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Download Ramuc’s chip analysis test form from www.ramucpoolpaint.com. VOC-compliant for all 50 states and Canada.

The post Ramuc A2 Pool Paint 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.

Ingram and two employees started the house in November 2014 and finished up in April 2015. “We painted the inside and outside of this place”, says Ingram, “including 1500 lineal feet of crown, 67 doors, plus fancy casings on every window.”

Show the world your best work right here. Send photos and tell us about them at steve@stevemaxwell.ca 

The post Taking the Pensacola Challenge 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.