The Online Resource for the Painting Industry
Being a member of the Benjamin Moore PAB, I sometimes get products to review before they are released to the market. About six months ago I was selected to review BENWOOD Stays Clear, the newest gennex line of low VOC waterborne polyurethane. I had a lot of experience using the old line of stays clear on […]
One thing that internet has done is to create a sense of anonymity for many, it allows us to sit behind our keyboards and say anything we want behind our made up screen names. But what if you have a Google profile, and post on forums, blogs and listserv’s with your real name and company name. […]
OHSA has been in the news and a hot topic in some of the contractor forums. How do these rules apply to residential painting contractors? You may be at risk of violating OHSA safety rules even if you do keep a safe workspace. Do you really know how to keep a safe workplace? What do […]
Small Business Leadership (or Chickens, military intelligence and you)( During a recent meeting I had with a buyer from a large national chain, he asked, “Are there any of them (small independent stores) left?” I thought it was a fairly bold and dismissive attitude; but, I’ve never known buyers in any business to be a […]
I usually try and solve my own problems, and I can be pretty resourceful, but sometimes I get stuck, that was the case recently while working on this blog. WordPress is a beautiful system and pretty easy to use, but anyone that knows me, knows I like to experiment, and this blog has certainly created […]
In July 2011, the EPA notified us that certain changes will be made to the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule. One of these changes has to do with vertical containment. The actual law wording will read like this … If the renovation will affect surfaces within 10 feet of the property line, the renovation […]
How many of you offer specialty services like kitchen cabinet refinishing? Or countertops? I came across a few good examples of what can be done. Tommy Johnson of JHC in Wilmington, North Carolina recently completed a project and shared it on his blog. I chose Benjamin Moore Advance acrylic oil hybrid enamel for the finish […]
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 […]
Who knew? Blogging can be more than writing about your latest project or the newest gadget. As I have mentioned before, I learn something new every day through this blog. Even before the inception of Blogging Painters, I had created my own, some for the business, some for school and some for personal use. The […]
Several months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Dave of DJLTools online at painttalk.com. He humbly introduced himself, and wanted to get his new product into the hands of some pros and get some feedback. Shortly after that introduction, I and several other painting contractors got one of his latest products, The Paint Jack. […]
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 […]
For many years, I ran my own firm as a general contractor doing residential remodeling in the Dallas, Texas area. Later on, I began to specialize in bathroom remodeling and published a few articles on that subject. I grew my firm to where we were doing 3 remodels at one time and I was very […]
[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 […]
I’m not talking about learning to apply paint, like they say, “any monkey can do that”, well, not really because there is so much to learn about products and application. After you learn how to paint, there is the nuts and bolts of running a business, from handling customers to hiring employees. Where do you go […]
The announced July 15, 2011 changes to 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart E, better known as the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule requires contractors to begin immediately handing out a new Renovate Right pamphlet when the changes are placed in the Federal Register. The new rule will be placed in the Federal Register in […]
