance, or growing too quickly without the ability to cope with the demands. It’s something that Chris Hobbs had come to realize firsthand via his Collingwood, Ont.-based company Hobbs Home Solutions Inc. In the painting industry since he was 16, the forward-thinking Hobbs was trying to sock away a few bucks to put himself through college, but necessity soon had him going into the painting business for himself three years later in 1999, and has seen his company ride the waves, both high and low. But thanks to installing a proper management system, and gaining a new perspective with his young family, he is looking forward to seeing Hobbs Home Solutions continue to grow again. In this exclusive Pro Painter interview, Hobbs avoids painting himself into a corner and lays it all out for us on how work and life can marry to live happily ever after.

Q: How did Hobbs Home Solutions get started?
A: I first discovered the world of professional painting when I was 16-years-old. I wanted to earn some money to pay for future education at college, but there wasn’t much work available in the area. But, I found an ad in the local newspaper for a painter’s labourer paying 50 cents over minimum wage, and was ecstatic to not only find a job, but one that paid more than student minimum wage. By the time I was 19, I realized that I wasn’t enjoying Computer Science, and dropped out of college. This is when I actively started looking for a position in the painting industry as I had previous experience and knew I could make decent money while I tried to figure out my life. I ended up in a position with a hot-tempered painting company owner – unheard of, right? It only took a couple months working with this company before his customers started asking me why I was not self-employed, as I was already managing and completing projects from start to finish. I was 20 years old in 2000 when I started looking into and building my own company “Radiant Painting Solutions”. I started operating as a sole proprietor under Hobbs Home Solutions in 2010, then incorporated in 2015 after I realized I should have incorporated years earlier. I don’t have an education in “owning a business”. I just jumped in head first.

Q: What benefits are there to being based in Collingwood, as opposed to a big city?
A: There are some very tangible benefits operating a trades business in the area. We have incredibly beautiful landscapes, the Georgian Bay and the best ski slopes in Ontario. Torontonians have been visiting and vacationing here for years, with Collingwood being just two hours north of the smog-filled congested city. This Toronto crowd spends large amounts of money to own/build second and third residences. The huge chalets and properties in the area need all sorts of trades to build and maintain them. It appears Covid-19 has only increased this demand as people want to leave the hectic life of the city to pursue a cleaner, slower paced one here in beautiful Collingwood.

Q: What type of projects does Hobbs Home Solutions undertake?
A: Basically, we will take on any project – large or small – if I feel that there’s a profit to be made. Our main source of work is from large, local custom builders who supply me with multiple paint projects every year. As I mentioned previously, there are some great properties in this area that attract many wealthy and powerful people. We have been working on the food magnate “McCain Georgian Bay Compound” for years, and plan to be there for many more. It’s an amazing experience to be snowmobiled/barged/hovercrafted/helicoptered in to a project and spend the night on private islands, in beautiful mansions. We have also completed projects for media magnate Conrad Black, ex-NHL player Scott Thornton, wealth management guru David Hyma, and other very wealthy and powerful people.

Q: As a family-man, how do you maintain the work/home life balance?
A: My wife and I have three young children – the oldest being nine – which means that the work/home life balance is a constant and major challenge. Because I’m self-employed, it means never being off the clock, or so it seems. I strive to be home by 5pm most days, and attempt to not lift the laptop lid, or stare at my phone until after the children are in bed. By 8pm or so, I help my wife with disaster relief cleaning as the kids are messy, especially with online learning/stay-at-home orders currently in place in Ontario. My loving wife is understanding and supportive of me and my business for the most part, but is not afraid to tell me when I have been neglecting her needs of my undivided attention. The secret is knowing when to listen or when to push back because we need to make that payday happen. However, if anyone knows a better formula, I am all ears.

Q: As a hands-on business owner, how do you go about your painting projects?
A: I believe that the most important thing to realize, is that every project will have its own unique set of challenges and will require different techniques to complete. Upfront, I will identify the biggest hurdles and create a plan to complete those first. I prefer to complete all preparation work on the entire project before paint is applied anyplace. One step I take that is exceptionally important to me, is covering the floors on interior projects. I use Red Rosin paper and tape it down to cover the entire floor space. It has been my experience that drop sheets always seem to pull away from the walls, or cause issues if people walk across them and then onto uncovered floors. It doesn’t matter WHO stepped in paint and walked it through the house, it is ALWAYS the painter’s fault! I prefer to use Benjamin Moore paints, as it is the most requested product from my clients. I really love their Super Spec primer and will use it as finish coat on ceilings consistently. It is very flat and touches up exceptionally well with minimal flashing. If I have any fear of adhesion for any project, I will use INSL-X Stix primer. I have had great success painting all sorts of substrates with this product used as bonding primer. For exteriors, there is no better product then Arborcoat by Benjamin Moore, in my humble opinion. It goes on nice, with great durability and has excellent adhesion. We generally use Benjamin Moore Regal series or above for painting. I also love their Aura Bath and Spa line for bathrooms, as it offers great durability with a lower sheen level. As for exteriors, I absolutely feel that utilizing elevated work platforms is totally worth the cost and saves money overall.

Q: How do you buy your painting accessories?
A: I used to buy the majority of my painting supplies from the local paint stores. I would painstakingly develop lists of where I could save a penny on certain items, and instruct my employees what to buy and from where. But, during Covid lock-down, I was forced to find other sources. This resulted in me finding online sources, for which I am actually grateful for now. I stumbled across www.PaintSuppliesDirect.ca, which means I now have my supplies delivered to my house, while also saving money. A win-win!

Q: Can you share any tricks-of-the-trade? Doors can be tricky, right?
A: In my company, there is no substitute for removing a doorknob before painting the door. There is no special trick to making a uniform texture if you paint a door with more than one kind of applicator (brush and roller). If it isn’t possible to remove a doorknob, I will instruct my employee to tape off the handle so that a whiz roller can be used right against the hardware to leave a uniform finish. The only trick I know to painting a door is to be fast, and to make sure the entire finish is applied by a single application method.

Q: What are some of the bad aspects to running your own business, and how do you cope with it?
A: The worst aspects of self-employment in this industry for me are: chasing money; getting paid for extras, and; a lack of an available work force. Chasing money is part of any business. Having good office staff and organized accounting books really helps with this part. Having Quickbooks set up to automatically send reminders and accept payments seems to alleviate some of this stress. Getting paid for “extras” has always been difficult, especially when you are operating a business that is affected by every other trade on the job site. I used to touch-up around the lights and plugs for free, although flashing issues became apparent towards the end of new build projects. I no longer do touchups without the request of the owner/builder. Another way of dealing with this issue, is to have the site manager sign off on completion phases or rooms. For instance, once I have all ceilings completed, I have the project manager inspect them all immediately, and sign off to their satisfaction. Any work needed after signing is billed out on a time and material basis. But, as usual, the only way to cope with most of the issues – the owner puts in more hours.

Q: Let’s get out of the dark, and into the light. What are some of the good things about running your own business?
A: My favourite thing about running my own business is the satisfaction of providing a career and a good life for my employees and their families, and of course for my own family. I love training new staff and watching them grow their abilities. The best thing about being self-employed, is that you get out of it what you put in. If you want more out of your business, then you need to put in more, simply put. Generally, you are in control of your own destiny.

Q: Has the Covid-19 pandemic altered the way you do business?
A: There have been some alterations to the way we do business due to the pandemic. We will not work on projects that have trades from other cities on site, and will pack-up and leave the site if so. There have been some issues with supplies as well. Nothing worse than completing 90 per cent of a large post and beam wood finish project with rented elevated work platforms on-site, and then running out of product. It once took three working days to get another gallon of product, resulting in us going well over budget for accessibility equipment costs, which ultimately put the profitability of the project well below our predicted margins.

Q: How has the painting industry changed since you began your business?
A: The industry has changed mostly in the products used, with new environmental laws regarding VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) over the past decade or so. It means that products dry way faster and are harder to work with. Clearcoats are exceedingly difficult to apply without flashing, as well as rolling out walls. I find the upstroke and downstroke of the roller pull the paint in separate directions, but do not have the necessary time to lay down before it dries. This results in being able to see every movement of the roller, leaving an undesired visual effect on the walls. Putting on the products thicker, and applying with speed and vigor seems to be the only solution to this problem, without adding any VOC’s back into the coatings, such as Floetrol extenders and such.

Q: What advice can you offer to other business owners?
A: If there was some advice I would give to other business owners, it would be this: paperwork and organization is the most important part of your business. It took me years to learn this, as I am more of a get-the-project-done-move-on-to-the-next-then-think-about-papework type of owner. I was constantly letting things slip, missing important deadlines, and not getting invoices out in a timely fashion. This overwhelmed me, and resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. I had upwards of 20 employees, but I had to take a step back as there were too many things slipping through the cracks. I recently found management software that changed my entire world, and it allows me to comfortably grow my company. I currently have 11 employees, and looking to grow now that I have a proper management system in place. In the past, I have paid to advertise in magazines, newspapers and all the rest. I found those printed mediums to be very expensive, with very little ROI (return on investment), and exceptionally high COA (cost of acquisition). If I advertise these days, I will run targeted Google Adword campaigns. I will warn though, make sure you know what you are doing when it comes to Adwords. I have wasted thousands of dollars receiving calls for the local hardware stores as I did not have the knowledge to set it all up properly. Organization takes major work and dedication, but without it, failure is the only option. PP

[textblock style=”3″] Contact information:
E-mail: Chris@HobbsHomeSolutions.ca
Website: www.HobbsHomeSolutions.ca
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hobbshomereno
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HobbsHomeImprovements
Telephone: (705) 446-8894 [/textblock]

The post Not Your Average Cottage Industry first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

Q: How did Marando Painting get its start?
A: The company began small as Marando Brothers Painting, founded in the early 1970s by two brothers, Sal and Joe Marando. In 2003, ten years after marrying Sal’s daughter, I was invited to join the company by Sal, then the sole owner of the renamed Marando Painting.
Even when I joined, we were still small. Sal’s clients were asking him for more and he figured he could deliver if he had a bigger company. At one point he said to me: ‘Listen, I have to hire somebody to help with the business and it’d be a shame to go outside the family.’ So I stepped in as estimator and we had a really good working relationship. Sal is a great guy. He taught me everything and he was the one with a vision that said, ‘We need to start bringing in talent’. I was considered talent.

Q: How did you move from the role of estimator to management?
A: It happened because of an emergency. Back in 2008, Sal – who ran everything until then – had a heart attack. Before they rolled him in for surgery, he told me ‘I may come back. I may not come back. I know one thing for sure, I’ll never get back to the company in the same capacity.’ That conversation marked the beginning of a huge learning curve for me.
We had a big project going on at the time, too. It was a brand new arena for the Oshawa Generals and the city was scheduled to have a mayoral campaign in this new arena, too. That project was baptism by fire for me. At that stage I thought I knew my stuff. I thought I knew what I was doing. Ignorance certainly was bliss, and I took on the challenge.

Q: What’s the biggest difficulty you see facing small or solo painters who want to grow?
A: First, you need to stop painting. You can’t paint and run a real painting business effectively at the same time. If you don’t have enough money in reserve to stop painting, then you need a bigger bankroll to get started. You certainly can’t even begin to run a painting business if you’re the most important operational person on the tools. Actual painting is a tough thing for small owner operators to give up because that’s what they’ve always known. You can’t just get to the site and start painting, then drop everything in the middle of the day because a surprise business issue came up or you’ve got to make it to a meeting. You’ll be both a bad painter and a bad business owner if you try. If you’re stuck on a site rolling out a wall, you can’t be at that vital meeting that needs your attention. Actual painting means you can’t develop the business relationships necessary for success as a painting business owner.
Leaving the tools behind might look glamorous from the outside, but many painters would much rather go back to the tools after they’ve lived as a business owner for a while. Running a business is a headache. That’s the role of the business owner, to handle the headaches and solve the problems. I drive highways between big cities on a regular basis, just going up and down, back and forth.
Even having a few guys on a couple of jobs can keep you going from job to job all day as the boss. Now you need to be able to set up five or six of those jobs, maybe with four or five painters on each job. And you have to be sure that for each one of those jobs the painters have work for eight uninterrupted hours every day, day after day. Materials need to be available on site, questions have been answered, submissions are done, paint colours are approved. Colours need to be highlighted on the drawing and an understanding of the job communicated. Your workers need to know the schedule, and all of this has to be taken care of for each one of those multiple projects. There are a lot of moving parts to a painting business.

Q: Finding a steady supply of skilled painters is a universal problem in the painting business. How do you handle the challenge?
A: We’ve been a union shop since Sal registered Marando with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades back in 1985. I consider the union to be our labour partner because they help us so much with manpower. Finding good painters is tough for everybody because there just aren’t enough of them out there. So we all need to work together to attract new people and prepare them for actual work. The union does this for us and more.
For example, a few years ago, the province of Ontario enacted working-at-height legislation that required extensive training for workers. It’s an eight hour course and with the help of the union we got 25 men certified in a month and a half. We couldn’t have done this on our own. Being a union shop does cost us 25-to 30 per cent more in wages, but it’s worth it. 80 percent of our cost on an average job is labour, but expensive labour actually turns out to be cheaper when the people are good and know how to work.

Q: What can you do as a company owner to attract new painters to the trade?
A: Back in 2007 or 2008, one of my older painters told me he felt sorry for me. ‘Why’, I asked. ‘I’m 38 years old, I’m in charge of a company. Why do you feel sorry for me?’
“You’re going to have a problem”, the veteran painter said. Guys like me, back in the day, we showed up early and on Saturdays. If there was no work on Saturdays we got worried. Back then some bosses used to say ‘the slowest guy is getting fired this week. Things are different now. Fewer people want to work.”
Management by fear wasn’t a good thing, but it is a very different world today. These days we’re looking to hire kids, millennials, whatever you want to call them. They don’t like to wake up at six in the morning because one of the things you do in the trades is you get up early and you put in eight hours. That said, painting can be a great way to make a living. Our painters earn anywhere from $60,000 to $85,000 a year, and that’s just as a worker. You can do even better if you move into management.
Painting companies now have to be forward thinking in new ways. These days we have regular staff meetings, including the office crew. We go around the table and talk about the work that’s coming up . . . Here’s how the next year looks for Marando . . . Here’s how we’re doing financially . . . Here are the main projects and events happening at the company. Our employees really are interested.
I learned the value of inclusion like this from a consultant I brought in through one of the trade associations I belong to. At one of the trade conferences he asked questions about painting companies. Do your employees know your vision? Do they know your goals? I had to admit, I didn’t think so.
This led to some soul searching on my part and eventually bringing everybody into the company in an inclusive way. And you know what? Employees want to help. Most of them really do. You just have to ask them. ‘What do you think of how we paint things?’ You’d be surprised how productivity went up when we started asking for advice and listening to it. Treating employees as part of the family is why people want to work for us. I’m able to keep employees long term this way. Since I took over the company I’ve been able to retire ten long-time employees that Sal hired. We gave them parties, we gave them watches. We care about our people. Our people are us. All those cliches are true.We’ve worked hard to make Marando the kind of place painters say ‘Oh yeah, you want to work for those guys. They pay overtime. They pay every week. They’re never short.’ We’ve got an electronic bookkeeping system so time keeping is not arbitrary. We’re running a corporation here. We’re not anything huge, but I realized we had to set up business processes that work. These processes are essential, and so is having the union to supply painters.
We’re marketing the painting trade to people who are usually university educated. They’re not typically first generation immigrants. We have to try to make this career attractive. And if you speak to these people, once you tell them what they can earn, they’re usually surprised. “Oh, I didn’t think you can do that.” Yeah, you can, but you have to work. You can’t just show up and be ‘creative’.

Q: What’s one of the most important management lessons for startups?
A: Lack of supervision – official supervision, that is – is one of the things we identified early on as the cause behind jobs that didn’t go well. You can’t just send a helper and a couple of painters to a job and expect success. This doesn’t mean a supervisor can show up there every other day, either. That’s not often enough. You need supervisor boots on the ground every day in the morning talking to the other trades, looking out for your best interests on the project. That was also part of my learning curve. The bottom line is that you’re paying your people for eight hours a day at union rates. Full production is vital. Without it, you’re not going to survive.

Q: How did you learn to manage and grow a company when you found yourself in charge from one day to the next?
A: In the same way that the union is our labour partner, trade associations have become my management partner. I sit on the board of the Ontario Painting Contractors Association. I also belong to the Finishing Contractors Association of North America, the FCA. I’m a board member on that also. We meet three times a year. We’re a management group looking out for the interests of unionized painting contractors in North America. I also sit on the board of the Residential Painting Contractors Association. The connections I make through these groups is beneficial every day. You learn about the business and how to manage it.
It’s one thing to know the technical part of painting, but that’s not nearly enough. You also need to know the logistics part of your business. You need to know what other people are doing. What are some of the best practices in painting? Some people say, “What the f*!# does ‘best practices’ mean? What do you mean best practices in painting?” Every industry has it’s best practices. As an owner, you need to learn them. How? Talk to people. At the FCA board, for instance, I’m a little fish. Some of the guys have companies with 400 or 500 people working for them through three or four states in the US. And more often than not, these are great people. They talk to you like you’re just one of them and they share details of how they run things. These big players actually have elected me to their board. I always questioned their logic on that! But you learn, you exchange information. It’s the most beneficial thing I ever did for the business.

Q: What’s the biggest financial difference between running a big company and a small one?
A: Accounts receivables is one major difference. This is a big thing for us because we do so much commercial and institutional work. At the end of the day, you do all this management, estimating and painting, then you buy supplies and pay wages, but you won’t get your invoice paid for 45 to 60 days after you’ve submitted it at the earliest. That’s business as usual. You need financial backing to be able to support a payroll, suppliers, your administrative costs, overhead and rent for at least a couple of months before you see a cheque. And that’s assuming everything goes well. Out of 10 projects, maybe only 60 percent of them go well; 10 percent are late paying stragglers. There are also some nefarious people out there who aim to cheat you if they can. So you have to start weeding out. Who are the people you want to work for? Who are the people you don’t want to work for? It’s a difficult thing to fire a client, but sometimes it’s necessary. You take your licks and learn from them. Eventually you start to recognize the signs of a bad client ahead of time and filter them out before they cost you money. You don’t always have to put your head in the fire to understand that you’re probably going to get burned. This awareness takes time.

Q: Are you actively trying to grow Marando?
A: Yes, but probably not in the way you think. We’re adding different revenue streams that are related to painting. If we’re called into a condo to do wall coverings in the common areas, for instance, we’ll try and get more of the work on the project, even non-painting interior finish work. I work on projects all the time alongside carpentry contractors and we talk. They can become a subcontractor of mine for a specific project. They keep their carpenter union affiliation and I don’t need to get one of my own. I don’t step on anybody’s toes, I just hire them to install new doors, light fixtures, floor coverings, etc.
We have a philosophy about aiming to be the best subcontractor on the job. I didn’t say the most important, I said the best. So if somebody were to come and evaluate the project, who would the project manager say is the best outfit on this job? I want to be that name. I want him to say Marando Painting was the best. They weren’t the most important, they didn’t put the structure up. No, but were they great people to deal with? Were they professional? Were their workers courteous, respectful, efficient, good quality? This is what we’re striving for. pp

The post How to Grow a Painting Business first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

By Steve Maxwell

When 16 year-old Mark Dumerton got a job at a gas station owned by Larrie Novak in 1981, there was no way Mark could have known this business connection would eventually lead to his ownership of one of the five largest painting companies in Western Canada. Together Mark and Larrie founded M&L Painting, and by 1982 Mark was the sole owner of a business with a very modest $80,000 in annual sales. Today Mark has more than 80 employees, with offices in Vancouver and Alberta. His team also works on Vancouver Island, in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan. M&L does every kind of painting there is, and Mark has plans to grow the company larger. In this exclusive Pro Painter Q&A interview, Mark shares his wisdom and experience on how sustained growth of a painting company can happen.

Going from working on your own to running a proper painting firm with teams of painters is not an easy process. What are the main factors for success?
You need to begin by understanding something about yourself. Are you a trades person or a business person? You may start out as a tradesperson, but you need to become focused on the business side of things and understand good business practices if you want to succeed. I was lucky to have a wife who worked with me and had a marketing diploma from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. As for me, I’m not a good tradesman so I knew right at the beginning that I needed to hire others to succeed. I did that right away when I took ownership of the business, but stayed on the tools until I had six painters working for me. At that time I decided to take 6 months and go and secure new work and see if it was viable for me to be off the tools. It became clear that I could secure work for more painters and was able to grow to 12 painters very quickly.

What are the biggest challenges you face in running M&L?
Having the right people working for me, maintaining cash flow, understanding how each client looks at different items as being important, reading clients and giving them what they need and understand. It’s also important to realize that there are some clients that just do not line up with our values and company culture. We need to say no to that work.

How has the business changed in the time you’ve been involved?
We’ve grown from six employees to more than 60 painters. We work across western Canada and we continue to evolve. This includes training and coaching of our executive, our management team and our general superintendents. As we live out our values and emphasize our core competencies, we believe our employees will take these values on, too. We have been working intentionally over the last 4 years to become an “employee first” company. We believe that if we treat our employees as well as we treat our customers, our employees will pass this on, treating our customers the way we want them treated. In a sense, our on-site employees become a kind of sales force. Back in 2014, I began to focus on being an employee first company. After a year I saw the positive change in our company culture as well as our profitability. At that time I hired an executive coach to work with my key people and help continue to implement the employee first approach.

WHAT’S ‘EMPLOYEE FIRST’?
Employee first is a recognized business management style pioneered by award-winning business leaders such as Kip Tindell. “We believe that if we take better care of our employees than anyone else – by paying them better and training them more – that they in turn will take better care of our customers than anyone else”, explains Tindell. “This keeps our customers coming back to see us over and over again.”

How do you monitor painter productivity to ensure you’re making a profit on a given job?
We always start with a budget. Each project manager goes over the details with the painters on site and we track hours and productivity daily through our cost analysis program. The project managers monitor costs for each job with the foreman. Setting expectations and monitoring them as the job unfolds is key. Everyone involved gets to share in the savings whenever we come in under budget.

M&L tackles a wider variety of paint jobs than any other single painting company I’ve seen – everything from residential to commercial including big box stores. Do you keep different crews on different kinds of jobs, or do you use the diversity of work to provide a diversity of experience for your people?
Both. We have enough history on each project manager and foreman to know what types of jobs they’re most successful at. It’s management’s job to put our employees in a position to be successful in order for us to be successful.

M&L places a strong public emphasis on sustainability. How does this play out in day-to-day operations?
Many ways. We use LEED-approved products whenever possible. All wash water for cleaning brushes and rollers is either used to thin paint or brought back to our warehouse to be purified in our onsite system before disposing of it.

Is M&L growing as a business, or is it in a stable, steady state in production and revenue?
We’re in a growth trend right now. We have a strategic plan in place to grow in volume and profit over the next 5 years. Most of our new painters come from referrals from our current painters. Our painters are paid a referral amount for each new painter that stays 3 months, then a further bonus when they stay one year. For our part, we provide a workplace where employees can be part of something to be proud of. We have a clear profit sharing program for our painters as well as loyalty bonuses on years they have been with the company. We have benefits which include extended medical, car allowance, RRSP matching, education allowance, plus employee soccer and hockey tickets. Employee social get-togethers, including our yearend celebration, gets a very high participation rate. We match employee charitable donations, and we have a Watch Club where each employee gets a watch at 10 years of service and the chance at a yearly draw for an all-expense paid holiday for a week. Once an employee is with us for a year they very seldom leave.

Would you consider finding good painters to be a primary challenge for you?
Yes, finding good painters is vital, but it’s a challenge that we meet easily because of how we work. We have a lot of good painters on staff which allows us to take on mediocre painters that we can grow into good ones. Once you set expectations, most people can become good painters. My commitment to my people is that we will not grow beyond the good painters we can attract to work with us. We have a clear profit sharing formula that all painters know and can track.

Is painting a big box store different than other large commercial jobs?
No, it’s not that different. We start work by referring to the appropriate Master Painters Institute (MPI) manual to find best practices for any given situation. 90% of our jobs are bid 3 months to 2 years prior to our crew actually getting on site. Most of our bids are done online using PlanSwift. Once we get the job, there are a number of steps set out in the contract documents and architectural specification’s that give us guidelines to start planning. These include specification reviews for paint systems, products and colour submissions. There are also insurance requirements laid out in the contract (typically $3 million to $5 million liability), and there could also be a performance bond to ensure we finish the job. Every job also has safety requirements which include the company safety manual and safety planning procedures with daily and weekly reporting. There’s also a Certificate of Recognition (COR) independent safety audit of our company. Each employee is also required to have a minimum level of training that increases based on their level of responsibility. All our safety training happens online through an employee portal on the website, and so does most of our skills training. Equipment needed for a project is based on material being used and the specific job. This could include sprayers, power rollers, different types of lifts, boson chairs, swing stages, etc. Regardless of the job, we use an MPI manual to pick our products and systems based on the type of substrate and situation.

What sort of warehouses do you have to store equipment and supplies?
We have a 2,000 square foot space in Vancouver and rent more warehouse space temporarily from time to time to do prefinishing. We also set up an operational office and warehouse whenever we decide to focus in an area.

Have you developed innovations for applying products that help boost efficiency on big jobs?
No, not really. We use sprayers and power rollers for different applications. A big job is just like a lot of small jobs put together.

What are some of the more interesting and unusual jobs M&L has tackled over the years?
Earlier this year, we did the Big Splash Water Park in Tsawwassen, B.C. The facility had a large paint failure from another contractor. We had to figure out how to remove epoxy, ensure adhesion, then recoat with fresh epoxy. We painted the base building of Tsawwassen Mills, a 1.2 million square foot shopping mall in Delta, B.C., as part of initial construction in 2016 – 2017. This was a very time-demanding job and at one point we had over 50 painters on the site. In 2013, we did the Langley Event Centre. This was a large wooden structure that includes gymnasiums and ice rinks, offices and gym so there were many different paint systems on that project. The project included 12 painters. Also that year we did the Victoria’s Secret flagship store in Vancouver. Our work included numerous applications including wall coverings, plaster finishes, faux finishes and painting. We had 15 painters on that project over a 4-month period. Back in 2010, we did the Hotel Georgia project in Vancouver. It was a large restoration component involving faux finishes to replicate the look of the 1920’s. We had 8 to 20 painters on that job and it took more than 36 months to complete.

The post Employee First first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

The best way to see the work of Kevin Gray Painting is to drive through Hudson, Quebec. “My portfolio is a leisurely drive down Main Road,” says Kevin. “From the town hall to some of the churches, and a few of the most beautiful, stately homes in our community, we’ve had the privilege of working on many of them.”

Kevin officially started his painting business in 1998, but he began painting while doing odd jobs ever since he left school at 16. “My father was doing work for one of the bigger contractors in Hudson,” explains Kevin, “and I started working with his painter. I tried out a couple of different trades, but painting just seemed to stick. After a few years working with my first professional painting boss I decided to go out on my own and 20 years later here we are.”

Although Kevin is a painter, his business is about more than just paint. “Many of the homes in town have been old for a long time,” explains Kevin. “We do quite a bit of restoration. I’d say the ratio is about 25 per cent restoration to 75 per cent just straight paint jobs.”

What does restoration mean in Hudson? It’s somewhat unique to the more than 150-year-old architecture of the area, and it’s also related to an unusual state of the trades’ scene in town. “On exteriors we’re always changing rotten trim boards, siding and decorative accents,” says Kevin, “but we’re always able to replicate trim elements one way or the other because there are so many fine woodworkers and trim mills in the area with talented craftsmen. We rarely have any issues matching old work. As for interior plaster moldings themselves, oddly enough, and perhaps due to the fact that Hudson had its own saw mill for a long time, there are few houses that have them. I’ve only had to do plaster molding repairs, not recreate plaster details.”

So, what are some of the more interesting jobs Kevin and his crew have taken on? He was fortunate to work on one of the old Hudson Bay trading posts in town, restoring exterior trim, plus two of the older buildings in Hudson – Greenwood Centre for Living History, dating to the 1730s and St. James Anglican Church dating to the 1840s. “I’ve worked on the old steeple and original windows of St. James Anglican Church. An ancestor of mine, Robert Gray, one of the first Grays to come to the area from the Orkney Isles, worked on building the steeple of this church in the early 1800s. We’ve also worked on Halcro Cottage, a small building that the town of Hudson bought and moved. Robert Gray, my stone mason relative, lived in that building at one time, too.”

Painter and Paint Supplier

“I’ve always supported both paint shops in town,” says Kevin, “but when the chance came up to buy Centre Décor Hudson, my fiancé Leanne [Durocher] and I jumped at the chance. We met when she was the paint and décor manager at the local hardware store about 15 years ago,” reminisces Kevin. “I needed a colour retinted, I was skeptical, but Leanne matched it perfectly. The client was happy and now we’re getting married. Who wouldn’t want to have their own paint geek on their side?”

“My mum really developed my sense of colour and texture,” explains Leanne. “I had phenomenal teachers who took that raw talent and honed it.”

Tricks of the Trade

“Prep is paramount when it comes to the restoration work we do,” advises Kevin. “We also have to focus more on historically accurate colours than with modern paint jobs, but prep, prep, prep is essential for good looking results that last.”

“There’s something very relaxing about stripping exterior trim with a heat gun,” says Kevin. “I’m also a fan of the paint shaver for wood siding. It can be a total lifesaver on multiple paint layers on older homes when you really have to strip back to bare wood. A good orbital sander and a Fein multitool are my absolute favourites.”

When it comes to primers, Kevin is pretty particular.  “Primer choice always depends on the project, but for exterior bare wood I really like Benjamin Moore Fresh Start long oil #100-00. If we’re just talking straight adherence, then Benjamin Moore Fresh Start #24-00 is excellent. For cabinet re-sprays or interior adhesion, Zinsser Cover Stain or B-I-N is great. It’s definitely only B-I-N for knot coverage. I’ve tried others and nothing comes close to beating the reliability of B-I-N for sealing knots.

SPRAYING: “We do spray some exteriors,” says Kevin, “but I’m really picky about the substrates we spray. I’m not a believer in spraying stains or primers on wood siding or decks because it doesn’t drive the finish into the wood. You really need to penetrate wood surfaces and you can’t beat a brush for that. Spraying aluminum siding, metal or stucco then back rolling is my preference.”

PATCHING: There are so many different scenarios with drywall, but for cracks we cut the area back, fill the space with Durabond, apply mesh tape, fill the tape with more Durabond, then finish with plaster. For larger holes in drywall, we sometimes cut drywall pieces to fit, securing them with furring strips, tape and mud.

LEAD PAINT: Most old wood buildings have lead on them somewhere, and Kevin’s approach is to leave it alone whenever possible. “We usually apply B-I-N to cap the paint and not disturb it. On exterior jobs where we chemically strip, we charge an hourly rate that works out to something like three or four times more costly than no-strip prep.

STONE BUILDINGS: Hudson has quite a few stone houses and this means Kevin and his crew need to caulk joints between wood and stone and paint them. Most of the stone houses are called Quarry Point style, built from an old quarry in Hudson back in the day. Kevin’s crew uses a clear thermoplastic caulking so they can paint the gap and the caulking won’t show on the stone.

FINE WOOD FINISHING: About one third of the restoration work done by Kevin and the guys these days is finishing and refinishing fine woodwork and cabinets. “My process is to remove and number the cabinet doors and drawers,” explains Kevin, “transport them to the shop, wash, sand and vacuum them, wipe them down, prime them with B-I-N or Cover Stain, then spray two coats of a waterborne lacquer or pre-catalyzed lacquer. Onsite we paper off the kitchen and cabinets and repeat the same process we do with the doors in the shop.”

Exterior Paint Durability: Yesterday and Today

Kevin’s team deals with exterior wood surfaces on a daily basis, and this gives him a unique perspective on paint durability. How does today’s best exterior paints compare with the best from the past? “There’s a home I painted in oil over 20 years ago. Up until a year ago, it looked brand new. Latex, acrylics and polyvinyl-mixes have had to go through many reformulations to live up to oil’s durability. Where we are in Quebec, for example, our seasons aren’t the same as they used to be. We get more freeze/thaw cycles in winter and deeper swings of humidity and dry air during summer. This seems to be the new normal and paint has been reformulated to withstand this. On vertical siding and trim we like acrylics for their flexibility. On horizontal surfaces nothing beats a good, old fashioned oilbased semi-transparent or semi-opaque stain.”

As for getting jobs, Kevin relies mostly on word of mouth, but sometimes advertises in the pro section of the local newspaper, too. “I’ve been fortunate enough to stay busy and to keep a few guys occupied through our long winter months,” explains Kevin. “I’m usually booked at least a few months in advance. On a typical summer we can have eight or nine people working with the company on some jobs.

If you ask Kevin what the most important factors have been in his two decades of success, he’ll tell you three things: determination, focus and personality. That last one – personality – isn’t something you hear very often, but Kevin says its key. “You’ve got to be easy-going, confident, friendly and calm. Customers usually tell me I’m always relaxed, happy and able to make them feel comfortable. That’s important.”

Second-Hand Social Media

“We don’t use social media much directly ourselves, aside from maintaining a Facebook page and trying to remember to add some job photos every now and then. But people recommend me in community groups online, and this new kind of social media “digital word of mouth” brings in a lot of traffic. [/textblock]

Right now Kevin handles most office stuff himself, including bookkeeping, bids, payroll and insurance, but will have help from time-to-time from Leanne and an outside bookkeeper. “I’m at the point now where I’ll be looking for someone to take over this aspect of the business. For now, it’s mostly me. All my invoices are handwritten, sometimes scanned and e-mailed if necessary. As I mentioned, I absolutely prefer the face-to-face aspect of the job, including estimates. I use a phone app to help with quotes and I’ll email them if I can’t get together with a prospective client in person. But honestly, most of the time, I just give a verbal number and it works. This is an informal but personal method and it creates repeat, loyal and great customers.”

You’d think that restoration work would make pricing jobs more complicated than straight painting because there’s more to restoration than painting alone. This said, Kevin takes the same approach to estimating for all his work. “Every job is unique, whether big or small, restoration or a repaint. I’ll usually give a non-binding estimate, so clients have a budgetary idea of what a job will cost. We then work by the hour for the most part and present a final bill based on actual time spent on the project.

Despite dealing with paper work and estimates, Kevin still finds time to paint. “This is why I got more into the cabinet painting side of the business. It was tough for me to be on job sites painting, and then put down the brush to run the business, run errands, pick up supplies, check on jobs, work on estimates, etc. Working in the spray shop permits me to pick up the spray gun and shoot a coat, put the spray gun down and leave for couple of hours if need be to run the business. This way the client isn’t upset at me having to leave while no work gets done onsite. I can then get back to the shop and spray another coat.”

Little Things That Matter

Important little things are probably as personal as each painter, but here are Kevin’s favourites: “I really prefer interacting with clients face to face. We also create custom client folders outlining their colour choices, finishes, invoices and any other info we can give them. Success is about building ongoing relationships, especially being in a small town. We clean our job sites and keep them tidy. Clients always appreciate the respect we pay to their spaces. Flexibility is another little thing that matters. I can set a full schedule on Sunday night, but then job timelines change, a painter calls in sick — stuff comes up. Running a business is like managing a living organism. Some of the changes you need to adapt to are immediate, and others are slower and involve changing technologies and methods. Adaptability is so important.”

How have things changed over the two decades Kevin has run his business? “The biggest change is that I’ve been able to expand the services the company offers to include the kind of carpentry and fine finishing people want in Hudson. I’m always fine tuning, learning and mastering my trade.”

The post Beaux Arts first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

Brenda Cory’s painting career started the same way many do. She learned the trade from someone who knew it, then built her skills and clientele from there. What makes Brenda different is her level of energy, enthusiasm, professionalism and stamina for plowing through life’s challenges. Not many painters do their thing while raising four kids, surviving a malignant brain tumor and becoming a single mom.

“Back in 2008, I had a friend stay with me for three months while his house was being built”, explains Cory. “He was doing wallpaper and faux finishing for a living, and I was looking for a career change. With four kids to raise I needed flexibility. I made a nuisance of myself going with him to jobs and asking questions, and after a while I thought, “Hey, I can do this.” I started with kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms for friends for not much money. A designer friend gave me my first full house job and I’ve stayed with the work because I really enjoy it.”

90% of Cory’s work has always been residential repainting of condos, houses and renovations, and though she doesn’t paint solo, her business is small. “For many years, I partnered with one phenomenal painter for larger jobs – a European master named Soorin Esvai. At the moment, my son, Adrian, is my painting partner. He’s been working with me from a young age helping out after school and on occasional weekends.”

“Adrian is now 24 and has taken over most of the heavy work. Back when he was younger he’d hold the extension ladder and scrape windows. I taught him to roll, caulk and sand when he was 13. He worked for another painter for a while doing spraying and commercial work, so our skills complement each other. Now he’s as good a painter as they come, capable of any job to the highest standards. At the moment we’re looking for an assistant for the spring, but it’s not easy. Once I hired a man who answered an ad. His work was adequate, but he talked incessantly. This slowed his work and was unprofessional. One time he phoned me drunk and that was the end of him.”

At the moment, my son Adrian is my painting partner. He’s been working with me from a young age, helping out after school and on occasional weekends.

Brenda’s life changed dramatically in 2010 when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Dealing with that challenge took a year of her life. “I had surgery and six weeks of daily radiation. I had four kids at the time and I was off work for a year. I had the support of my husband at the time, thank goodness, but I still had to deal with long lasting cognitive side-effects from radiation. My personality changed. I became more withdrawn because talking was exhausting. I had to relearn to drive all over again. I lost my ability to attach meaning to things, and I had trouble with balance. There were funny moments, too. One time I was trying to get the kids in the car and I told them to get their life jackets on.”

“We made jokes to get through it all and we used dark humour. I have wonderful friends and family who brought meals to my house for months. I just woke up every morning, found I was still alive and the children needed to be fed. I made them breakfast and worked my way through each day. I abandoned feeling sorry for myself very quickly as a non-productive emotion. A few years ago I did some work for Gord Downie, lead singer with The Tragically Hip, before his cancer diagnosis became public. Obviously, I had a great deal of sympathy for his situation. During my illness I forwarded whatever work I had to my friend Soorin Esvai at Regal Painting. When I returned to work in 2010, I still had a business network.”

Brenda’s Rules for Professionalism

“Be professional always – reliable, punctual, neatly dressed and turned out. Speak quietly, evenly, politely. Don’t park in the driveway, don’t wear shoes in the house except on drop cloths, don’t play loud music, don’t talk on the phone unless you have to. Be considerate of people’s homes. Never conduct a “number 2” in a client’s bathroom – go to Tim Horton’s. Clean up at the end of each day and take away garbage, coffee cups, paint cans. Never ask your customer for anything when you’re in their house. Don’t ask for a hammer or a damp cloth or a broom. Make sure you have these things with you.

“When it comes to pricing, I like to stay flexible and competitive. I try to charge a fair price for me and for the customer. I work on a daily rate basis plus a price per piece system. For example, doors are X dollars each, spindles are Y each, ceilings are Z per square foot. I usually separate out the cost of labour and paint supplies. I don’t work by the hour.”

If you’re a new painter, Brenda recommends giving discounted prices to build your client base. Work for family and friends to get started. What’s Brenda’s ideal painting client? “Someone who isn’t at home during the day is usually great because you can go so much faster and get so much more done.” That said, not all absent clients are best.

“One day I was working on the closet doors in the front hall of a house and the owner was away. The doorbell rang and I answered it, forgetting the owner’s 70 pound German Shepherd. As I opened the door, the dog bolted through a tray of white paint and out the front door into the street. I ran out to get him but he wouldn’t come. I ran back inside, grabbed treats and a leash and back outside. The person at the door said to me, “Can’t you control your own dog?” “Not my dog, I answered as I ran past. I managed to get the dog back inside and then spent the better part of an hour taking white paw prints off the flagstone walkway.”

Painting Tips and Wisdom

“In the beginning I tried every brand of paint”, says Cory, “comparing cost versus quality. Today, I primarily use Benjamin Moore. Quality’s outstanding and many homeowners and designers request it. When BM re-designed their fan-decks to incorporate coordinating groups of colours people were able to familiarize themselves to individual colours which they ask for by name. It’s important to be able to do color consultations with customers. A painter must be familiar with designer colors and trends.”

One of the most helpful things Brenda has found is to develop a relationship with a particular paint store, rather than just buying here and there. “It’s okay to ask your paint suppliers questions about products. In fact, you should be asking. Just make sure you’re talking to the most knowledgeable person there. I deal with a paint store owner named Chi. He knows everything there is to know about paint, paint products, colours, and paint application. If there was a Jeopardy for paint, he’d win every time.”

Brenda’s Tips for Bartering

Barter is one of the more unusual things Brenda does on the business side, and she’s found it delivers big gains.”Exchanging work for services has been a tremendous way to boost business”, says Brenda. “I’ve worked in exchange for massage therapy, accounting services, personal training, fitness coaching and nutrition. I’m always the one to bring barter up as a possibility to a customer, but only when I’m acquainted with them. I’d never barter with someone I don’t really know.

The best kind of painters aren’t in it just for the money. There’s always something more there. I still get a tremendous kick out of standing back at the end of a job and thinking: Wow, that looks great! I’m still amazed at how transformative a good paint job is to any space. It may not be brain surgery, but it’s so rewarding when a customer is thrilled about the change Adrian and I have made in their home.”

Given her experience with brain cancer, Cory is understandably interested in the safest paints possible. The fact that many clients share these values is a bonus, too. “I prefer BM Regal and Eco Spec for residential jobs. Both have zero VOCs, provide excellent coverage and results. When it comes to exterior paints, Sherwin Williams Duration is the absolute best in my experience”, says Cory. “It’s durable, fills cracks, is easy to work with and lasts.” For primers Cory swears by the INSL-X line of primers, her favorite being Aqua Lock.

“DryDex is the product I use most for patching these days. It goes on pink, dries white and I always wear a mask when sanding it. I want someone to find a way to eliminate sanding. I hate dust. Other than dust, the only real drawback with DryDex is the lid. Store it upside down to prevent unused product from drying out. I use Rapid Coat Low Dust for light skim coats and Sheetrock 30 with mesh tape for bigger fixes.”

Brenda’s Business Tips

Brenda’s always busy, with most of her work coming from word-of-mouth and repeat customers. Real estate agents, designers and contractors all send her jobs. “My son Adrian has recently taken over our online presence and has increased our visibility. It sounds simple, but the most successful thing we’ve done is posting before and after photos on the Cory Painting Facebook page. People LOVE before and after pics. In this day and age having an online presence is a requirement for running a successful painting business in my opinion. People need to be able to go onto the internet and find out who you are and what your company is about.”

Brenda shows innovation in other areas of marketing too, with simple practices bringing in good jobs. “In the past I’ve used flyers on garage doors in subdivisions about five years old. All the garage doors and front doors need painting at that point. I got a lot of business this way which leads to other jobs. I follow up by email a week after every job is done every time. This leads to steady referrals and happy customers.”

Success in any business is always about more than the technical work of the business itself, and this may be especially true when it comes to residential painting. How many other careers bring you right into the inner part of people’s homes day after day?

“Aside from mastering the technical skills required, I’ve learned that psychology is almost as important as the painting”, says Brenda. “Being able to read people quickly and assess their requirements and point of view is key. You also need to be aware of cultural differences. Some cultures are more comfortable negotiating a price than others. You have to adapt, especially in the ethnically diverse area where I work.”

Brenda’s Three Tips for Growing Your Business

1.     Build and maintain your network.
Give out business cards everywhere you go. Everywhere. The gym (painters need to stay fit), small businesses you visit, offices you stop at.  I painted a dance studio once when my daughter took dance lessons. Same thing with her pre-school. Send out Christmas cards –even via email. Anything to remind people about you is good.

2.     Keep learning and stay flexible.
Paint companies are always developing new products. Keep up with them. Learn new skills and don’t be afraid to ask questions at your paint store. There are so many different products for different purposes. Every painter needs help keeping up.

3.     Always be professional and generous.
If I have time, I do extra things for people. Maybe they need touch ups in other rooms, or perhaps there was something extra that wasn’t in their budget. I’ve walked dogs, moved furniture, cleaned gutters.

By Steve Maxwell
steve@stevemaxwell.ca

The post Endurance first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

It’s easy to start small when it comes to professional painting. That’s often the way propainters begin. A brush, a roller, a can of paint, a diligent attitude and a willing clientele are all you need. What’s more difficult is growing that humble starting point so it becomes a large, stable painting organization with a long track record of happy customers as well as a reliable source of work for painters and income for their families. Growing from small to large isn’t the only way to be successful as a pro painter, but when a painting organization does grow successfully, it’s worth looking at because it happens so rarely.

Kenneth Hodgins Sr. started Expert Painting Inc in 1971 as a one-man show based out of a small farm house on Balzer Road in Kitchener, Ontario. It’s since grown into a pillar of the southwestern Ontario industrial, commercial and institutional painting scene. Chris and Casey Hodgins are sons of the founder and they own and manage the business these days. Casey and Chris took over day-to-day operations from their dad in 2010, and their client list includes some of the biggest landmarks in southwestern Ontario: Maple Leaf Foods, Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, University of Waterloo, Dare Foods, the famous Cove Island lighthouse, too many school boards to list, plus manufacturing plans and municipal facilities across the region.

“My dad grew the business in the early days from one basic philosophy – hard work”, explains Chris. “When he first got into the industry he knew very little about painting.  By working hard and learning everything possible he was able to grow and land more projects.  Hiring in the early years was either by ads in the local news paper, through local paint stores or from family and friends.”

Ken’s no longer involved directly in management – he spends winters in Florida – but he often stops in to the office when he’s in Canada. “Dad’s only ever a phone call away”, explains Casey, “and happy to offer advice from his many years of expe-rience.”

“Like most start ups, my dad began as a lone painter with a passion for the industry and a vision to grow”, says Chris.  “I’ve been involved in the company ever since I can remember. Starting out in summers prepping for the more experienced painters and learning the trade from them, I always knew I wanted to be involved in the painting industry. Learning the trade from the inside has been great.”

Part of the reason Expert Painting has succeeded is stability, both for customers and painters. “We’ve always used employees instead of subs or independent contractors in our business”, says Casey. “I believe our customers hire us for a reason, and it’s not to have subs do the work. We currently have 20 to 25 employees during the busy summer season.”

Expert Painting is the longest standing firm in what’s called the “tri-cities” area of southern Ontario: Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo. The company has moved three times in its history, always to accommodate growth.

Growing larger as a company takes time, patience and skill, but it also makes greater efficiencies possible. A bigger team with bigger facilities means more specialization can happen. Office staff handles paperwork and invoicing that would normally fall to the owner of a small painting business. Large companies can also save time by making the flow of paint and painting supplies more efficient. But of course, no startup can begin this way. Chris and Casey’s mom, Heather, managed paperwork in the early days. Invoicing and estimates were sent by mail or delivered by hand. Fax machines were used when they became available. Now it’s all email.

“Our current office and ware-house allows all of our full time office staff to work in a comfortable environment,” says Chris, “while the bay at the back of the building allows for easy and quick access to our painting supplies. We don’t typically buy paint in bulk for future projects as many paints are unique and require different applications, but do buy basic drywall primer in bulk and store it in the shop.  We also have several hundred gallons of paint stored in our shop as well as a paint shaker.  The majority of this is left over from projects. Sometimes situations come up where we can mix and tint this paint to use as primer and help cut back on waste.  Other then this we let our local paint suppliers take care of tinting.”

The Hodgins put a lot of emphasis on building and maintaining business relationships as a source for new contracts, and that’s some-thing painting companies of any size can do.

“We always tried to earn respect in the community”, says Casey.  “We’ve maintained an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau for over 30 years, we’re members of  local business associations and we contribute to local sports communities.”

We always tried to earn respect in the community,” says Casey. “We have maintained an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau for over 30 years… My dad’s focus was always to deliver high quality service at reasonable prices.”

Phases of Growth

“My dad’s focus was always to deliver high quality service at reasonable prices, and this is one thing that’s been behind our success,” says Chris. “In the summer of 1988 we packed up and moved to a larger location in town and stayed there for 22 years. In 2010, we moved again to our present spot. This place is bigger and more conveniently located.”
“The painting industry has changed significantly over the last 40 years,” explains Chris. “Part of this is driven by different products that are available today.  Safety standards have gotten more demanding as well.”

Working mainly in the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) sectors, Expert Painting markets themselves differently than a residential painting business might.
“Being a member of the business organization Grand Valley Construction Association (GVCA) helps us make connections with ICI clients”, says Chris.  “We also have a website, of course, and logos on vehicles. Our full size office and shop has our sign out front, too.  We sponsor sports teams throughout the region and you can see our bright red and white Expert Painting hockey jerseys around the arenas on any given night.  We still have a small section in the Yellow Pages, but being around so long we’ve developed some great working relationships.”

Great relationships don’t happen just by being around a long time, though. Expert Painting works at this in tangible ways. “We make it a point to give back to the community, including through local charities,” explains Casey.

Cash is King

It’s not unusual for solo painters or hired employees to set out on their own and try to build a painting business. There are lots of reasons to want to do this, not the least of which is the ability to spend winters in Florida at some stage in your career. But just because you want something doesn’t mean you know how to get it. Running a painting business is entirely different than painting, and one of the big differences is financial. “The construction industry typically pays 30 to 90 days after completion of a project”, explains Chris. “Then there are hold-backs that can delay full payment even longer. Not having enough cash to meet payroll can make things difficult for a young company. You need access to cash as a basis for any startup.”

How Expert Painting Inc Operates

Expert Painting handles about 150 projects each year, ranging from one-day jobs to projects that last several months. They’ve always focused on the institutional, commercial and industrial sec-tors, too.  Over the past 5-10 years they’ve been more commercial and institutional as some of the larger factories in the area have closed. About 10 per cent of Expert’s work is residential. “In most cases we recommend another painting con-tractor that prefers this type of work”, explains Casey.

“Business management skills have become increasingly important to professional painting contractors”, says Chris. “We’re being asked to play a more active part in the day-to-day management of job sequencing. In years previous our role was limited to supplying general labour, but today we’re often part of the decision-making team on projects.”
Successful businesses usually have a simple focus behind every-thing they do, and that’s the case with Expert Painting. They take great pride in following four major rules:

1.    Do whatever it takes to use the right products to suit the needs of the client.
2.    Work hard to make sure everyone on the team of painters is a real pro.
3.    Do whatever it takes to complete all projects on time.
4.    Always complete projects on budget.

All employees are fully trained and updated regularly on all of the industry requirements for the profession.  This includes Health and Safety, WHMIS, Fall Protection, Con-fined Space and Lift Tickets.  “The industry is changing quickly, so there are other certifications we train and update for, too”, says Casey.

“We’re fortunate to have knowledgeable foreman capable of man-aging a crew and ordering materials ahead of time to minimize down-time.  This is key for meeting tight project deadlines and keeping crews productive”, explains Chris.

Foremen always paint alongside the crew they manage, too. “This gives them a good sense of the products being used and paint quantities required for the week”, explains Chris.  Foremen let me know when to place orders so paint is ready and down time reduced.” The average number of painters on our projects is two or three. Sometimes the company might have ten on one job when they need a quick turn-around.

“We aim to grow our company by building relationships with our existing customers and by being reliable”, says Casey. “Adapting to the latest technology is also a key ingredient in our success as well. There’s new software coming out all the time to help estimate, for instance. Technology exists to help track job costs, and even to help match and order custom paint colours on site.”

“There are always plans and ideas to grow the business”, explains Chris, “but we don’t want to grow to the point where we can no longer provide the same level of quality the company was built on. It’s especially hard to grow in a industry where people are losing interest in learning the trade. We’re finding it more and more difficult to find skilled painters or even people that want to learn the trade at all.”

Expert Painting is one of those rare success stories where a one-man show grows into a stable organization over several generations. The world of painting needs companies like these just like it needs solo painters, too. Whether or not you have aspirations to grow your own company, there are always lessons to be learned from people who’ve grown successfully over the long haul.

Tips for Success

One of the best ways to grow a successful painting business is to learn from companies that have done just that. Here are Casey and Chris’s tips for painting entrepreneurs looking to grow:

Tip #1
Hire a foreman who doesn’t need hand holding.
The role of a foremen is to manage the troops so you can manage the company and your first foreman is crucial. If a person can’t handle all aspects of managing a crew and ordering materials while also painting, then you need a new foreman.

Tip #2
Grow only when you really have the resources to grow.
Growth is good, but it can also blow up in your face if you try it too soon. Don’t let your enthusiasm for growth get the better of you. If you don’t have additional skilled labour, efficient methods for ordering and distributing more materials, and time or staff to handle additional office tasks, then more business could kill an otherwise good company.

Tip #3
Get good at estimating.
Accurate estimating is crucial and it takes time and practice to master. You also need to keep a diligent eye on how you’re doing if you expect to get better. Record how long a job takes, carefully keep track of all expenses, then compare these numbers with revenues. This is always a pain, and sometimes painful if you’ve underbid. Just the same, you won’t get good at the essential job of estimating if you do it by the seat of your pants. “Some of the bigger estimating mistakes I made were in areas outside our expertise”, says Chris. “I’ve learned to stick to what I know. I never bid on even the smallest thing unless I have experience in that area.”

The post Expert Painters first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

Simon Kuhl is the kind of guy who does a lot of things well, and managing his life as a painter is one of them. He owns Sombrio Painting (sombriopainting.com) on Vancouver Island, and his story is as much about aiming for a balanced professional life as it is about running a profitable painting enterprise. Simon is not the kind of guy who’s content to let his business run him, and his experiences have something to teach anyone who wants more than just a 9 to 5 work experience as a painter. As a family man

he’s got a bottom line to meet, as well as interests, passions and experiences that need to get their time, too. This story is about how one Canadian painter strives to make all these things happen in a beautiful part of our country.

Simon’s specialty is craftsman quality interior and exterior painting of residential and small commercial projects. He’s also into wood finishing and refinishing, restoration and custom projects that require a careful eye. And like a lot of people worth learning from, Simon’s work today is an extension of his past.

“While growing up, my dad painted on the side for a few years and so I got a little exposure to the trade that way”, remembers Simon. “In my teens I wanted to become self employed entrepreneur (I actually put that in my junior high yearbook as the answer to what I wanted to do for work when I grew up). I had this idea of owning a truck, running around serving my painting clients. But in my twenties I got involved in the wine industry in Alberta. I had a great experience, learned a lot about wine and spirits, but mostly about customer service, sales, and accountability. These skills serve me well today as a painter. After 10 years of wine, I needed a change. My wife and I moved to Penticton, BC, scrounged to find any job I could, and had the good fortune of being fired from a job I really disliked.  That opened the door to entrepreneurship via a government program that provided a modest income and mentorship while completing an intense 3 week comprehensive business plan workshop. That early support was incredibly valuable and I continue to benefit from it. My brother-in-law is a 30-year pro-painter. He taught me and still teaches me a lot about  the technical side of painting and about how to make money in the trade.”

Sidebar: More Than Painting

Simon Kuhl is a creative man, and this fact extends beyond his work as a painter. His blog at microcontractor.org is one of the best you’ll find anywhere. It’s worth reading because it combines valuable insights into what it takes to run a small trade business well, while staying sane. “I’m allergic to chaos and unreasonableness”, explains Simon, “so I’m sensitive to situations where someone is trying to impose those into my work life and I try to set boundaries.” His blog explains how to do this and more. It’s a by-product of my day to day painting business and a way to create value for a whole other market.

Good painters often have a good eye, and that’s probably why Simon’s photos are good enough that people hire him for weddings, engagements, anniversaries and portraits. You’ll be impressed by his work at kuhlphoto.ca.

After Simon ran his successful painting business in the South Okanagan valley for 10 years, he realized it was time for another change. “Most of the objectives I could have dreamed for my little business were achieved”, explains Simon. “10 years in business, $1 million in total sales, a happy customer base of 300+, good relations with suppliers and competitors. But looking forward 10 years I didn’t want to be in the same place.”

Some of the challenge and aspirations that originally energized Simon were gone. As he tells the story, “there was a lot of resistance in our life at that time. I needed a new challenge and opportunity.  We needed to find a community that was better suited to raising a family. I wanted to sell my business to extract some of the value that I’d worked hard to create. I wanted to mentor young painters and help them grow and learn as much as I had. I wanted to try and get back into the workforce before I felt like it was too late (body breaking down, skills too narrow or obsolete, etc). So we took a risk again and moved to Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island.”

That’s where Simon took a job with a major paint manufacturer. “I learned a ton, but after 6 months it was clear that this job wasn’t right for me. Construction is booming here so I went back to doing what I know best and started a new business from scratch. This was an interesting experience because it is much smoother the second time around, and in a bigger market the growth came faster, with less mistakes. We’ve already surpassed our peak sales numbers from the previous business.”

When Simon says “we”, he doesn’t mean himself and some employees. He found out the hard way that the employee model didn’t work for him. “There was a time when I hired employees, and it really changed my business. After the first three years on my own, I hired painters and a bookkeeper to do payroll. My business immediately went from being in the black to going into the red. I much prefer the simplicity and flexibility of having subcontractors.”

These days Simon’s painting enterprise involves a varied list of situations, making use of sub contractors as the need and the need arises. In Penticton he did a lot of residential repaints, with a select few custom home new construction jobs. There was small and medium-sized commercial jobs, insurance work and spec homes, but the mainstays of the business were residential repaints and custom homes. In Victoria the work is mostly insurance and restoration, general contractor reno painting, and residential repainting.

“I always strive to exceed expectations in service and quality. These are the only two things we can really control, and it goes beyond just applying paint. In talking with many successful business people over the years, it has become clear that the secret to success is how you treat people. Sounds simple, but that’s what it comes down to. Aside from that, my favourite mantra is a quote from Pablo Picaso: ‘Action is the foundational key to success.’ Always move the ball forward somehow.”

One of the best ways of learning from a business is by looking at the challenges it faces and the solutions that arise. In the case of Simon, his three main challenges include: scaling up, scheduling and keeping work in its place.

“I know its very possible to grow beyond the work that two or three painters can handle because a lot of companies grow way beyond this size. I do the best I can in my comfort zone, rather than push to grow and not have it be manageable. But it would be nice to figure out the secret to breaking through the mental barrier I have. For now, I’m content to stay small. Many smarter and more experienced people tell me to stay small. They say it’s more profitable and less stressful. I just have this internal programming where I feel like I always has to be getting bigger, and this makes for an internal struggle. Part of this may have to do with scheduling. I’m still underestimating how long projects take, not allocating slack for extras and over-booking.”

Keeping work in its place is another ongoing challenge for Simon, as it is for many small business owners. “Painting and running the business could easily fill my weekdays from 7am to 7pm and beyond if I let it. This doesn’t leave much time for family, which frustrates me to no end. I’m always looking for ways to reduce the footprint my business takes up in my life.”

When Simon talks about sub contracting, it’s not just about painters. “Over the past 3+ years I’ve teamed up with a good drywall repair specialist, both in Penticton and now here in Victoria. We send work each other’s way. Here in Vic I take on quite a few jobs that require insulation, boarding, taping and painting. Being able to take on projects that go beyond painting gives me the flexibility to start jobs quickly and to have multiple jobs on the go at the same time. It works well. I don’t make as much on the drywall portion, but I can take on and manage multiple jobs while delivering great service and quality. As for painters, having them on a sub-contracting basis is essential. Their labour is a cost of sales allocated to each job rather than being business overhead as if they were on payroll. Sub contracting also keeps the arrangement flexible and fluid. If a painter needs time off, all I ask is for a little notice to adjust our schedule. I give up some control but it is well worth the flexibility. We have an understanding that if they prioritize the work I have for them, then I will continue to offer them right of first refusal on my extra work. So far my sweet spot is having two part time painters besides myself. This way I don’t have to do all the work, but I still get to paint on most projects and maintain a presence on site. I prefer to work by myself on Mondays, whereas Tuesday through Friday is full production days. I’ve gotten to the stage where I generally don’t work evenings and weekends and can take most long weekends off.

Sidelines That Pay

One of the ways Simon adds variety to is work is by taking on jobs related to painting but different. Interior wall plastering with clay is one example. “I generally use products by a company called American Clay (www.americanclay.com; 866.404.1634). It comes as a powder that you mix with water, then trowel on. It’s natural, beautiful, timeless, temperature and moisture regulating, and easy to repair. It repels dust and absorbs oils from hands, it releases negative ions into the air which are good for our well being, and it never fades and never needs painting. I recommend clay walls for wineries, spas, and custom homes where clients want an alternative to paint in some areas. So often with custom homes the client puts a lot of thought into picking the right piece of granite for the countertops, the right faucets and lighting fixtures, even special door hardware, then they just paint all the walls beige. Many people don’t realize there are options for their walls beyond paint.”

Wood finishing is another of Simon’s specialties. “For simple furniture refinishing I use the Saman stain line or Varathane for custom stairs and interior woodwork. For exterior applications I prefer Penofin Marine Oil for beams, new decks and fences. I’ve given up on film-forming clear coats for exterior applications because sooner or later they peel. For solid stain I use Super Deck or Arbor Coat.

The restoration work we do is over-flow from local restoration companies. They send us their extra drywall, trim and painting work. It’s a valuable business builder for us as the margins are pretty good. There’s more work in the off-season, and we get spin-off jobs from the homeowners and their neighbours and friends.”

Simon is quick to point out that his business is not a model of success compared to many other painting businesses, or even compared to the potential in the market. “I don’t yet feel like I’ve even attained my own modest definition of success”, explains Simon. “But I’m getting closer than ever and the experience has taught me so much.”

Q&A With Simon Kuhl

Q: What are your favourite time management strategies?

A: Write stuff down in The Book. Delegate as much as you can. Focus on one or two main things for the day. Keep paperwork organized. (I learned a principle long ago that you should be able to find any document in 2 minutes or less.) Stay up to date with bills and taxes. Set a weekly schedule. I estimate on Friday afternoons, check mail, do bank deposits, pay bills on Friday evening. Mondays I work by myself to set up the week. i don’t take a lot of breaks, don’t answer the phone much during the day, try not to leave the site for materials, coffee, estimates, etc. Starting and stopping kills effectiveness.

Q: How do you decide who to contract with?

A: For sub-contractors I always choose character over skill. For general contractors I choose to work for, the main factor here is trust. It takes time to build trust over successful projects.

Q: How do you decide which clients to accept or reject?

A: Quality attracts quality. My branding and prices communicate certain values that repel incompatible customers and attract the right ones. I won’t work with unreasonableness. Most of my work is repeats and referrals from satisfied customers.

Q: What’s the toughest painting job you’ve had?

A: Poplar Grove Winery. The day I was awarded the contract I traded in my work truck for a new family vehicle. Scheduling was crazy-making. They were several weeks behind by the time the painting started, and they were not going to adjust the completion date. So we were working around other trades – some were still there that should have been finished, some were there that should not have been starting yet. That puts a lot of pressure on the painters. We were trying to paint while the drywallers were trying to finish the walls and the electrician was installing lights. Often there would be five tradespeople trying to work in the same 10 square feet. We had half the time we needed and the work was taking more than twice as long as it should have. I almost fell off a double section of bakers racks as I forgot to lock the wheels. Fortunately one of our painters was close by and was able to run over and steady the scaffold. I was within 10 seconds of dropping 12′ onto a concrete floor. I think its important to note that in the end we completed the projected successfully and it became a show-piece facility in the city and for our portfolio. We received a nice referral from the builder.

Q: What’s your perfect work day?

A: In Penticton I had the pleasure of working with some of best friends and we’d sometimes get these large exterior wood staining projects up in the hills. The owners would often fresh baked muffins and coffee for us. We’d start at 7am to stay ahead of the heat, working in the shade as the day got warmer. By 3:00pm we’d cool off in Skaha Lake before heading home for the gorgeous Okanagan summer evenings.

Q: How do you keep good contractors interested in working with you?

A: Tell them how much you appreciate working with them. A micro business is a personal business. That’s it’s competitive advantage. I don’t believe the saying “it’s not personal, its just business”. Business is a transaction from one human to another and we’re all looking for decent human connections.

Q: What are your favourite technical things in the painting world?

A: I appreciate great coatings (great flow for production, great hide, great leveling, great adhesion, self-priming, low VOC, mildew resistant, interior/exterior capability) and I’m liking flatter sheens more and more. Health is really important to me. With a a bucket under my chin all day, I want to make sure the paint is as clean as possible. Some of my current interior coatings of choice are BM Regal Select, Cloverdale Super II, and S-W Solo.

Q: What are your aims for the future?

A: I’m always looking for new ways to improve and create more value for my family, my painters, my customers and other entrepreneurs on the same road I’m on. My blog www.microcontractor.org is part of this. It helps me reflect on experiences and it lets me pass on what I’ve learned to other painters on a similar path. I think that entrepreneurial success goes beyond problem solving and value creation, to the separation of time from income. Time is infinitely more valuable than money, so if we are seeking to create maximum value, it must include using our business to create more time for ourselves. This is a difficult pursuit, but beyond survival, it has to be one of the main reasons we all got into business in the first place – to earn our freedom. If we don’t realize that goal of time freedom, than it is doubly troubling because we have no one to blame but ourselves. Its an ongoing struggle for me, but it is my main goal for my business going forward.

The post Painting in Perspective first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

Three-man painting crew at Ecclesiastical Studios and Sons restores the awe and majesty of grand old churches.

If you haven’t been to church for a while, you might consider going for professional reasons. There’s a lot more painting skill behind traditional churches than you might realize, and it’s definitely worth looking at. Alex Wendt, his father Don and long-time friend and painting colleague Cliff Foth are the three men behind Ecclesiastical Studios & Sons, Kansas City, Mo. This third generation firm specializes in the restoration of traditional church interiors, and you’d be hard pressed to find situations that involve more variety and that demand more skill than what these guys deal with on every project.

“About 80 per cent of the painting we do is entire interior church restorations”, says Alex. “The rest of our church work consists of statuary and altar restorations. I like restoring these old churches because you can be as creative as you want doing a variety of things – decorative and architectural painting, plaster repair, stenciling, gold gilding and trompe l’oeil painting. Every day is different.”

Alex grew up around the painting business and was on jobsites with his father starting when he was 3. “I began painting full time after high school in 2007. Before that I was only part time. Growing up I always wanted to be a painter. Having a father in the business gave me a leg up, along with on-the-job training that started early.”

Art On A Huge Scale

In many ways, restoring lavish, old church interiors blends the skills of a classical artist with that of a modern commercial painter. Church spaces are often large and tall, and this makes for challenges of scale. Scaffolding, spray equipment and gallons of paint are all part of ordinary life as an ecclesiastical painter. At the same time, church painting also involves brushes small enough to color the eyeball on a statue of a saint being refurbished. What could be a wider range of scale than that? These high-stakes, high-variety situations lead to another extreme that you don’t often see on painting jobs. An extreme that affects how jobs are estimated.

“We always use the very best quality products we can find because materials are only a small fraction of the bid”, says Alex. “Cost of materials is no object with these projects. The majority of our job cost is labor, so we don’t focus on materials cost at all. We’ve heard that some contractors nickel and dime their clients on every little expense, including the use of cheaper materials. We don’t buy in to this philosophy. Why would we want to trust all our hard work on materials that are lacking in quality and performance? We definitely don’t want call backs because a stenciled ceiling or gold gilding has started to fail.”

Painting traditional church interiors is not something that’s easy to learn. You could hire on with a crew that does this work and learn from them, but that’s not a situation that’s easy to find. In the case of Ecclesiastical Studios, the skill came into the family a generation before Alex’s father, Don.

“Dad learned on the job from his uncle Michael Wendt, starting in the mid 70’s. Mike originally married into the business when he was in his early 30’s, and the skills passed to us through him.”

It generally takes the trio 15 to 30 weeks to paint a church interior. “We don’t do exteriors very often”, says Alex. “We’ve done a few, but we like to focus on interiors. That’s our specialty.”

As you’d expect with projects that are always so old, patching is a big part of the prep work that happens before painting begins. And this kind of patching involves a lot more than just fixing nail holes in drywall. “First we hand scrape all loose and damage plaster and paint,” explains Alex, “then put on a conditioner to harden the plaster so it forms a solid base for filling. Next, we trowel in new plaster to match the existing surface, shaping it as needed. If we’ve got peeling paint, sometimes it’s better to consolidate it rather than scraping everything off. That’s when we’ll use a peel bond product before patching.”

Looking at the finished projects done by the Ecclesiastical team, you’ve got to wonder about the complication of church congregations choosing colors, patterns and painting styles. After all, it’s hard enough for most married couples to agree on two or three paint colors for their home. How much more complicated would it be with a whole congregation fund-raising together and trying to agree on the dozens of paint choices that go into a church job? But sometimes when things get too complicated, it actually forces them to become simpler. That’s the case here.

“We like to have complete control over the designs and colors used in each of our projects”, says Alex. “But we some- times have to work with the priest or church committee on some things like liturgical rules or designations. Having three generations worth of experience means we have acquired a good deal of knowledge on these historical structures.”

The oldest church that Ecclesiastical has ever painted is St. Joseph Catholic Church in Leavenworth, Kansas. It was 150 years old back in 2007 when they took on the job. The team rarely does new churches, and this means they often have to travel far from home for work. “The distances vary from job to job, but they all require a lot of travel time”, says Alex. “There are only so many churches close to home that need to be restored. On the jobs that are 500 plus miles away, we usually stay until the work is complete. My favorite part of this business is the restoration phase and seeing the transformation first hand. My least favorite part is being away from home for long periods of time.”

Taking Care of Business

“When we’re not restoring majestic places of worship”, says Alex, “I fall back on interior and exterior residential re- paints around the Kansas City area under my own painting business – AW Painting Co. My dad encouraged me to start this back in 2009 and it’s been a good thing. Working on homes keeps my skills sharp and gives me valuable experience dealing with customers, writing contracts, running a jobsite and problem solving.”

Word of mouth brings most of the work to Alex and Don, but active marketing is part of the mix, too. This includes direct mailings and cold calls. They’ll be trying social media ads soon.

“When we meet with a potential client, we always stress certain things”, says Alex. “First, we never sub anything out. We do all work ourselves all the time. If we can’t do the work, we won’t bid on the job. We also only do one project at a time. This way each client gets our full attention. It helps that we own our scaffolding and rigging, too. We’re comfortable using it and there’s never any delay because subbed-out rigging didn’t happen as it was supposed to. All bids are complete, with no charges added later.”

What’s the most surprising thing about the business side of painting churches? “You’d be amazed at all the legal red tape we have to go through just to get the project” says Alex. “You need an attorney just to decode the contract, all the insurances you need to carry, and the sheer volume of paper work takes a lot of time. It’s not like the old days were you could seal the deal on a hand shake and good faith.”

“The thing that impresses me most about our work is the chance to see how these churches were built. Even when you’ve seen as many as I have”, says Alex, “you’ve got to be amazed how these wonderful creations went up, all without computers or heavy equipment. You gotta love these magnificent places.”

Specialized Skills

Alex, Don and Cliff tackle details that most painters never get to try. It’s all part of the ecclesiastical painting world and it includes ancient techniques such as:

Trompe l’oeil: This is a French term meaning “deceive the eye”. It’s an art technique that uses realistic images to create the impression of three dimensions. Trompe l’oeil has been around since ancient times, but was perfected as a technique in 15th century Renaissance Italy. “We sometimes restore existing trompe l’oeil,” explains Alex, “but we create them mostly from scratch. It can be challenging work, but I wouldn’t say its the most difficult thing we do.”

Gold gilding: “We typically use a lacquer gold process,” explains Alex. “This involves mixing a gold powder into bronzing lacquer that’s either sprayed or brushed on. After that we apply an acrylic clear coat to protect the gold.”

Stenciling: “Our stencils are made from sheets of mylar plastic,” says Alex. “We make the cut out by first drawing the design onto the material, and then use a stencil burner to cut out the shape. This tool is just a very hot needle that melts through the plastic. When it comes to painting with the stencil, we don’t actually use a brush very often. Our tool of choice is an air brush to apply gold or colored lacquer.”

The post Holy Rolling. first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

How BC’s Pacific Coast Painting grew from one painter to many

Professional painting is one of the few industries handled by both individual  trades people and large contractors. It’s a pretty wide spectrum, and while freelance painters will always find a place in the building and renovation worlds, large painting projects also need organized painting crews to complete the volume of work involved on large projects. So exactly how do larger painting contractors develop? It’s easy to miss the fact that most began with one painter who had a vision to grow. That’s the story behind what west-coast painter.

Tom Nikolic and his wife Vera began in 1988, and has since passed on to his son, John and his wife, Amber.

Today, Pacific Coast Painting is based in Surrey, BC, run by  John, and this company of 25+ people has completed large projects across the Lower Mainland, including Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Any painter who has tried to manage even one small painting crew knows that it’s not as easy as it looks. So when a family man grows his trade into a successful major player in the painting industry over 25 years, you’ve got to wonder how.

Even a partial list of Pacific Coast clients reads like a roster of major commercial, institutional and multi-residential centres in British Columbia: CBC Radio, the North Vancouver Library, Best Buy headquarters, a bunch of Coast Hotel facilities, too many hospitals and care facilities to list, Burrard Landing, the BC Safety Authority, UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre, the Olympic Village in Vancouver, the Surrey Library, Ronald McDonald House, and the Critical Care Tower of the Surrey Memorial Hospital, plus housing authority properties and high rises across the area.

One Man’s Motivation

Tom Nikolic completed his three-year painting apprenticeship in Serbia in 1960, and began painting immediately. His skills eventually took him to Germany, beginning in 1965 for three years of painting there, then moving to Canada in 1968. Twenty years later, at the age of 47, Tom launched Pacific Coast Painting in British Columbia.

“Dad’s motivation was simple,” explains son John, now owner of the family-based firm. “Ambition and determination to provide a better life for my mother, my brother and I was what led him to begin building a painting business, rather than continuing as a sole painter. He always knew that his experience and production rates were tops in the industry and saw an opportunity here in Canada.”

The breakdown of Pacific Coast work changes from year to year, but it’s typically 50% commercial, 30% multi-residential and 20% institutional. But regardless of the ratio, the work happens within a surprisingly simple management structure.

“There are only three main levels of people in the company,” explains John. “Myself, project foremen who also work the tools, and painters themselves. And while everyone involved has an important role to play, solid project management from myself and
foremen are key.”

You hear a lot of people in the painting business complain about poorly trained and undisciplined workers these days, so how has Pacific Coast managed to solve these problems? Specific training and accountability where it matters most. “Father’s many
years of experience developing and training foremen has been vital for us,” explains John. “Our team’s performance and successful project management hasn’t happened automatically.”

But what, exactly, does good performance and management look like on big commercial and institutional painting jobs? Success involves three things that go beyond paint application.

“Safety is a really big deal on large projects,” explains John. “Our crews often work on tall and intricate scaffolding, boom lifts, scissor lifts and they even hang off bosun chairs. Each one of these pieces of high access equipment are different, and require special training before a worker can use them properly and safely.”

“The wide variety of materials and processes on commercial jobs are a big challenge, too,” says John. “You don’t usually see elastomerics, epoxies and concrete sealers on single-family residential projects, and we often do sandblasting, concrete grinding, plus application of anti-graffiti coatings and other specialty products. Regular
latex paint is a big part of our work, of course, but every project also involves
non-paint coatings, too. You’ve got to know your materials when you get into big jobs.”

“Estimating large projects is one of the areas where costly mistakes are possible, especially for painters just getting into commercial and institutional work,” warns John. “If you misread just one page out of 200 pages of project tender documentation,
you can lose thousands of dollars. There are always tight deadlines for estimates, too. A typical project tender only allows a few weeks to submit a bid, so sometimes mistakes are made. The risks of under-estimating are equal to the risks of actually doing the work, and it’s why I still personally estimate all jobs we take on here at
Pacific Coast.”

So where does all this lead? Some pretty satisfied clients, that’s where.

Richard Pass, CEO of Ronald McDonald House is one: “Staff from Pacific Coast worked on the New Ronald McDonald House and did an outstanding job working to timelines,” says Pass. “The onsite team were friendly and helpful. I would recommend them for any painting job, either large or small.”

Fred Wray is construction manager with Ellis-Don, and he was involved in building the largest capital investment in the history of health care in British Columbia – the Critical Care Tower at the Surrey Memorial Hospital.

“Pacific Coast was a partner right from estimating through installation and close-out on the Critical Care Tower project,” says Wray. “Their professionalism and workmanship was superior and one of the best I’ve seen in my construction career.”

Raised in the Trade

John started as a painter’s helper when he was 13, then worked under his father’s wing on projects with Pacific Coast during summers until university in 1993. After graduating with a business degree in 1999, John worked in various industries until landing a job as a technical sales rep for a global paint manufacturer. “This worked out perfectly,” explains John, “as I always planned to join my father and come on board with the family company, so this position provided me with a wealth of technical product information.”

Ask successful business owners everywhere about the most difficult part of running a business and they’ll usually tell you they faced it at the start. “Initial establishment in an industry that had many competitors was my dad’s main challenge,” says John. “Work hard, work harder and work hardest are the biggest lessons I learned from him.”

But working hard is only part of any successful business, and the extremely competitive pricing structure in the BC painting industry means that you’ve got to do more than just sweat. You’ve got to build and maintain relationships, too.

“My father is an old school, hardworking tradesman and he’s the first to admit that face to face business relations wasn’t his strong suit,” explains John. “He ran the business in more of a hands-on, jobsite focused way, so he never had the opportunity to spend more time on customer relations. ‘Why have you been on the phone for 20
minutes with that client?’ father might ask me. My answer: ‘I’ll be on the phone for another 40 minutes if I have to.’ Keeping clients happy is the way to build future business in an industry with lots of painters.”

All this explains how Pacific Coast keeps busy, but the result might not be what you think. “We intentionally keep our client list small, dealing only with the major general contractors in town. We don’t actively pursue new clients, but concentrate on developing stronger relationships with customers we already have by performing better. It’s our reputation for in-depth trade knowledge, quality and performance in meeting deadlines that keeps our customers coming back.”

“We’re always looking for opportunities to develop and grow, but comfortable with our current volume plan and wouldn’t stray far from it. Again, this keeps our operations more in control and able to perform to our customer’s expectations. We don’t want to get much bigger.”

Was Pacific Coast affected much by the economic downturn that began in 2008? Not at  first, but eventually the economy caught up with them. “The years leading up to the Vancouver Olympics were our busiest ever,” says John. “In 2010 we employed 63 painters. One major paint supplier shared a report that showed we had the highest
paint purchases in all of Western Canada that year. After the Olympics, the downturn affected everyone in town, including ourselves. We still had plenty of work to keep busy, but nowhere near the volume we had in 2010. This gave us time to pause and
reflect on the extremely busy few years and realize that not only could we handle it, we didn’t need the company to run at such a high volume.”

John’s philosophy in tough times is to do everything possible to keep his 5 foremen and 20 core painters fully employed. “This is the concern that keeps me up at night,” confides John. “I’ve got a responsibility to keep the core working.”

Every sector of the construction and renovation business needs a flexible workforce because of the boom and bust cycles involved, but the commercial painting business might just experience more boom and bust than average. “When the economy contracts we always see the smaller painting contractors bid on commercial and institutional jobs,” says John. “This often turns ugly for them because of errors in estimating. You can’t just come up with a price based on an area to be painted, like you do with a house. There are often costly details in commercial and institutional work that
aren’t immediately obvious. We get undercut by jobs that are bid too low, and little guys lose their businesses.”

What advice would John give someone looking to move from the life of an individual painter to the owner of a painting business? “Be prepared to work harder than you could imagine.There’s a lot more here to learn than it seems. As my father said to me on the day he hired me as an estimator and eventual successor, ‘You have no idea
of what’s coming.’ Although I took it with a grain of salt at the time, he was
absolutely right.”

“The most surprising thing I’ve learned is that the painting business really does allow for great person-to-person relationships,” offers John. “The construction industry as a whole has a reputation for being unfriendly and cut-throat, but the companies we deal with are all run by solid-minded, personable people. They’re looking for ways to succeed together, and this makes all the difference.”

The post Quality, Integrity, Reliability first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.

When Rick Fowler began painting professionally in August 1973, there was no way he could have known where his career choice would lead. Forty one years later and Rick’s been painting full-time ever since. He also loves his work more than most painters you’ll meet. One part of this is because laughter and enthusiasm are just part of who this man is. Another is because of the unique painting niche that Rick’s skill and experience have led him to.

For the last 19 years Rick has worked for Edmonton-based Spar Construction and is currently their sole painter. He’s part of a 40-man crew that handles insurance work around Alberta, and Rick’s the perfect guy for the painting side of restorations.

I never get bored with my work. How can I? I’ve been on 6,783 different insurance jobs during my time with the company since 1995, and each job has been different.

Varied Work Life

“I never get bored with my work. How can I? I’ve been on 6,783 different insurance jobs during my time with the company since 1995, and each job has been different. One morning I might be in a million dollar mansion, then painting a skid row house in the afternoon. Earlier this year I did some stain touch-ups in a 26,500 sq. ft., $15 million mansion with just two people living in it. They gave me a map so I could find the room I needed to work on! There was even a swimming pool on the lower floor.”

On a technical level, few painters could successfully handle the variety of work that Rick does and still consider it stress-free. But that’s where his experience comes in.

“Until 1995 I sometimes painted residential jobs that included subdivision work. On several jobs they were building 80 houses at a time. We also did commercial jobs just about as big as they get. Sometimes I ran crews of 5 to 12 painters”, says Rick. “We did malls, airports, warehouses, schools – lots of really big jobs. Looking back on it now, I didn’t get enough extra money for the hassles of being a supervisor. I got tired of being responsible for everyone else’s work, especially with painters who have limited training. Commercial jobs always involved regular
layoffs, which I also got tired of.”

“I remember sitting back one day and joking to the guy I worked for: ‘Don’t hire anyone with less than a bachelor of arts degree.’ It was really hard to find good painters who worked well and consistently did what I needed them to do.”

Some of the young guys I see on jobs ask why I spend so much time cleaning my sprayer. ‘There’s only one way to make a busy sprayer last 10 years!’ I say.

Rick’s early career wasn’t always complicated. He started off with residential work in Edmonton and Fort McMurray, and traveled back and forth between Canada and Mexico. Back in 1975 he worked in San Francisco painting boats at the St. Francis Yacht Club, right under the Golden Gate Bridge. “I really enjoyed that kind of painting,” Remembers Rick. “I’m always at home with tricky brush work and plenty of colour.”

Colour isn’t always what you might think of when it comes to a career as varied as Rick’s. He once spray painted a slaughter house in full operation, one room at a time. “I slopped around in blood for five days”, says Rick “then threw out a couple hundred bucks worth of bloody drop sheets…yuk!”

Technical Skills

The main challenge with insurance work is matching existing surfaces. That’s where unique skills come in. Matching requires a knowledge of materials that goes way beyond what your average painter needs. “I carry about 18,000 colour cards in my van,” explains Rick, “but colour matching is only part of it. You also need to know sheens and textures. Most Canadian homes have an egg shell sheen on walls, but flats are coming on now, too. I keep most every nap length of roller in my van to match wall textures. I also carry a number of primers because of the sheer number of different substrates I can run into in a day. Primers are one of the elements that can make or break a job. Always use appropriate primers whether it’s wood, drywall, plastic, metal, glass – whatever. When you’ve been around as long as I have, you sometimes get to see your own work several times over the years, so you can know what works and what doesn’t.”

When it comes to colour matching samples, Rick relies on a few Edmonton paint stores staffed with real geniuses behind the colour counter. “When I got started in the  business, the old timers used to colour match right in their van, but that’s not practical or necessary any more. The number of colour pots you’d need for this today is crazy. These days I slice a piece of drywall paper off the wall, then take it to one of the paint stores that I know can work with colour. Custom colour mixing is a gift. One guy I know is not only better than the computer, he’s faster.”

Rick’s success comes in part from the discipline he’s learned to apply to his work, and it can help any painter. “Organize your time from the beginning of the job,” says Rick. “Start the most difficult prep work first, beginning with what will take the most amount of drying time. If you touch something with paint that you shouldn’t have, clean it immediately. Keep several types of cleaners with you and know which ones work well on different surfaces. Always keep a brush extender handy, too – it can save you a ton of grief. And don’t skimp on brush quality, either. Be as  dependable a tradesman as you can be. This will expand your business by itself in many ways. People are very receptive to a tradesman who does exactly what he says he’ll do and when he says he’ll do it.”

Part Painter, Part Diplomat

As an insurance painter, Rick’s usually the last tradesperson in people’s homes as restoration work is winding down. A major portion of his job is to make clients happy, but that’s not always easy because every insurance job begins with a disaster. “A lot of homeowners I see have put up with workers tromping through their house for months. Clients are nervous too because even the best restoration job doesn’t look good until the paint goes on. That’s why I always show up with a cheerful attitude – clean and professional. I’m a diplomat and try to get the clients laughing if I can. Laughter makes a big difference. Bottom line: If the client isn’t happy, they won’t sign off on the job. That’s why I do whatever it takes.”

Be as dependable a tradesman as you can be. This will expand your business by itself in many ways. People are very receptive to a tradesman who does exactly what he says he’ll do and when he says he’ll do it.

“I had one repeat customer who was obsessive compulsive. She’d see some tiny spot on a wall or door frame and wouldn’t be able to sleep for weeks. Eventually I got her down to once-a-year painting visits from me – sometimes big jobs sometimes small ones. Every time I stepped into her house there were paper towels on the floor for me to leave my shoes on. If I popped out for a minute to the truck to get something, there were fresh paper towels on the floor again waiting for me.”

Sometimes, it takes a lot to satisfy the customer. Once Rick went to see an elderly lady who said that her freshly painted bathroom was in horrible shape. “I arrived and found it absolutely perfect,” remembers Rick. “Nothing wrong, even to my experienced eye. I painted the whole bathroom and got the predicted call-back the next day. When I went back, she told me it was something that could only be seen in the dark, so I turned the light off, looked at it in the dark and agreed with her. I repainted the bathroom and she was happy.”

Tricks of the Trade

Patching is something Rick does more than most painters because insurance work often involves fixing up damage left behind by other trades. Halogen lamps, topping mud, fibre tape and a heat gun are all part of Rick’s patching kit. “I like metal and fibre patches for door knob sized holes, and if I’m in an occupied house I build poly barricades to keep things clean. People hate dust so I do, too. Whatever you do, check and double-check that all patching is done properly before spot priming. It’s pretty hard to get it all the first time around, and missing damage just costs you time later on.”

Smoke sealing has been a constant part of Rick’s work since he began on insurance jobs, and it’s the kind of thing that demands exceptional patience and attention to detail. In order to eliminate the lingering smell of smoke-damaged homes, everything
in the house is stripped back to the bare frame. “The average house is completely gutted out”, explains Rick. “There’s just a subfloor, open wall frame, and the attic frame. That’s when I come in. I use my sprayer and I have to coat very surface on everything with an odour-blocking primer. If you miss anything – even one small spot – smoke odours will come through the drywall when the restoration is done and we’ll have to strip it all back and start again.

It’s crucial that you get every last spot. It takes a lot of fooling around and it took years for me to get good at this job. Young guys are almost never careful enough for smoke sealing.”

Rick does most of his spray work with a Graco 490, renting a larger machine for those rare times when he needs to work with thicker-than-usual coatings. “A big sprayer is nice to have”, admits Rick, “but big sprayers are also hard to lug around. I’ve owned three Graco 490s over the years, and I’ve gotten lots of work out of them. Some of the young guys I see on jobs ask why I spend so much time cleaning my sprayer. ‘There’s only one way to make a busy sprayer last 10 years!’ I say.”

Last year a client tipped Rick for a job well done with a brand new 4,500 projection system. Before he got into insurance work he painted a large gazebo in San Francisco with 12 colours. Rick once rode an extension ladder all the way down the side of a 2 story house uninjured and didn’t get a drop of paint on the house – only on himself. He once ran a job up north in an isolated region for several months in the 70’s where he had a dozen painters – all away from their wives, girlfriends, and civilization. “Every morning I’d do a head count,” remembers Rick, then track down the missing painters starting with a call to the RCMP, then the hospital. Last week, Rick painted half a McDonald’s restaurant after repairs were made because someone “drove through” the staff lunchroom.

“It’s always amazed me how easy it’s been for me to find work over the years. I’ve never run out. Another surprise is how I can still learn something from someone who is 40 years younger than me.”

Rick makes it a point to have fun every day. “The company I work for is awesome,” smiles Rick “and it’s great to know the guys you work with personally. I head into the shop in the morning, have a few laughs, drink some coffee, then get my  assignments for the day and head out. If we have a problem, we deal with it. My work life is pretty much stress-free and I certainly like it that way.”

The post Make ‘Em laugh! Skill, experience and humor gives Alberta painter a stress-free work life first appeared on Professional Painter Magazine.