Exterior Paint

Hi everyone,

I get asked a lot about the paint that I recommend for doing exterior siding, and what primer do I prefer for spot priming & jobs were the siding is in rough shape.The paint that I have been using for some time now and has never let me down is Sherwin-Williams Duration exterior. In my opinion it is the best paint on the market today for getting a beautiful finish in just one coat. it is durable and gives you many years of protection for your home. The sheen I prefer to use on both my siding and my trim projects is Satin.
It's scrub able and it holds up well to power washing(a topic we will cover in a blog post shortly).
To sum it up I believe that Duration topcoat will give you the best bang for you buck.

As for priming I believe that this is a step that most homeowners skip because of misinformation,
but this may be the most important step to insure a beautiful finish and many years of protection.
Sherwin-Williams sells a great primer called ProBlock. that will do a great job  it can be used on both
Interior & Exterior projects with equally great results.

When the home you are working on is much older and in rough shape with a lot of peeling paint then the primer I prefer to use is Peel Bond. What it does is build up a strong bond with the substrate that your working with to provide a perfect sealer to your topcoat. If you are spot priming you can build up layers to make the feathering out much easier and the imperfections on the surface less noticeable and provide you with a much better finish in the end.

Keep these two products in mind when you are tackling you next exterior paint job and you'll be very happy with your results.

The Mighty 5 in 1!

Hi folks,

1. I have people ask me sometimes to talk about the tools that I use the most in my trade and to suggest to them the ones that I think are the most indispensable, so without any further ado I bring you "The MIGHTY 5 in 1 TOOL" If you can have only 1 tool in your toolbox (besides paint brushes) that tool should be the 5 in 1. It truly is the most versatile tool there is. I use mine everyday, it stays in my back pocket and is prepared for battle whenever I need it. These are just some of the things I use it for:


2. 1),Scraping old paint off wood


3. 2). Scraping paint off glass


4. 3).Prying mouldings


5. 4).Cleaning my roller covers


6. 5).Using as a screw driver


7. 6). Using the bottom to bang in nails


8. 7). Opening paint cans

There are probably a half dozen other things that I have used it for that I have failed to mention. At about $6 or $7 bucks it is the best money you will ever spend on a tool. Every DIYer & pro should have one. I ask anyone who thinks that they know of a more versatile tool to email me and I will put your suggestions in my blog.

Now what are you waiting for go get a 5 in 1 today!

Family & Business

Hi everyone,
Today I wanted to touch on a subject that's very important to me and that's how to juggle your personnel life with your business life and that sounds a lot easier then it really is. I remember when I was a child I very rarely got to see me father because he was always busy with he's business, providing for and taking care of his family was his first and foremost priority, and he was very successful at achieving that goal, We never wanted for anything.

If that was the only measure for success then you would have to say he was a very successful man but success has to also be measured by the way your children are able to grow up and look back on their lives and say they had the perfect lives. Well as I said I had all the toys,games,and sports equipment that any child could every want but I think the one thing that I always felt that I missed out on was a real relationship with my Dad.

I loved my dad but I always felt distant from him because he was not around when I was growing up & I missed that. I guess why I wanted to write this article was to make a point to every business person out there that you need to put into perspective the things that mean the most to you and that should always be that your family should come first.

Don't look back and have regrets that you should have spent more time watching you children grow up because they really do grow up so fast. Be there for them in every aspect of their lives and that in turn will make them better adults.

I'm reminded of a great Randy Travis song were the line goes "It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you it's what you leave behind you when you go".
Thanks.

Smart Scheduling

I thought today I would post about something that is an important but overlooked part of the painting business and that is scheduling. The more experience that you acquire the more you'll understand that this is an integral part of running a successful business.

Being a boss means that you have to sometimes make decisions that have an impact that might be two or three weeks down the road, and your planning might make sense to only you but in the end it will make the difference between a successful job as opposed to a unsuccessful one.

In the painting business, much like any other contracting work makes you a slave to the weather so your job planning has to revolve around the weather is like on that day so as painters and business owners we have to plan for when we can start and complete a job so we can bring everything in on time & budget.

As I know you've heard many times that "Time is Money" and that is extremely accurate when applied to real life situations like job planning. Unfortunately I've witnessed too many situations were contractors have done a poor job of scheduling and had their guys at jobs at the wrong times or scheduled an exterior job when the weather person has been calling for rain(or snow) all week.

Make sure that you plan ahead because "Time really is Money", and when that money is yours it can make all the difference in the world.

Another Year, Another Strategy

As we begin a new year we must reflect on the year that past and how well we feel that our business lived up to (0r down to)our expectations. We must ask ourselves did we do all we could to put our company name in front of as many potential customers last year as we possibly could.

We must learn from our past failures & our successes and try to help or business grow in every way we can. Here are some questions to ask yourself heading into the new year:

.Did my Business grow this year?
.What was my estimate to sales ratio?
.Were my customers happy with the service I gave?
.Do I need to upgrade my equipment?
.What are my businesses main strengths & weaknesses?
.Did I start my marketing plan early enough?
. Do I need to hire more employees?
.Do I need to cut back on my employees?

There are plenty more that I did not cover but you get the idea. Look within your company and I'm sure that you will be able to identify the things you need to work on to make your business a success in the coming year.
Good Luck.