My grand pop had told me when I was young that if you want to always be employed, learn to do things that most people hate. In my 63 years I’ve never learned anything more truthful. Home owners are busy earning a living and raising families and don’t have the time or desire to do “dirty jobs” around the house if they can pay someone responsible to do them. House painting is something that falls within this category for sure.
Although anyone can paint (or think they can), in time most humble people will admit that not all can be called “Painters.” Some home owners will want to save money until they total up the cost of paint, paint supplies such as tarps, rollers, sprayers, brushes, ladders and all the rest of the stuff real house painters carry in their trucks. Then they figure in the time they will spend on shopping for all this equipment as well as doing the paint job itself. That is usually the point at which many people will decide to get estimates for the job at hand. This type of homeowner plus the large percentage of homeowners who simply cannot physically do the job or want a professional paint job is a very good reason that many enterprizing men and women consider the painting business for a source of dependable income and a secure future. Over the years I’ve seen the rise of home improvement stores and an increase in painting franchise operations fulfilled by large businesses which might have hurt the small business owner but that has not been the case at all.
Of course the first step in learning the house painting business is learning the trade itself. You can start off by becoming a helper or apprentice with a large company or you actually can learn the basics of painting from forums and websites and then start practicing what you learn to gain experience. For argument sake, I’ll assume someone at the point of starting up a house painting business already knows the trade of painting and is ready to work for himself or herself at this point.
I’ve always divided the house painting business into two separate niches. The first would be painting new construction and you’ll find this is where the large contractors like to swarm. When you have multiple crews, you tend to search out large contract jobs which will keep everyone working as long as possible. You also tend to overlook the small jobs and especially one or two room re-paints. New construction is physically easier to do and always faster but will pay less do to it’s very nature. Homes are empty and can be sprayed or rolled more easily so this is a good place for new painters to start out.
The second and most profitable niche in my opinion has always been repainting or custom painting of older homes. Residential painting has the drawback of having to work around the owner’s furniture and dealing with the owner himself. But if you present yourself like a professional and know how to deal with consumers this can be much more profitable and enjoyable in the long run. The important point that many contractors never learn until its too late is: “its not how much “money” you take in per week, the question is how much “profit” you make.” Re-paints and custom paint jobs are typically more profitable then new construction although they take more time.
There is a certain amount of equipment needed for starting a house painting business but start up costs are minimal compared to most service businesses. In fact you can start a painting business with less then $1000 with no problem. When starting I suggest focusing on interior work first if you need experience in the trade and have little cash. Then after you gain experience you can move onto exterior work which will require more expensive ladders, scaffolds and other equipment. After you start seeing an income you can invest in a pressure washer if you’ll be doing exterior work and a good commercial grade airless sprayer which can prove itself invaluable as you start getting more jobs. Beyond these two items, your only other major expenses will be in ladders and the cost and type of ladders will be determined by what type of exterior jobs you get. A good rule is not to purchase this type of equipment until you see in which direction your business goes. I know custom painters who haven’t worked on a home exterior in decades and regularly make six figures a year. Then again, I know other guys who focus on exterior work. Without planning, it would be easy to spend your startup budget on equipment which is inappropriate for one type of painting or the other. The key is to have a good business plan right from the beginning.
Any type of painting can be financially rewarding. With proper planning a start up house painting business can realize an excellent return on their initial investment in a relatively short period of time. To do so, does require keeping startup costs to a minimum of course. Another real benefit of the painting business is that the operation can be very flexible in the sense that you can easily start part-time and work it into a full-time income. Another very attractive benefit of the painting business is that it can be run as a true home based business without the need for rented office space or any store front.
One of the first decisions to be made is whether the new business owner will opt to build a large painting business running mulitple trucks requiring several employees or keep the business as small and profitable as possible. This is another area in which a good business plan can be most valuable. In most cases it would be advisable to start small as a one man operation and learn to be as profitable as possible. I’ve seen many large contract workers with multiple trucks and several jobs per day lose money while a small owner would consistantly be profitable month after month.
Another area to avoid is the “black hole” of paid advertising. The new owner has to be very careful in this area, advertising reps are very skillful and can intimidate a new business owner into buying high priced advertising packages. I’ve learned over the past 35 years that most paid advertising simply is a waste of money and especially so when starting out as a one man operation. So the best advice is to find a trusted house painting business plan provided by someone experienced and still active in the business. Why make costly errors when you can learn from the experience of others?
