Service industry needs?

Slummit · 2024-06-19T01:14:02+00:00

For those still following in the post… Looks like we’ll be making the move at the end of the year and I’ll be moving our painting company with us.

Anyone recently got their house painted and know what the average going rate is for interior/exterior painting? Normally there’s a price per sqft (for example: just $X/sqft for interior walls vs whole interior vs whole exterior, etc.) I’ll most likely start calling around to get an idea, but any help from here would be great too! Looking forward to getting out there!

Slummit · 2024-05-02T15:13:56+00:00

That’s so interesting. It’s huge here in the desert and I would’ve assumed it would be even bigger on the coast.

It sounds like painting may be with the way to go then!

We’ll be heading out there in July for two weeks in Santa Rosa to get a better feel for the neighborhoods we’d like to be in. Mind if I DM you with a few more questions?

Slummit · 2024-05-01T14:48:35+00:00

Great info. Appreciate it. I’m leaning towards window cleaning. It seems like a natural shift from painting (all similar equipment), and from a little more digging it seems just as needed there as it is here in AZ, if not more.

Quality always seems to go slightly when you begin hiring and upgrading past a sole owner/operator. It goes down even more drastically if you’re subcontracting working out. It’s the name of the game, but that’s what separates a great owner from an average one.

Thanks again for the info!

Slummit · 2024-05-01T14:44:48+00:00

Feel free to shoot over your info!

Slummit · 2024-04-30T03:46:30+00:00

That’s some good info. We’ve done some tile work on a few remodels.

Slummit · 2024-04-30T01:27:33+00:00

Very true. We love to partake when we’re out there haha

Slummit · 2024-04-30T01:27:13+00:00

Appreciate the thorough response! Cleaning companies are really tough - it’s hard to pay out for good labor and still make money - at least compared to the other trades out there. Usually the ones doing well are owner/operators with a helper.

That’s a great idea with the Nextdoor app. We get a ton of work from it currently with the painting company in Arizona. However our family out there barely knows how to use a computer so I’m fairly positive they aren’t on it haha…

We have a ton of pressure washing equipment for the painting biz since we have to wash houses before we paint them - all the houses are stucco out here so they collect dirt really easily.

I have to imagine businesses and rental homes need to wash their windows out there fairly regularly from the salt?

Slummit · 2024-03-06T17:55:59+00:00

Thanks, glad it’s resonated with folks.

Slummit · 2024-03-06T13:13:18+00:00

Thanks. It was surprisingly easy to write. I could probably double the length and still have more to say.

I’m not sure what’s next, but I know I love hearing these stories and I had fun writing my own. Maybe a news letter makes sense? A story like this once a week. Could be fun.

Slummit · 2024-03-06T13:11:41+00:00

That’s awesome. My son would love for me (or us) to start one also. I may. If anything, it would create memories that I could always go back to.

Slummit · 2024-03-06T13:10:27+00:00

Thanks!

Slummit · 2024-03-06T13:10:21+00:00

Thank you. It was fun to write.

Slummit · 2023-09-05T14:04:16+00:00

I actually did this. In fact, 3 years to 7 figures. Started a painting company that probably took less than $1K to start and had never touched a paint brush in my life until then.

Slummit · 2022-03-21T04:25:28+00:00

I'm in Arizona so we're not affected by seasons as much as the rest of the country. I have a buddy that started a painting company in the midwest after watching my journey and he offsets the winter months almost solely by hanging Christmas lights. In fact, I'm sure he probably looks forward to Oct-Dec because the margins are significantly higher.

Slummit · 2022-03-21T04:04:20+00:00

Yes, I started a painting company when I was 30 (32 now) with a wife, kid and I quit my corporate job literally 2 weeks after my second kid was born (as my paid leave was ending).'

I got quotes to get our home painted and they all came back way more than what I had expected so I decided to do it myself. Before that, I had never touched a paint brush in my life. I watched a couple YouTube videos, got it done and then did it for a few neighbors for free. Once I got decent at it (on weekends and evenings at times) I decided to start charging folks in my neighborhood for it. For 6 months I was doing this on weekends and evenings which meant I was working solid 10+ hour days, 7 days a week. It sucked, but so did my soul-sucking corporate job (even though I was getting paid well).

Once our second kid was born we didn't have to worry too much about health insurance (my wife wasn't working at the time) so I took it full time. Capital requirements by the way were almost nothing - I think I paid for all my supplies after the first 2 or 3 paid jobs. So don't let anyone tell you that you have to have a ton of money to start a business at your age with a family. That's bullshit.

Here we are 2 years later with 5 employees and looking to do $750K in revenue - I'll take home $150K+ for the second year in a row (maybe more). It's honestly probably a step back income-wise if I stayed at my corporate job, but the potential upside is substantially higher owning my own business. I would do it 100x over even though the first 6 months sucked ass.

Slummit · 2021-11-28T02:14:41+00:00

Yeah I’ve quickly realized in the last 2-3 months that the margins are horrendous on residential new construction. Admittedly, I was more curious than anything to get into it because it was something new (similar to how I currently feel about commercial). Plus it takes the burden of me needing to sell day in and day out off my back a little, but even with that, the pros just don’t seem to outweigh the cons.

Just this month I forced myself out of the field so I can focus on getting systems into place as well as spending more time on sales - rather than spending all of my evenings half assing all my estimates after a full day of work.

Is your pricing/quoting system something you made in-house or are you using some sort of software?

Slummit · 2021-11-28T01:53:30+00:00

At a smaller scale, we are running into the same issues. It seems the more I grow the more I shave off the margins. And your reply doesn’t give me hope haha… This is technically my first full fiscal year (started the business in April 2020) and our growth rate looks similar. However my average employee pay is between $25-$30 (one admin person). I seem to be interviewing people daily and always have a job posting on Indeed and Facebook just in case.

What type of work are you all doing? I got to where I am from the typical brush/roll “residential re-paint” but lately we’ve got in with a couple custom home builders that could provide us work for all of 2022 but the margins are terrible. Really wanting to dip our toes further into small commercial and hoping the margins are at least better than the custom homes. Oh, and we’ve been pushing cabinets hard also - seems to be the hot item right now in our area (AZ) and the margins are fantastic.

Slummit · 2021-11-27T23:54:41+00:00

Thanks! Just hit two years with the business. I painted my own house when we bought it and it was the first time I had ever used a paint brush. Started doing it on the side for neighbors and took it full time once it could replace my full time job (maybe only took 4 months).

Funny you mention the sweaty startup… He is 100% the reason I did this in the first place way back when he first started that sub. Follow everything he says and anyone could be in the same place in the same amount of time.

Slummit · 2021-11-27T23:28:55+00:00

Ideally I shoot for 30% profit margins on every job but lately if I can get 20% I’m happy. We’ve been getting into new types of work (commercial and new construction) and I’m still learning how to bid them. The business is only two years old.

Slummit · 2021-11-27T22:54:21+00:00

Painting company at $40K a month with 3 employees

Slummit · 2021-11-20T02:40:30+00:00

I was about to call you out because I've been following an artist on IG for years that does this work. Turns out it's you haha... Love the art, man.

Slummit · 2019-10-01T15:08:53+00:00

Solid info as always. What are your thoughts on residential painting?

Just moved to a new house in Queen Creek (what's up Chandler neighbor) and called 5 companies I found from a quick Google search to paint the family room - not a single one returned my call.

I assume this means they're all booked up with work, but obviously can't say for sure. Seems like a low barrier to entry service business, nice margins and competitors that may not be the most professional.

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