Category: Painter

Proven Ways to Market Your Painting Business

If you don’t have effective marketing, you don’t have a business. Every potential customer starts as a lead or prospect. Unfortunately, most marketing doesn’t work. But here are seven proven ways that have worked for our painting businesses

Door-to-door marketing

When you’re just starting, this is THE best way to start. A lot of people are afraid to do this, or don’t have the hustle to do it. Which means more leads for you! Basically, every hour you go door-to-door, you’ll get 1-2 painting leads. We’ve run hundreds of marketing teams to arrive at this number.

Referrals

Referrals are the best leads. If you provide excellent service and quality, you’ll get a lot of referrals. A lot of contractors are unreliable, don’t communicate well, or do sloppy work. So if a previous customer recommends you, there’s a 90% chance you’ll win the job just by showing up.

Lead Providers

Lead providers are companies that specifically generate leads for your trade: painting, carpentry, etc. It works like this. A potential customer submits a request for an estimate online and you are sent their information with the project details.

Lawn Signs

Lawn signs are one of the best investments you can make for your painting company. As you’re painting a house, ask your client if you can put up a lawn sign with your company info in their front yard.

Commercial building painting

How your business looks says a lot to your customers, it needs to portray your company image as well as professionalism to your clients. Creating the ideal atmosphere inside a retail store is crucial for helping your employees make sales. Your store needs to have an environment that represents the quality of products you provide, our color consultation experts can help you design just that!

Even if you don’t have a retail business and your commercial building is an office space or building, it is still very important to design a comfortable environment for your employees. Not only will this help boost your company moral, but it will help build an identity of professions that will help your business thrive. When your employees are working in an office building that has been taken care of and provides them with a comfortable place to conduct business, they will take much more pride in their work then if they were in an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Why Own a Painting Business?

When people investigate options for starting a new business, they inevitably move towards the businesses that seem like they would be the most fun and offer the best chance to make a living. A painting business franchise through Fresh Coat offers you the operational and marketing support you need to succeed. But how can you tell if a painting business is right for you? Aside from being a low cost franchise opportunity, a painting business offers revenue streams most people are not aware of.

You Can Make the Big Bucks

you will be taught how to maximize your profits by being an efficient painting company and knowing how to use your equipment properly. The residential and commercial painting industry is already businesses with high profit margins, but you can extend those margins when you have marketing and operational support from a company of experts. The reality is that a painting business offers generous profit margins that will make your business grow.

The Competition Does Not Have a Chance

When most people start a painting business, they buy a pair of overalls and start knocking on doors to find customers. But when you own a franchise, your company will have a professional look and give professional results that will blow the competition away.

Good Help Is Easy To Find

One of the benefits of starting painting business is that you will not have a problem finding qualified employees to help your business get off to a fast start. Anyone with any level of home improvement or any type of contracting experience can be trained to be a professional painter

A Focused Business

There is two very good things about the painting industry in general. In the first place, you will always have plenty of work to do. Secondly, the task of painting is an easily trained vocation. You can choose to be your own job site supervisor, or you can hire one and focus on growing your business. Either way, painting is something that any worker can become an expert in within a short period of time, and that allows you to deliver excellent results to each customer.

INTERIOR COMMERCIAL PAINTING

Just like the inside of a home, the interior of a business should be warm, inviting, and welcoming. That professional look ensures that clients feel comfortable and impressed. The interior of your business and its look has just as much influence on your reputation as your customer care does. Give your business the fresh and pristine look it deserves with Integrity Painting’s interior commercial painting services.

team is passionate about giving commercial spaces a touched-up, professional look. During our 25 years in business, we have painted the inside of offices, restaurants, banks, shopping malls, retail stores, daycares, and more, giving each a unique touch. Making your commercial space align with your brand is important, and we work to ensure our paint job does exactly that. Because you want to get back to business as quickly as you can, we complete our painting jobs as soon as we can, ensuring that you to have access to every corner of your business as soon as possible.

PAINTING FROM FLOOR TO CEILING

If you’re curious what we can paint, it’s probably better to ask what we can’t paint. Here at Integrity Painting, we do it all. We paint offices, warehouses, and other commercial spaces, and we’ll paint your building from floor to ceiling. We also provide trim painting and detail painting. Plus, we can install wallpaper or remove the current wallpaper that you have in your building. We also paint and finish cabinets, and we can add texture to your walls before painting. Feel free to learn more about our additional interior services, and choose Integrity for your next painting project.

THE BENEFITS OF INTERIOR COMMERCIAL PAINTING

Painting your commercial space may not be the first thing on your mind when you’re considering a renovation, but it’s always the finishing touch, and it’s the first thing that employees and other occupants will notice as they pass through your doors. If you’re on the fence about painting your space, we’re here to convince you that it’s not just a good idea for the aesthetic improvements it can provide, a fresh coat of paint provides a number of benefits for business operators and commercial space owners.

Rebrand

If you’re rebranding your company, or if your renting out a commercial space to a new business, then it’s time to repaint the walls. New paint can impress guests and clientele who are visiting your business, while old paint can be off putting, and it can affect the morale of your employees. In this way, repainting your space could mean more profit in the long run, and giving your space a facelift may improve the image of your brand.

How to name your painting business

I’m going to guide you through our four steps to name your painting business. Below you’ll find twenty example names I created in this process and next, I’ll show you how you can create your own. To get started try our painting business name generator above and then scroll below to find the first step in the naming process.

steps to naming your painting business

This step process will help you name your painting business. In this example, I’m creating a name for a painting business that conveys the way that this is something that can improve your outlook on your home and life. Here’s each step I took in crafting these business names.

Brainstorm your name ideas

Start by brainstorming what words could fit into your business name. In my name ideas, I used words like “Brush”, “Strokes”, “Colors” and “Tones”, you can see that while these words can be related to Painting, they also give us the chance to play around with phrases that mention the quality and service that you can look forward to from this business or brand. Your goal here is to create a list of words or names that come to mind when thinking about your business.

Shortlist your ideas

Once you’ve developed a list of possible names, do an analysis of your ideas. Remove any names that could be hard to remember, spell or speak aloud. Keep names that are brandable, sound great, are memorable and communicate your brand values, product or service to your target audience.

Get some feedback

You’ll now have a list of 3-6 great painting business names and you can start to ask potential customers or people working in the industry for feedback (your target audience). Avoid feedback from family and friends, are more likely to praise all your ideas and they aren’t your customer.

What Is a Painting Contractor?

A painting contractor can work as a sub, or sub-contractor, under a general contractor, or can hire itself out directly to the homeowner. Usually, the painting contractor is a relatively small operation, ranging from the one-man sole proprietor up to 20 or 30 painters working for a small company.

How to Talk to Him

Unlike conversing with an electrician, you do not need to know specialized lingo. Most house painting contractors are good at making things clear to the homeowner.
A few topics you will want to discuss:

• Is the cost of the paint included in the estimate?
• What type of paint does the contractor intend on using?
• How many coats will be laid down?
• How will the non-paintable areas be covered for protection?
• How long can you the job to take?
• Is it preferable for the residents to vacate the house during the job?
• Will masking tape be used around the trim or the cut-in method?

How to find one?

Usually, a painting contractor tends to be local as of yet there are no national contractors. While the main task of the painting contractor is to paint but they also provide some other services such as exterior painting services, minor drywall work, molding, cleaning, wallpapering and so on.

Make sure you work with a professional 

It might be tempting to save money by hiring a painting professional without licensing and insurances by state law. It will be backfired to receive an inferior painting job just to receive a refund. Make sure you receive a copy of the company’s business license as well as an insurance certificate. Make sure you don’t hire just anyone and you hire professionals to get your task done.

Compare at least three painting contractors

Most professional painting companies offer free estimates so don’t forget to ask the same from people. When you receive an invoice, make sure you ask about the policies of the companies. Compare all the policies as well as the quotes offered by the several exterior painting contractors and choose the right one from these.

How to Hire an Exterior Painting Company

Anybody can call himself an exterior house painter.  While most states provide contractor licenses to various professionals, there’s no “seal of approval” that says a company is good at residential and commercial panting.

So what do you do when looking to hire a paint pro?  Here are six important steps toward finding the right company for the job.

1. Ask around. Do you know people who’ve used painting contractors for exterior work? Listen to what they have to say and make note of any glowing references you hear.
2. Initial call. Your first call to paint contractors you’re interested in should be primarily to set up a face-to-face meeting. You can ask a few questions on the phone – Do you have crews available in August?  How long have you been in business? – things like that, but save the important questions for the meeting.
3. The meeting. Here you should make several evaluations. First, does the person who shows up seem to take his business seriously and demonstrate that your job is important to him?  Initial impressions are often quite important in hiring an exterior paint contractor. However, don’t only go by how you “feel” about the person.  Listen to what he says in answer to your questions and what he explains to you about the painting process.  A solid professional will make you feel comfortable in the discussion while demonstrating experience and knowledge.  Remember – you’re hiring a person (or team) to paint your house, not to attend your cocktail party.
4. References. During the initial meeting, you should be provided with references from other customers in your general area for whom the painter has worked. The contractor’s website may also have some past-customer feedback.  Follow up with these people.
5. The estimate. You probably can get a general painting estimate over the phone, but getting a specific price for your specific job may not happen in just a few seconds. The contractor will want to look over the work areas, and you’ll likely have to answer a few questions before getting some numbers.  Make sure you clearly understand what will be done for the price you’ll pay.
6. Warranty and guarantee. Before agreeing to or signing anything, understand exactly what the painter promises to do and what your obligations will be during the process. Know what you’re getting and how any defects or damages will be compensated.

BONUS TIP – Negotiate for the Best Deal

Okay! You’ve done your homework and, by now, you’ve probably found the best painter in Tampa to paint your home’s exterior.

But Wait! Before you sign the proposal, I have another lesson from dad to share with you – “Never pay full price.”

Instead, always ask for a discount. Find a way to save money when you’re paying for something. But, be careful not to insult the service provider or you might lose the opportunity to have one of the best painters in Tampa to paint your home for the best value in town. Remember, value beats price, anytime.

Here are a few questions you can respectfully ask your painter to save a few bucks without hurting your relationship before the project even starts:

Ways to Save on the Cost to Paint

• Do you offer a discount if I pay with cash or check?
• Do you offer a (military, first-responder, teacher, senior) discount?
• Do you offer a discount if I get any of my neighbors to paint their homes at the same time you’re painting mine?
• Do you have any coupons in the local discount magazines that I can use? Or, do you take competitor coupons?
• I prefer to do business with you, but I have an estimate from a competitor that came in less than yours. Their quote looks pretty much apples-to-apples compared to yours. Would you be willing to match their price? Note: Usually, the best painting companies in town already advertise that they offer a price match guarantee. Just be prepared to show the other written painting estimate.

SPRAY PAINT VS. ROLLING PAINT: EXTERIOR PAINTING DILEMMA

Some painting companies spray the siding on houses while others brush and roll the paint on. I have had a lot of my homeowners ask me what the difference between the two are. Each of the two has its own advantages and disadvantages.

ROLLING

At textbook painting we normally roll the majority of our jobs because rolling jobs will give a higher quality finish. The advantages to rolling a house vs. spraying is that the paint will be applied much thicker giving overall better coverage than if it was sprayed. Also it is much easier to be precise and when a house is rolled it eliminates the risk of such things like overspray.

SPRAYING

We also spray some jobs for its primary advantage: speed. When we spray large areas it allows us to work much faster and produce a job much quicker. Since fewer labor hours are needed it costs me less to produce the job and I pass that savings on to my homeowners. So I normally write an estimate up with a price to have it sprayed with the additional option to have it rolled. Most of my homeowners end up going with the roll price because it is a higher quality job.

Easy Tips for Choosing Your Exterior Paint Palette

Unlike interior colors, exterior hues can affect the entire street — and that puts a lot of pressure on homeowners when it comes to choosing a palette. In addition, a number of factors come into play that you don’t have to deal with on the inside of a house: landscaping, hardscaping, roofing and more.

Plan Around the Elements That Are Hardest to Change

Unless you’re doing a complete renovation, surfaces such as roof shingles or tiles, stonework, pathways and driveways will remain in place. Take these into consideration as you select exterior colors

Consider Your Home’s Architectural Style and Era

Whether you have a Queen Anne Victorian, a Craftsman bungalow or a midcentury modern ranch, your exterior paint scheme should feel appropriate to the style. Imagine a classic Federal-style home painted burnt orange, or a New England saltbox in pale mint green. Jarring, right?

Think About the Visual Effect You Want

Mull over your home’s relationship to the street and the landscape. Does it sit back from the road or amid a cluster of large, towering trees? You might choose a slightly lighter or brighter color so that it stands out. Conversely, a darker hue can make it appear to recede.

Choose Several Paint Shades

Essentially, an exterior scheme has three major parts: field color, which dominates; accent color, which brings doors, shutters and other smaller areas to life; and trim color, used for window and door casings, roof edging, railings and other trim.

How to Choose Exterior Paint Colors Using a Visualizer

Exterior paint colors can make all the difference when it comes to your home’s curb appeal, especially if you’re trying to sell. The color of the exterior of your house is the most public design decision you will ever make. Given the fact that it will add value and beauty to your home, outdoor paint color plays an essential role in how potential buyers will perceive your house. But with thousands of exterior paint colors available, it can be a daunting task to choose the right one. Which is the best one for your home? And how many layers of paint do you need to get the required durability? Technology to the rescue!

The Basics of Choosing Colors

Before you begin choosing the right house color, start out with helpful resources. With a home color visualizing tool, it’s important to get the basics right. For instance, consider the size of your home when planning on painting its exterior. The size can influence whether dark or light colors are more appropriate. As a general rule of thumb, light colors will make your house appear larger and will be more affected by different light conditions, whereas dark shades can make your property appear smaller and help it blend with the surroundings.

Look to a Color Visualizer Before Buying Paint

Once you get the basic idea of what you want for the exterior of your home, you can use a color visualizer to find that perfect color. You can browse by popular colors, color families, or decorator picks. Many major paint companies offer this tool with exterior options including McCormick Paints, Sherwin-Williams, and Benjamin Moore. While the specific interface for each paint tool is a little different, all use similar methods to allow browsers to test various paint options. Simply by uploading exterior photos of your home, you can see what different paint colors might look like on your walls. It is a great way to virtually experiment and gets ideas and inspiration for your home’s color scheme.

Confirm Your Color Choices With Paint Samples

Now that you have narrowed your choices using a virtual tool, it’s time to confirm them with color samples in your staged home. While visualizers are helpful, there is no substitute for seeing the color on the walls of your home in real life. Buy test sizes of the paint colors you are considering and put some brush-outs on the outside. Make sure to put some color on both the south and north sides of your home as lighting there can differ dramatically. Also, visit these areas at different times of the day to get a fair idea of how the finished product will look

Don’t Limit Your Color Choices

Ideally, an exterior scheme should have three major parts: A field color that dominates; an accent color that brings shutters, doors, and other smaller parts to life; and the trim color. Once you have chosen an appealing combination of field and trim, make it stand out with an eye-catching accent color. Feel free to go bold, but don’t go overboard.

Tips for Choosing Exterior Paint Colors for Your House

Picking house paint colors isn’t just difficult; it can be terrifying! If you choose colors that are boring and blah, your house will seem flat and featureless, but if the paint colors are too bold, they can overwhelm the architecture or might even infuriate the neighbors. The potential rewards are substantial, though. Getting it just right by choosing the perfect exterior house color and trim combinations can change your life.

As you consider paint colors for you home’s exterior, keep in mind that the best paint colors are those that highlight the most beautiful features of your home. That’s one reason to know a little bit about residential architecture since history can tell you a lot about what colors have worked for various house styles over the years. Also remember that skillful use of color can sometimes disguise design flaws, boosting the curb appeal and market value of your home.

Tips for Choosing Exterior Paint Colors

How do you find that magic color combination? Professional designers suggest 12 specific techniques. And please note that no expert ever suggests buying a paint color because it’s on sale or because your painting contractor can get you a deal!

Honor History

If you’re planning to paint an older home, you’ll probably want to use a historically accurate color scheme. One way to do this is by a simple form of archeology—you can hire a pro to dig down to old paint layers on your siding and trim to analyze them and recreate the original color of your house. Or, you can refer to a historic color chart and select shades that were common at the time your home was built

Consider Jazzing Up the Past

In some neighborhoods, it’s common for homeowners to fly in the face of history. Instead of choosing historically accurate colors, they paint with modern colors to dramatize architectural details. Using bright colors on old architectural details can produce startling and exciting results—if your local historic commission approves. But before you buy 10 gallons of bubblegum pink, it’s a good idea to look at what your neighbors are doing. A fluorescent colored Victorian that looks splendid in San Francisco can seem wildly out of place in more conservative neighborhoods of the Northeast. The bright pink stucco that is common in Florida might truly startle neighbors in Washington State—which can be either good or bad. Remember that what’s deemed as an acceptable color scheme may be dictated by region and neighborhood, not just historic architectural style.

How to Select Exterior Paint Colors for a Home

If you’re painting the outside of your home, don’t be afraid to take a little time with the color decision. “Your interior is about your personal color tastes,” says Tom Lee, Senior VP of Consumer Marketing for Behr, “but the exterior is really about durability. It’s about protecting the biggest investment you have.” It isn’t an easy decision to redo, so don’t rush it.

Plan to spend a little more money. Investing in a premium paint such as Behr Marquee Exterior Paint & Primer in One is a wise choice. You don’t want to be climbing up a scaffold again anytime soon — or paying for someone else to do it — so paint needs to cover well, resist stains and stand up to weather.

Think about your permanent materials. If you have an existing brick or stone foundation, patio, or accents, work with their underlying tones as you’re choosing a paint shade. If you’re stuck, try pairing opposites in terms of color temperature. For example, if you have a warm red brick foundation and you want brown for your exterior paint, choose a taupe with cool gray/blue undertones instead of a peachy tan.

Take advantage of technology. You can usually bring in a sample of permanent materials to the paint store for computer color matching. Behr also offers an online tool called that lets you choose an initial color, recommends matching/coordinating colors, and helps you experiment with color combos on images of a home exterior so you can imagine the finished look.

Don’t forget the trim. If you want something other than the usual white, try your exterior color just a few shades lighter for a subtle, elegant effect.

How to Choose the Right Exterior Paint Colors

Are you struggling with choosing the right exterior paint color for your home? I’m here to help and walk you through each step for choosing the right paint color combination for the exterior of your home.  I’m going to make this real easy for you guys, I promise!

The number one paint question I have received over the years is about choosing exterior paint colors because it’s one of the most difficult paint decisions you can make for your home.    You want your home to have beautiful curb appeal and you don’t want to make any color mistakes. If you follow my seven steps below, I promise you will avoid the common mistakes and will be able to make exterior paint color decisions that will be beautiful! Stick with me on this!

CHOOSE YOUR SHADE FIRST

The first thing you will want to do when deciding what color you want to paint the exterior of your home is to choose the shade of a color first. When I say “shade”, I mean do you want a light, mid-tone or dark color on the body of your home? At this point, you don’t have to consider anything else except to make a decision if you want a light or white color, a mid-tone or medium shade, or do you want a dark color.

For most of you, choosing a shade is an instant easy decision and you immediately know that you want a light or dark colored home.  However, some of you may not be sure and are open to any shade and need a little help making that decision. It will help if you search Pinterest for exterior homes for inspiration to determine what shade would look best for your home. For example, if you have a ranch style home, search “ranch style home exteriors” in Pinterest search to see all the different color options to inspire you.

CONSIDER YOUR ROOF COLOR (AND OTHER ACCENT COLORS)

Before you can go much further in your color decision-making, you will need to consider the color of your roof.  If you have a black or neutral gray, you don’t have to worry as much about color clashing. Unfortunately, I have a dark brown roof with slight red undertones, so colors like shades of green or blues wouldn’t work for me and would clash.  For those of you that have a roof with red, tan, green or blue gray undertones in your shingles, you will for sure need to factor in your roof color as you choose your exterior paint color palette.