Sun Coast Painting(painting by the numbers)

Customer Satisfaction

2012-01-28T05:14:00.000-08:00

No matter what business you are in ,whether you sell goods or a service your #1 priority should be your customers satisfaction. If that is not top of the list for you then you need to reevaluate your priorities.
There are too many companies out there today that seem to think that the customer owes them, when it is the other way around. Without our customers we would be bagging groceries some were instead of owning our own businesses.

It is a privilege to provide our services to our clients and we should understand that before we ever apply for our first business license, to go into business thinking anything else is a mistake that can cost you everything. Your reputation is something you must pride yourself on from the star if you want to succeed.

I heard a local company on the radio yesterday that had a great line that said "were not done until your satisfied" and I thought that is so true, if we all took that approach think how much smoother ever transaction would be. All business would benefit from that approach.

Take the time to ask your customers if everything is O.K and take care of any little problems along the way.
Make sure the lines of communication are always open and you can reached at any time to answer any question or concern that they may have. Take the time when the job is complete to say thank you and tell them that you appreciate there business.

The way the economy is today we as small business owners owe it to ourselves & and clients to make sure we provide the best service possible.
Our customers are the reason we are able to earn a living.

Exterior Paint

2011-12-17T05:40:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I get asked a lot about the paint that I recommend for doing exterior siding, and what primer do I prefer for spot priming & jobs were the siding is in rough shape.The paint that I have been using for some time now and has never let me down is Sherwin-Williams Duration exterior. In my opinion it is the best paint on the market today for getting a beautiful finish in just one coat. it is durable and gives you many years of protection for your home. The sheen I prefer to use on both my siding and my trim projects is Satin.
It's scrub able and it holds up well to power washing(a topic we will cover in a blog post shortly).
To sum it up I believe that Duration topcoat will give you the best bang for you buck.

As for priming I believe that this is a step that most homeowners skip because of misinformation,
but this may be the most important step to insure a beautiful finish and many years of protection.
Sherwin-Williams sells a great primer called ProBlock. that will do a great job it can be used on both
Interior & Exterior projects with equally great results.

When the home you are working on is much older and in rough shape with a lot of peeling paint then the primer I prefer to use is Peel Bond. What it does is build up a strong bond with the substrate that your working with to provide a perfect sealer to your topcoat. If you are spot priming you can build up layers to make the feathering out much easier and the imperfections on the surface less noticeable and provide you with a much better finish in the end.

Keep these two products in mind when you are tackling you next exterior paint job and you'll be very happy with your results.

The Mighty 5 in 1!

2011-08-27T04:11:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

I have people ask me sometimes to talk about the tools that I use the most in my trade and to suggest to them the ones that I think are the most indispensable, so without any further ado I bring you "The MIGHTY 5 in 1 TOOL" If you can have only 1 tool in your toolbox (besides paint brushes) that tool should be the 5 in 1. It truly is the most versatile tool there is. I use mine everyday, it stays in my back pocket and is prepared for battle whenever I need it. These are just some of the things I use it for:

1),Scraping old paint off wood

2). Scraping paint off glass

3).Prying mouldings

4).Cleaning my roller covers

5).Using as a screw driver

6). Using the bottom to bang in nails

7). Opening paint cans

There are probably a half dozen other things that I have used it for that I have failed to mention. At about $6 or $7 bucks it is the best money you will ever spend on a tool. Every DIYer & pro should have one. I ask anyone who thinks that they know of a more versatile tool to email me and I will put your suggestions in my blog.

Now what are you waiting for go get a 5 in 1 today!

Family & Business

2011-01-30T05:36:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
Today I wanted to touch on a subject that's very important to me and that's how to juggle your personnel life with your business life and that sounds a lot easier then it really is. I remember when I was a child I very rarely got to see me father because he was always busy with he's business, providing for and taking care of his family was his first and foremost priority, and he was very successful at achieving that goal, We never wanted for anything.

If that was the only measure for success then you would have to say he was a very successful man but success has to also be measured by the way your children are able to grow up and look back on their lives and say they had the perfect lives. Well as I said I had all the toys,games,and sports equipment that any child could every want but I think the one thing that I always felt that I missed out on was a real relationship with my Dad.

I loved my dad but I always felt distant from him because he was not around when I was growing up & I missed that. I guess why I wanted to write this article was to make a point to every business person out there that you need to put into perspective the things that mean the most to you and that should always be that your family should come first.

Don't look back and have regrets that you should have spent more time watching you children grow up because they really do grow up so fast. Be there for them in every aspect of their lives and that in turn will make them better adults.

I'm reminded of a great Randy Travis song were the line goes "It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you it's what you leave behind you when you go".
Thanks.

Smart Scheduling

2011-01-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

I thought today I would post about something that is an important but overlooked part of the painting business and that is scheduling. The more experience that you acquire the more you'll understand that this is an integral part of running a successful business.

Being a boss means that you have to sometimes make decisions that have an impact that might be two or three weeks down the road, and your planning might make sense to only you but in the end it will make the difference between a successful job as opposed to a unsuccessful one.

In the painting business, much like any other contracting work makes you a slave to the weather so your job planning has to revolve around the weather is like on that day so as painters and business owners we have to plan for when we can start and complete a job so we can bring everything in on time & budget.

As I know you've heard many times that "Time is Money" and that is extremely accurate when applied to real life situations like job planning. Unfortunately I've witnessed too many situations were contractors have done a poor job of scheduling and had their guys at jobs at the wrong times or scheduled an exterior job when the weather person has been calling for rain(or snow) all week.

Make sure that you plan ahead because "Time really is Money", and when that money is yours it can make all the difference in the world.

Another Year, Another Strategy

2011-01-01T04:01:00.006-08:00

As we begin a new year we must reflect on the year that past and how well we feel that our business lived up to (0r down to)our expectations. We must ask ourselves did we do all we could to put our company name in front of as many potential customers last year as we possibly could.

We must learn from our past failures & our successes and try to help or business grow in every way we can. Here are some questions to ask yourself heading into the new year:

.Did my Business grow this year?
.What was my estimate to sales ratio?
.Were my customers happy with the service I gave?
.Do I need to upgrade my equipment?
.What are my businesses main strengths & weaknesses?
.Did I start my marketing plan early enough?
. Do I need to hire more employees?
.Do I need to cut back on my employees?

There are plenty more that I did not cover but you get the idea. Look within your company and I'm sure that you will be able to identify the things you need to work on to make your business a success in the coming year.
Good Luck.

Chosing The Right Equipment

2010-12-27T04:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, I certainly did. I know that for most of us parents we only have a great Christmas when we get up Christmas morning and we see the happy & excited looks on our kids faces and know that they received everything that they had hoped for.

But there are some of you that enjoy treating yourselves to something special, or maybe your spouse has been saving to get you that show stopper gift that would make your painting biz run that much smoother. Well I say congrats if you got that gift and you had that look of excitement on you face that our kids get.

The reason I bring this up is that whether it's Christmas or just another day of the week you need to make sure you pick the proper tools to help you succeed, too many people don't put enough thought into picking the right equipment and that just leads to them having to buy something else to compensate for what they bought to begin with.

Take the time to research an important tool Before you (or someone else)purchases it.
Hey we all have the most incredible research tool at our disposal and that's the Internet.
Make intelligent decisions before we plunk down our hard earned cash and that will actually save us money in the long run.
Have a Happy & safe Holiday Season.

"Show Me The Money"

2010-11-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know I ripped that saying off a famous movie but it applies to the topic I want to discuss today and that is getting paid from your customers & contractors.
I know this seems like a no-brainer but actually this is a very real problem in our industry.

With the economy the way it is and people trying to get the most out of every dollar they spend it just makes getting paid that much more difficult. I find that more contractors are having a hard time getting paid & that of course trickles down to us subs when it comes time to pass out the checks.

I have found that living in a resort community is wonderful for the most part but also it can be a pain when dealing with customers that are not from your state because it makes it that much harder to get a final payment when the job is complete.

I hear the same excuses all the time ("I left my check book at home,I already put the check in the mail", etc...) this can be very frustrating when you have to make payroll and you have soo many bills for materials. The customers never seem to get those facts.

The most frustrating thing of all is that I usually deal with customers that have 4 to $500,00 homes and were talking about mere pocket change to them.
So be aware that when you have your own business that the actual labor it took to finish the job is only a part of the process of getting paid.

Tricks or Treets

2010-10-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

With Halloween right around the corner I got to thinking about the Tricks and Treets that go along with being in business for your self. All the things that go with being self- employeed.

Before I start I just want to state that I am in no way trying to discourage anyone from starting a business or from making it seem that I am in any way unhappy with the path I choose.

That would be just the opposite from the truth ,I am extremely happy with my decision to go out on my own, and I would not want to ever have to go back to work for someone else.

So I will act as an impartial party and give you the good and bad points of being self- employeed.

First the Good:

You get to make all the Money!

You get to set your own hours.

You make all the decisions.(that can be both good & bad)

You have total control.

You get to exercise your creative juice

Now the Bad:

You have all the headaches.

You make all the decisions (see #3)

You get all the blame.

You get to put out all the money for supplies etc....

There are probably many more positives as well as negatives that you can think of that I may have left off this list but you get the idea.

This post was just food for thought for anyone thinking of starting a new business.

Good Luck.

Learn Baby Learn!

2010-09-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

I always wonder when I hear people say they are "too old to learn something new".
Like they have absolutely no interest in improving themselves or making themselves more well rounded. I hear people say " You can't teach an old dog new tricks" well shame on ya.

I believe we were put on this earth to learn and absorb as much information as we possibly can.
I am the kind of person that craves learning, that will read,watch videos, and ask questions whenever I can. I think that too many painters think that they have their brushes,rollers,pails, ladders,and trucks so that makes them masters of their trade. Why should they have to keep up with the current trends or try to learn new techniques when everyone knows that their a pro.

Well if that's your attitude then just "keep on keepin on" and I hope you succeed but for me I will always strive to make myself the best Painter,Father and Man that I can.
The day that I stop will be the day that they put me in the ground. Well maybe when I get to heaven there will be plenty of stuff for me to read and learn there too.

Marketing

2010-09-15T04:48:00.000-07:00

As you probably guessed by the title I want to address a very overlooked aspect of the painting business(and Contracting in general) and that's Marketing.
I know your probably thinking what is he talking about I put a lot of effort into marketing my company, well I then would ask you this question:
"
How much business do you have right now"
If you say well I go through the typical ups and downs that most business's go through then I would say you probably need to work a little more on your marketing strategy.

We all need help from time to time and I am no exception but I also place a very high emphasis on marketing my business every chance I get and that's what I want everyone to understand.
The more that you treat it like a chore the more it becomes one. I realize that it is a necessary evil when your in business for yourself to get your companies name "out there" any way that is possible but if your not doing it with enthusiasm then you will come across as being less then genuine to your potential clients and that's when you will lose them to your competition.

Treat your business as a product that your clients need to have and you will not go wrong.
Check out (Marketingscoop.com) for more strategies on successful marketing.

Learning to work with Contractors

2010-09-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

I think this is a skill that takes years to develop but one that is key to your success as a painter or as a sub-contractor in general. I hear painters say that they will not work with any contractors and I hear the horror stories that go along with this. As we all know there are always two sides to every story, as they used to say there's the one side ,there's the other side, and then there's the truth somewhere in the middle.

I can't help but wonder if the reason that they despise working with contractors is that they have yet to develop that skill that we were talking about. That skill that in my opinion is very easy to acquire,all it takes is a desire to put in the time to learn it.

I believe this is yet another reason why so many independent contractors fail. The belief that "I work for myself now so I should be able to make all the rules and always have the final say".
Well that simply is not the truth. I tell my children when they come home from school and complain they have to listen to everything that the teacher says, I always say "get used to it because whether you have your own business or work for someone it will always be the same"

When you are doing a project for that contractor THEY ARE YOUR BOSS. Understand that and you have solved that great mystery. So brush up on your people skills and eat a little crow with the knowledge that your business will be the better for it, sometimes you'll learn that you'll pick up even more business in the process.

Network to get more business

2010-08-14T05:10:00.001-07:00

Hi again,
I thought that I would spend a little time today on the subject of networking. This is simply,
connecting with other business people in your same field or fields related to yours.(Construction,Plumbing,Electrical...) This is very important when you want to have a successful business.

The old saying that "It's not what you know but who you know" has some truth to it.
Because you could be the most talented person in your field but without anyone knowing
about your talent then you are going to have very limited success.

I believe that Talent as well as good Marketing are the keys to making any business successful.
What I want to stress to you today is that when you are on a job with the other trades make a point to talk with them and build a rapport, leave them your business card and take theirs.

Recommend each other to clients and you will build a trust with each other that could last a long time. Success comes one step at a time and you should never overlook an opportunity.

Happy 4th Everyone!

2010-07-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone is having a great holiday and getting some much need relaxation.
I know we all need to recharge our batteries once in a while so I thought that I'd post to everyone that is doing just that.

As business owners we all need to get back to what is really important in our lives, and that is our FAMILIES. Without who we couldn't have the courage and determination to do what we do everyday. When we can spend this time at home with the ones we love the most we truly appreciate what we have and what our real goals should be.

I want everyone to remember what our founding fathers fought for and died for and that is our FREEDOM. The fact that we live in a country that provides us with the opportunity to be all that we can be is what this holiday is all about. Remember to hold dear to us what is most important and that is our FAMILIES & our FREEDOM.

Happy 4th everyone.

Having Support

2010-05-01T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hi again,
This post I wanted to talk about something that is very important to me and that's having the support of the one's we love. That sounds like a given but in reality it's not, too many of us don't have that assurance that if we screw up there's someone there that will help us get back on track.

I'm lucky that I have my wife Karen to lean on when things don't seem to be going like I planned them. She is always there to lend her support and give guidance when I need it and that gives me the confidence to go out on a limb sometimes knowing that she'll be there to help me if I fall.

That is something that I think gets overlooked at times when your in business for yourself and that the ability to have that special someone there to help you succeed, or to be there to help when our goals do not live up to our expectations.

I remember what coaches say all the time and it's true:
Work as a team and we can accomplish anything, work as individuals and we fail.

Energize your Marketing!

2010-04-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

Spring is here and it's time to get out and promote your business, that means get your logo in front of as many potential customers as you can. So how do you do that? Simple just be aggressive with you marketing by following some or all of these ideas:

Leave your business cards everywhere.
Print up some flyer's and leave them in the neighborhood your working in.
Get some shirts printed up and make sure your employees wear them to work.
Leave your card or flyer in the local grocery store's bulletin board.
Network with as many contractors as possible and always leave them with you card.

And as always do quality professional work and your customers will always refer you to others who will want your services.

Exterior Photos

2010-03-20T02:12:00.000-07:00

This is the pic I promised to show when I had it, This is the exterior of the house in Bethany Beach Delaware. The beach is so close you could throw a ball from the house to someone standing on the beach. All the siding is hardy board(painted) and all the trim is Azek(painted on the front of the house)Beautiful house,beautiful location.

Working with Colors

2010-01-31T12:05:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share some ideas with you about color,

as you'll see in these pics the use of color can really make a difference in how the room can come alive. The use of color is very important in our line of work, I am asked the best way to brighten a room and my answer is always the same and that's with a color or colors that compliment the room.

In this pic the use of an Extra White really brings this sun room to life.

While the use of a bolder color makes this bathroom seem fun & inviting

Use color wisely and you will really make a dramatic difference in the project your working on.

Check out some Pics,part 1

2010-01-31T05:37:00.001-08:00

Here are some pics from a job we just completed.

The interior was 3300 sq. ft. The ceiling in these pictures was pickled white,tung & groove pine.

It was a really great project to be a part of. I'll show the pics of the exterior in part2.

Let's start a new year off right!

2010-01-02T02:33:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
I wanted to say I hope you all had a merry Christmas & a Happy New Year and I hope all of you are ready to stay focused and get serious about your business this year, I know that your all saying "what are you talking about"? your convinced that you are taking your business completely serious and have been since you started. Well statistics show that most businesses fail within the first year of starting , so there must be something wrong with this picture.

These people didn't have a plan, a vision, a goal that they started that first year that should have been in place so they could see the BIG PICTURE. Society as a hole only can see what's right in front of their face,not what's 2,3,or 4 months down the road. Live for today and we'll worry about tomorrow some other time. Well I don't want to see you fail so I hope you take this advice.

When yo have some down time and your at the breakfast table with a cup of warm coffee, take out a notepad and start writing down the goals that you want your business to achieve this year,write down everything that you want to see happen to make this year turn out to be what you would consider a successful year, (not what someone else would consider successful) but what you would consider to be a year that you would be proud of. Write all that down then put it away and take it out from time to time and see if your sticking to it.

Success is what you make of it not what someone else is going to do for you.
Start now and let me know in a year how you have done.

Ho,Ho,Ho!

2009-12-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

Seasons greetings everyone,
I have not posted in a while so I first want to say I'm sorry for that. Been busy wrapping up the jobs that have been a big part of what we did this year and of course getting ready for the Christmas season(shopping, etc...)but that brings me to the reason that I decided to post today.
This time of year professional painters as with any other types of contracting business usually find that the jobs are becoming harder to find because people are holding on to their money with Christmas and New Years right around the corner. The same thing happens every year and I'm hear to tell you that it will happen again next year and the year after that and so on, but as a business owner and a professional you need to stop panicking and quit worrying because everything will be fine.

What you need to do is exactly what you have been doing(or should have been doing)all along and that means that you need to keep advertising, promoting your business any way you can.
Calling your past customers and asking if they need any painting work done or if they have any neighbors that need any painting. There are many ways to get your name out there in front of potential customers, but the bottom line is you need to work as hard to acquire new customers as
you did with the customers that you had this previous year. You'll find that you'll build your pipeline back up again and be able to continue to move forward with building and growing your business and that is what we all strive to do.

Good luck in the new year and beyond.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Communication

2009-11-20T02:10:00.000-08:00

That's the key to avoiding a lot of problems in our lives isn't it?
Think about all the problems we would avoid if we only had better communication skills.
We would have a hard time making our marriage work if we were not communicating well with our partner or we would make our relationships with our children very difficult if we were not on the same page with them.

The same is true in business,when we do not communicate very well with our customers ,our employees, our vendors, we will not succeed in our field. When you decide to own your own business you had better sharpen up you communication skills because you will use those skills as long as you own your company.

When you are in business as in any thing else you want to succeed(marriage,parenting,etc...)you should always strive to be the best that you can be. When you don't put communication high on your priority list then you are doomed to fail before you even begin. Once again too many businesses end up that way. So I hope you will try to make this more of a priority so that your business will be everything that you envision it to be.

Now go home and talk to your wife and kids.

R -E- S- P- E-C -T

2009-11-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

Those words are very important in our life and in our business.
Respect people and you will get respected. That should be everyone's goal when your in business, that to me is an overlooked part of too many companies now a days.
All that seems to be in the business owners mind is to get in and get out and get a check and that is the end of the whole transaction when in fact it is only part of the deal.

When dealing with a client you have to give them your undivided attention when you are with them so you can understand their needs and that in the end will lead to a quality job.
Too many painters have the attitude that they will do what they want to do and the customer will have to understand, well that is how you end up sitting at home wondering why you have been with out work for months at a time. People just want you to listen and respect their opinion.

My mom was always an inspiration to me in soo many ways in my life, and she would always have a saying for everything. I would like to pass on these two:

1).You can never learn anything by talking, only listening.
2).Treat people the way that you would want to be treated.

I think that says it all.

Building a winning team

2009-10-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd write a post about a topic that is not mentioned often enough and that is the topic of surrounding yourself with good employees. When you think about having a successful business of any kind you think about all the obvious things(tools,supplies,etc...)but you don't often think about one of the most important things to any business and that is having good people to do the work.

Lets face it I can not be in 10 different place at the same time so I need to know that I can have reliable people in those places who can do the job and do it the way I want it done. I feel really good every time I hear one of the other trades comment on how good my guys are and how hard they work. As in employer I can take pride in hiring guys who know how to get it done.

As employers we also have to learn to play to our employees strenghts and weaknesses, as an example I would not want to put a man in a situation that he would not excel like if I knew that an employee is a good painter but might not be the best people person then I might want to not have him on a residential job alone where he would have to have a lot of interaction with a customer, I might want to use him in more of a new construction setting.

You get the idea, that just comes with experience. Remember in the end an employer is only as good as his 0r hers employees.

Owning your own business

2009-10-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

When you set out to start your own business no matter what business it is there are always going to be obstacles in you path, but I'm going to try to get you started off on the right foot.I find it very important to have a plan in mind that you can follow to make it a little easier to get a jump on your competition. You have to planto set aside some money for advertising as well as setting aside some capitol for your license and insurance.

You need to open a business account with your local bank and if your like me you have to purchase a license for every town that you plan to work in. You need to decide if your going to be a one man(or woman) show or if your going to hire employees. Have a plan as to how big you want your business to become and set out customizing it to fit your vision.

Make sure to follow some or all of these suggestions because all to many businesses don't make it past the first year because they thought that would be a waste of time to have a plan before they just jump in.

Prep,Prep,Prep

2009-09-26T04:07:00.000-07:00

Were all into instant gratification, were only interested in the bottom line, the final product is what gets our attention but in the world of painting it's really only a by product of a lot of hard work.
The client sees the fruits of our labor and upon being satisfied pays us and we go on but the real magic goes on behind the scenes,

Sanding
Patching
Taping
Priming

These are the things that seperate a good job from a great one. Lets face it anyone can paint but the secret lies in the Preperation,when that step is skipped it can ruin a whole job and the customer will not sign a check over to a person that does a half assed job.Painters please spend more time on the little things and you will always produce professional quality work.

Finding & keeping good help.

2009-09-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

I was just sitting here thinking that when you are busy enough that you need to hire some help is that a good thing or a is it another headache that you don't need?
I want to make as much money as I possibly can and still remain reasonably sane so for me the only way to do that is to try to assemble a crew.

If you haven't done this before and are used to just being a one man show then you are going to be then you are going to be extremely frustrated. Because this is not as easy as it sounds.
If you are as concerned about quality as I am then your finding the right people to accomplish this is going to drive you nuts.

When your lucky to be able to find people that do a good job(maybe not as well as you would want but..) then you have to make sure that they being paid well so as to keep them or they will jump to someone else who will pay them more.

This is a delicate balance that you are constantly juggling. I am not apposed to hiring inexperienced help and teaching them but that can also slow your production down.
I currently have a crew of 4 that I employ(not full time) so I understand the work that has to be put into accomplishing this so I will be writing more on this subject as I think it is very important to anyone looking to expand and grow in this or any other business.

Working with Contractors

2009-09-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

This is a subject that we as painters need to discuss and that's we need to get along better with the contractors (or GC's) it's not always the easiest thing for us since us painters are a different breed but in the long run it will be most beneficial to us and our business if we do.

Contractors want things done there way and there used to dealing with subs that give them a hard time so they can be rather demanding on you sometimes but that is really not that big a deal when you understand that we can usually benefit by this when they push us to complete a task because that will get us closer to our next draw and put more money in our pockets.

I tell all my guys that if the GC wants them to help him move a door or carry in some trim then do it because that will make him less demanding on you and maybe not be standing over you so much.

We all need to learn to work better and more effectively with each other since most new construction jobs last between 1 and 3 months. That's longer then some relationships.

Remebering 9 11

2009-09-13T04:09:00.000-07:00

I am extremely sorry that I didn't get a chance to post on the worst tragedy this country has ever known, Sept, 11. This date should forever be in our hearts our minds and our culture and
I was amiss not to post on it.

This country has had many tradegies to deal with but none were as tragic as having our innocent men and women be killed through those ruthless acts of terrorism.
It should haunt us until those bastards that are responsible are brought to a proper justice.

Many dates about our country stay ingrained in our minds but none should be as memorable as 9 11. This is a date that changed our country forever.

We must never let our children forget.

The Big Box Stores

2009-09-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

We've all shopped them and yet I hear painters complain all the time about Lowes and Home Depot. They say that they carry just enough paint supplies to keep the average homeowner happy and nothing more or the people working there wouldn't know a quality paint brush from a garden hose.
I can agree with some of the complaints but I also will point out that I have picked up some good deals on Ladders and Scaffolding,and their 5 gallon buckets of Olympic primer come in handy when I'm doing a 3300 sq. ft. house. The savings over SW looks a whole lot better in my pocket then the GC's. I guess all I'm saying is that don't knock the "Big Box Stores" all the time you never know when they'll come in handy.

Bargin Hunting

2009-09-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

People will always continue to amaze me, hunting for bargains is fine when your shopping at Walmart but when your making a decision to make over the look of your home maybe cheap isn't the way to go.
Saving money is a natural instinct but you can carry it too far, cheap and quality do not go hand in hand, if I can pass along any advice to anyone in the painting industry it's when you run across a customer that is concerned about the "bottom line" more then the quality of the job just turn around and walk, you'll save alot of aggravation in the long run.
The old saying"You get what you pay for"still rings true.

Weather followers

2009-09-08T02:51:00.000-07:00

With the cooler weather coming my thoughts turn to getting the exterior jobs done and then focusing on the interiors. We as painters are always conscience of the weather because our business depends on it so we have to make sure we follow it so we can give accurate estimates to our customers as to how long a job will take. Knowing if it will rain or snow that particular day will mean that we might have to reschedule a job for another day, then we can see if we can call another customer so we maybe could come over and work on a living room or kitchen that we have'nt gotten to. Ahh just another day in the life of being a painter.

Painter "Keep On Rollin"2

2009-09-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

To go along with that last post I received very encouraging news from the local businesses that I get supplies from(Sherwin Williams,Benjamin Moore,Home Depot,Lowes,etc...)they keep telling me that business is picking up over what it was a couple of months back and they've seen a steady increase in the number of customers(Home owners,Contractors) that are purchasing painting products from them. I myself love to see HO's buying paint because I know they'll be calling me to repaint what they painted in the very near future.

Painter "Keep On Rollin"

2009-09-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

Despite our tough economic time us Painters just keep hanging in there.
We keep on acquiring new business and we stay busy, I think that is the nature of the beast in our biz. While construction and real estate numbers have plummeted I have continued to stay busy. Home owners will always need painting work done and that is not because our work is so difficult to do it's just that it is work that not a lot of HO"S are equipped to do(Ladders, Heights,Clean up etc..)so we benefit from that. I've stayed busy and hired 2 new employees despite the grim numbers that the government has presented us with. So take heart painters everywhere if you are not busy now you will be in the near future just hang in there.

Hello Everyone!

2009-09-06T05:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out my blog.
I'm house Painter who works & lives in the great state of Delaware. I've been in the painting business for over 15yrs and have owned and operated my own biz for more then 5yrs. My company is Sun Coast Painting we specialize in all types of painting projects from: Interior/Exterior to Commercial/Residential to Faux Finishes to custom Murals, we also offer Drywall Installation, Finishing & Repairs as well as Powerwashing.

We know that our customers are the life blood of our business and we do whatever it takes to keep make sure they are satisfied and happy. We feel our work speaks for itself and we have plenty of satisfied customers who would agree. I could go on and on about our company but I will control myself and tell you that the reason I created this blog was to supply my readers with a wealth of knowledge about the painting business and to give helpfull tips about painting and small business in general.

I will give you reviews about products I've used and just try to share my expertise with all my loyal readers.
Thanks for checking this blog out and if you want to learn more about my company or to contact me just check out my site:http://www.suncoastpainting.vpweb.com/