The Online Resource for the Painting Industry
Articles on the business side.
As business owners, it is common during the early years to have more time than money. There is nothing wrong with that. It is what prompts us to turn many of the startup tasks, such as building a website into a DIY project. There are plenty of easy-to-use templates available on content management systems such […]
Ask for references. This is very important as it shows if their past clients were happy with the work performed, and the overall customer experience. Any professional painting contractor should be able to provide plenty of references. I would suggest getting and contacting at least three. Below are six examples of questions you should be prepared to ask […]
[adrotate banner=”58″] A favorite topic among painting contractors is marketing. It seems that every contractor wants to find the “magic bullet”–some dirt cheap way of generating leads consistently. There really isn’t such a method, but there are tons of ways to generate leads inexpensively. This article will examine two inexpensive, yet effective methods for marketing […]
Many bloggers know how wonderful the WordPress platform is. It really makes publishing your blog easy, and there are plug ins for almost every need available. There is however one gripe I have, and that is writing inside WordPress. I just feel so confined, especially when writing on a smaller screen like on a […]
Ken Fenner is the owner of PressurePros, Inc and its subsidiary company, Restore-A-Deck located in Havertown, PA. Ken started PressurePros, a commercial and residential pressure washing company, in 2003. Employing union painters, an interior residential repainting division was added in 2005. While no longer performing painting services, Ken is familiar with the industry’s issues. In […]
Those that know me have heard me talk about RRP for years. Although I dislike the whole way it was implemented by the EPA just as much as the next guy, I never felt the ranting was going to serve any purpose and instead chose to educate myself and others about it to the best […]
Have you heard the news? Google+1 has rolled out to limited users. So what does this mean? Well, if you set up a GMail account like I suggested here, you have already noticed a difference in your search results. For instance, if I search for “Orlando pool services” from my computer in Utah, the search results […]
In contracting, there are several business models, from the sole proprietor who likes to do all the work himself, to the owner who has project managers, office staff and crews and never touches a brush. That is the beauty of being an entrepreneur, you can tailor the business model to fit your style. No matter what size and […]
In 25 years as a contractor, I have yet to meet a contractor or a painter who didn’t claim to do quality work. But what does quality mean? Is, to paraphrase an old adage, one painter’s quality another painter’s junk? One definition of quality is: a distinguishing attribute. It could be argued that […]
How many times have you had a customer tell you how much they loved the transformation of their home after you were done? Did you just smile, pat yourself on the back and move on? Do you have a system for collecting customer satisfaction surveys? Do you have a well thought out survey asking specific […]
Whenever my kids do something that inevitably leaves them in tears or me with a mess to clean up, I ask them a simple question, “Was that a good idea or a bad idea?”. The answer is generally “bad idea” and that little message hopefully gets stored in their memory bank for the next time. […]
This month my blog culminated a Blog Shootout for contractors. It was a month long event that was well sponsored by four manufacturers and attracted a small but pleasing variety of writers, from new blogs to some extremely polished and well promoted blogs. The event was interesting and exciting, as it was nice to see […]
I am sure you heard the saying, “To the Cloud!”? The Cloud just refers to the new way of computing. Instead of having your spreadsheets on your desktop computer, your phone numbers in your cell phone, your pictures on a storage card, notes on a legal pad and your contacts in a rolodex and […]
Today’s pick is a blog by Heidi Nyline of Warline Painting. Recently Heidi took a lot of flack on an online painter’s forum for a recent blog, “Sending customers to the competition”. The opinions on both sides were pretty strong, the majority of those who responded agreed that we can’t always be everything to everybody. […]
Blogging about tools and products (reviews) are one of the more interesting and popular topics for contractors who blog, for obvious reasons. Here are some tips for writing effective product reviews for your blog: 1. Post Title: Be sure to include the name/model of the tool in the blog post title so that it can […]
