We love to paint homes

We love our work 

What’s not to love about making people’s dreams for their home come true? We get to see this process start from the first day at the estimate when they explain to our estimator what their vision is for a room or the entire home, whether inside or out paint can do so much and quick.

Transforming a home can be a life changing thing for some families, people save to be able to do a professional paint job and we take that seriously each time.

Does everything always go perfectly? No not every time but the thing with us is we stand behind everything and we preach accountability to everyone around us, and if we see they do not understand accountability they aren’t around any longer.

We have had a lot of great painters that turned out to not be a good fit because as soon as something goes wrong (and it does) they blame everyone else, that is the perfect time to see someone’s true colors. We work hard to keep good people around us who are professional, respectful, dependable and great at communication. To find these people takes a lot of hard work , sometimes we can’t tell right away but people always show their true self in tough times.

What does this mean to you? It means you have nothing to worry about, even in the rare case something happens you can rest assure it will be corrected any way possible and that means a lot in this day and age with contractors.

We are a small company who specializes in customer satisfaction, we just happen to paint.

The best clients become our raving fans and tell everyone, their friends and family, click on our social media posts and keep in touch with us.

It’s great when we are out in the area, at a store and someone comes up and tells us how much they love us and the job we did.

As I said it’s not perfect, we have had disgruntled clients as well as painters, that is going to happen when you do so many jobs and work for people and with people you don’t know personally, we try hard to qualify our clients and painters but every now and then some slip through or we make a mistake. Anyone company who says they never have made a mistake isn’t telling you the truth.

I get the great opportunity to meet, train and teach and learn from many other painting contractors across the United States as well as some of the largest and best and trust me we all have the same issues. Employee issues, client issues, expectations are unreasonable or just very difficult people.

But to push on and persevere and grow is what makes it all worthwhile , remember the great clients more than the few bad ones, remember their is always a bad apple in the bunch. It doesn’t mean you do bad work. 

Ryan Amato Painting Wins PDCA PIP Award

Ryan Amato painting has won the PDCA PIP best commercial interior painting project award.
The Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA) is the only trade association dedicated to the success of painting and decorating contractors. PDCA provides members with industry-specific tools to become better painters and business owners through participation in education programs, local networking meetings, use of PDCA Industry Standards and more. 

"We are honored to be included with some of the best painting contractors and owners in the industry" Ryan Amato said
"To be honored and recognized by your peers is a feeling that is hard to describe."

The project that won this award was right in our hometown of Easton,PA.
The renovation of Paxinosa Elementary school. For us, this was one of the largest projects we had done up to this point. 

With a difficult schedule and always changing paint conditions, we finished the project on time and within the budget.

PLEASE VOTE FOR OUR VIDEOS

We have made the final round and now we need YOUR votes.

Every year American Painting Contractor Magazine chooses the best painting contractor videos from around the country and we have been lucky enough to have two of our chosen. We are up against some tough competition and some friends of ours as well. But who doesn’t like to beat friends for bragging rights?

Please go to these links and vote for our videos, you may vote once per day.

Video#1 Painting Estimate Issues

Video #2 We will make you an offer you can’t refuse

Which brand of paint to use?

So you decided to paint your home and picked out your colors only to find out there are 5-10 different paints you can use from EACH company

Whether it is Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr or something else there so many choices sometimes it can seem impossible to choose not to mention each contractor has their own favorites and each store may give you different opinions

So what do you do? I am going to speak about our company solely here. When we suggest a paint to use it is after speaking to the homeowner for quite some time during their estimate, knowing what they expect and most important what is the budget for this project.

Each company makes at least one product we may use and we select based on the what the surface is, what results have we been getting from those products, there may be some jobs we use every different manufacturer on the project due to results we have gotten on other projects.

Some paints may cover better but not all and it also depends on what colors and bases are used. Some may flow better or go farther while some are better on wood while others are better on gypsum (sheetrock).

We have no set answer when someone asks "which paint should we use?" That is variable and can have many answers, it is an investigation to determine all of those factors I mentioned above.
Do your homework, read reviews from people who have actually used it, what a homeowner may use is not necessarily what a contractor may use.

One thing is for certain, don't cheap out when buying paint, spend the extra money if that top of the line paint performs for the application you need it for, it may last longer and really be less expensive in the long run.

Here are a few of our favorite paints currently. (and this changes often)

• Cabinets: PPG Breakthrough, great adhesion, and nice finish
• Commercial Walls: Sherwin Williams Pro Mar 200, price point
• Residential Walls: Depends, Benjamin Moore Regal or Sherwin Williams Super Paint
• Metal Surfaces: MAcro Epoxy from Sherwin Williams if we're speaking about commercial 
• Ceilings: Here is one area to go cheaper, a sheen is not what your looking for here so we want something high in clay for coverage: Pro Mar 200 again flat 

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

Asking for a discount

One thing that always drives me a bit crazy is the discount shopper.
Now everyone wants the best deal I understand that I am referring to the one that we spend a ton of time with, discuss the entire project and take the time to present a proposal and then.....

Can you do any better?

This drives me nuts, do you go have a nice dinner and at the end ask if you can pay less?
I equate this to someone not respecting what it takes to complete a job on time and correct, the way they asked for it to be done.

Here is a short video that goes into more detail .

Number one reason for a paint job you don't like

Expectations are the number one issue a job can go wrong.
If the painting estimator, foreman and painter do not know your expectations for the project rest assured you're gambling with your satisfaction of your home or business.

If the painter is doing the job his or her way but you have a completely different idea in your head it is ripe for disaster
This is one reason we will not do estimates without meeting the decision maker and interviewing them about their project, what they expect and want so they are 100% satisfied at completion.

The number one missed expectation is general patching. What gets patched on a job before painting, how smooth will the walls be? This is all up for debate.
Check out this video I made regarding general patching of your painting project, it can help save some bad feeling sand money.

A great few weeks

We have had a great few weeks at Amato Painting in many ways.

We won Lehigh Valley Style Best Painting and Wallpaper services 2017 for the 4th Year in a row

Lehigh Valley What's Happening Best Painting Company for the second year in a row and third overall time plus we are a Hall Of Fame Member
We were honored to receive the PDCA Bronze Safety Achievement Award which is a National Award and one we were thrilled to get.

I personally have been all over the place, in magazines, on other websites, have an article coming out in a National painting trade magazine soon, been invited on blogs and just for doing what I love to do which is painting, business,
and teaching others

Not to mention the painters and sales team have been killing it recently and were booked pretty solid

None of this would be possible without the people who help me , from the painters who get up every day and go to jobs they may not like or deal with very difficult customers or tough weather such as rain, extreme heat and cold. Jeremiah has been here from day one and is the hardest working person and always up for a challenge to the office staff who deals with my ever changing ways, we worked hard to bring in great people in the office and in the field who can manage themselves and it has paid off on my end simple by me not being involved in every day to day task.

Tanya kills it with our commercial jobs and if you don't pay your bill you will answer to her, she is who I lean on every day and were a great team together!! She does not go unnoticed by me

Kyle came in and took a huge load off of me personally by managing the painters, he is learning while in the fire with some of the craziness each day but has handled it very well and always asks to learn new things

Marisa Came in when we needed support in the office, with a busy family life she helps as much as she can and has certainly helped with the enormous amount of paperwork thatis required for some of our jobs.

Adair in the shop has brought some structure to the ordering of paint, supplies and all whiel he goes to college at night (That is a work ethic!)

Rich our commercial estimator is so busy he asks for mercy sometimes but has been a great resource and is invaluable to us

But on my end the people who have inspired me to keep me going, some may not even know it
Rian Carr was with us a short while but you can sense his passion for things and that is inspiring to me, Other painting companies most certainly inspire me Nolan Painting and Brian and Kevin helped me so much get to where we're at today, Steve Burnett and Tom Reber, I am not a client of either but each day I learn something new
There are so many more, Anthony from Sherwin Williams, Eric Miller Benjamin Moore, All the guys from Gleco Paint and the Benjamin Moore reps, Pipeline Deals, Knowify, Pep Cloud Estimating

Too many to mention but the point is everyone who you come across each day may insire you in some way to do great things never have your blinders on.

What makes for a great painting estimate

I go on about 10 estimates a week in person and not counting the others we do from blueprints in the office so I have seen it all from potential clients who could care less what I have to say other than the price to ones who I can talk to forever.

Somedays the bad ones make it a very long day but the others who turn out to be great make up for the bad generally

So what makes a great estimate on my end?
Communication is the big one here for me, if a potential client does not open up about their project or we do not connect in some way while I am there it makes for a very difficult estimate, I never find out their key needs nor did they share them with me which makes it a complete guess once we start the job and is ripe for problems and expectations not met.

Be on site, I know that sounds simple but the person making the decision should be on site, you have to connect or feel comfortable with who you hire and not make your decisions solely off of the price. We ask a lot of questions before we show up on an estimate and if the decision is based solely on price for a residential project we will refer these jobs out.

We are entering into a relationship once an estimate is given and you select us to do your work, we will be interacting over the course of your project and we like to work for great people and are selective in who we work for just as much as you are when selecting your contractor.

Know what you want and express it at the estimate, not after the job starts. At that point you should let the painters do what they are trained and experienced to do, paint. Nothing is worse than a homeowner looking over their shoulders or pulling gout a light to shine on the wall which is a big no-no. Know what you want, express it to the estimator and let them deliver it.

You can always find someone cheaper

You can always find someone cheaper but at what cost?

You  do your due diligence and get three estimates

One is high or so you think, one in the middle and one very low.

They all seem to have the same things, paint walls, patch holes. You didn’t ask a lot of questions or really explain your expectations but shouldn’t be a problem they are all painters and should know how to do this right?

Did you ask is what type of experience do they have on work like yours

Do they carry full liability insurance AND WORKMAN'S COMP?  if they have other painters on your site and you haven’t gotten their workman's comp cert your at a huge risk (bet not many have it

What is their reputation with customers and the paint stores they use?

What type of training do they offer their painters (bet not many have an answer here either)

SO that high price or so it seemed,  in the end may be the best one, trained painters who have health insurance, workman's comp and know what they are doing.

The low priced one has no insurance, spilled paint (it happens) but cant pay to replace it and you already gave them your deposit

Your gambling on your home, who is in it and what they may damage or not.

At Amato Painting we can with certainty know the results you will get as we have done the same type of work over and over. We train our painters from start of the job to the last day.

No worries when you handle a job or project over to us. We will take care of all the little details.

Tips for your painting estimate

Tips to make your painting estimate successful

Getting an estimate for any kind of work can sometimes be frustrating and stressful but for our painting estimates we make the process as easy as possible on our end. However the customer still has a few things they need to do.

The most important thing for the homeowner or owner of the property to do is BE HOME.
Meeting the person who will be doing your estimate and possibly the work is so important for many reasons yet every now and then someone else is waiting to meet me who knows very little about the project and most certainly cannot express the expectations of the customer to me.
Without knowing the expectations of the customer the job is ripe for failure.

The second reason to be home is simply you should meet the person doing the work otherwise it is strictly a price issue and we would not be the best fit for that type of work. Anyone can come in with the lowest price on a project, trying to make that a successful one is the challenge when you start to discount and undervalue your work.

We make a policy to not do estimates unless the decision maker is on site and can fully express the final expectations of the work to us. With our company it is more then painting, most companies and estimates you will get will say the same things, how they will apply the paint , number of coats, insured workers but with us you get an experience from start to finish. Someone who will listen to your concerns, answer emails and a very attentive staff.