How to not lose money on commercial painting jobs

How to not lose money on commercial painting jobs

We were recently the featured guests on PaintED a PDCA Podcast. Painting Contractors and Decorators of America was founded in 1884 with the purpose to help painting contractors succeed.

The one area for us they are worth any penny is the Industry Standards they developed.

The Industry standards take the guess work out of any situation and application and level the playing field against those contractors that demand and insist on wrong applications and additional work that is not yours to own.

These situations arise on each job whether touch ups to damage done by others, when they tell you once you paint the wall you own it, that is not the case at all, or how about caulking, they would have you caulk every inch of the building would there not be standards.

Sequencing of jobs is another very important topic, was the flooring done before you painted? If it was how much did that slow you down, was that listed in the schedule? Probably not

This list could go on and on, here a few key ones

• Caulking
• You paint it you own it (WRONG!!)
• Touching up spackle work after you primed the walls
• Additional coats because walls were not prepared correctly
• Overtime due to sequencing of jobs

You know you have all lost money on the items above, it depends greatly on who is managing the job, the quality of the other subs and your own man power.

Not all contractors are bad at all, in fact, we have been lucky enough to work with some great ones and I can count on one hand the bad ones but they do leave a lasting impression.

Take a listen to the podcast and listen close, it could save you some grief and money in the future. 

Go the extra mile

Going the extra mile even for a bad customer

Going the extra mile is something we hear about a lot and something w train here at Amato Painting but what happens when you have a difficult customer watching your every move, yelling at you or just never happy with anything?

YOU KEEP DOING IT !!!!!!!!

You never know who is watching when you're bringing in the customer's garbage can or cleaning their windows after an exterior paint job. It could be the neighbor who you impressed by doing the small things or the person driving down the street and watching your painters sit outside smoking cigarettes on the back of the van, a great impression only comes once and that is where you can win over the clients and beat the competition. 

Going the extra mile is something that can be done not only at work but while out at the store, hold the door open for someone, let someone merge onto the highway, these little things will make that person happy for a brief second but as you do these things all through the day someone will notice and more importantly you will have a great feeling inside of you that you went above and beyond not only for customer's but in life in general.

We see very quickly when we interview someone if this trait is inside them, speaking on your cell phone during an interview is the same as using it in line at the grocery store while someone is waiting on you, put down the phone and enjoy the moment in front of you.

Price too high?

"Your price is too high?"

We do a ton of estimates each week, myself I probably do 6-8 onsite estimates and another 15 in the office from blueprints and one thing we hear often when we call to follow up is your price is too high.

We have qualified these estimates, sent literature explaining we may not be the lowest and still it comes as a surprise we may be higher than others. Could it be prices are high? Possibly but I will bet you the other companies are too low. I am referring solely to residential painting here as commercial is about the fastest systematic way to paint meaning generally the lowest price wins.

So out of three estimates you go with the lowest one, in the end, that low price could very well turn out to be the highest, a deal most of the time is not a deal, they can be deceptive, you may get cheaper materials, low-quality paint, uninsured painters who have no workers compensation which could be devastating should someone get hurt.

We chose not to play the price game and be in the race to the bottom and sell our value we can offer.

How many companies do you call and someone answers the phone calls you back or if you get that far shows up? We know exactly how each job will turn out because we have done them over and over with the same trained staff from the person who answers your call, to our follow ups and communication and that is before the job itself starts.

If you can't get someone to call you back what do you think will happen when the job starts and if something bad happens on the site such as spilled paint, damage or an injury where do you think that company will be? The answer is they will disappear and most likely without insurance your job will not be done and it will cost you more than hiring that higher price. Everyone makes mistakes and has an accident here and there, it will happen and when it does you want the accountable company working for you not the lowballer

At this point I shouldn't be suprised when I hear this but it does , when I shop for a dervice I look for the best service first, nto that price doesn;t matter but I will certainly pay more for great service and that is hard to find

Quality, timing or price?

Quality timing or cost?

Each job or estimate we do these three things are most important and we need to know which are important to you on your project.

It is virtually impossible to be able to get all three for many reasons I will go through in the video attached. But basically

Top Quality=Cost

Timing, we need it done right away costs money to mobilize and make this happen

Price means you want the lowest price, this will affect quality most certainly

For example, we just did an estimate for a customer who was selling their home, low price was not their issue but the timing was so they needed it done right away and with average quality so the price would be higher than your normal project.

We had another which was a rental unit, they need the lowest price but dome right away, so quality may not be the highest and in this instance didn't matter much, they needed it done so they could rent it out quick.

So knowing this going in will certainly help avoid frustrations, take a look at this video blog I just did and listen closely.

Remember you cannot have the lowest price, top quality and done right away, pick and chose your most important

I have a secret for you about painting companies

I have a secret I would like to reveal, most painting companies offer the same thing.
Well, why is that a secret you may ask?  When you're getting an estimate listen carefully I will bet each one says the same exact thing.

They will put two coats on the wall using this or that paint, cover the floors and it will be a super awesome paint job, they are the best company to do this job, hire me

This means nothing at all, yes we have good painters, but so does company b and c what will totally blow those other companies out of the water is SERVICE and VALUE

It is no secret the other company may have good painters on par with ours but what really sets our painters apart and the company is the service. We may even not be the cheapest and in some cases, it may be the highest price you receive but even at that, we are booked for months and in demand so it must be something other than price.

Here is the other secret, We go above and beyond in what we offer, the first thing you will notice right from the start is someone answers the phone and promptly returns a call.  We don;t take on each and every estimate that comes through and Brooke or Tanya may ask a slew of questions to make sure were a great fit for each other. Once we get that set we schedule an estimate and 99% of the time we are early and guess what if were running late we call.

We promptly get the proposal over if we do not do it on the spot and then we set a time up to go over the estimate together. Now although we will not reduce the price just because someone asks there may be other ways to get the project into your budgeted range, one is by the value we offer, maybe the guys will do something extra for you, we offer an experience when you hire us not just a few painters painting your wall, should you need help with color or moving something please ask, the guys would be more than happy to help. So you need help bringing in the groceries? No problem where do you want them. We go above and beyond on service.

If something is messed up, yes we all make mistakes we will promptly take care of them and it will be better than before.

This makes your proposal more than simply a paint job, you will be gaining our experience and knowledge as well as a company striving for ultimate customer satisfaction and service.