Have you ever went into a retail store and the sales floor is well thought through and immaculately kept? Hopefully we all have. Auto dealers are one such example. You walk in and are greeted by clean, slick tile floors, perfect walls and ceilings, and displays that draw your eyes to them through contrasting colors with information about the products they are selling. I bring up auto dealers because their showrooms are often the most immaculate places on earth! They are selling cars worth tens of thousands of dollars and it is worth the effort to make the experience match the price of the product. In fact, other than our homes, our cars are probably the most expensive material thing we will ever buy. Everything in the front of house areas is kept with the intent to keep you focused on the task at hand – buying that new car!

But, inevitably you have to visit the back areas – areas like the lounge, hallways, offices, and restroom. You notice that the lounge is a little grimy and the general manager had the lot crew paint the restrooms last winter when they went through that winter slump. There is paint on the floor. The grid is poorly cut with paint on it in areas and some areas where the last paint job is peeking through. Your attention is now divided. One bad decision has put you off your game. Your mind starts to wander, the dissonance is disconcerting. You wonder why the pristine front end and lack of regard for these oft visited forgotten areas? You begin to wonder if you really need that new car after all. If you are that general manager, I can assure you the price of taking short cuts is not worth the cost. Painting these areas is not as pricey as you might think and, I am guessing here, that for the sale of a car or two you will have more than paid for the cost of a professional commercial paint job. And, yeah, I know that we all think business owners make more than they do on each sale, but it’s the cost of losing the sale that I’m talking about. If you are like most businesses, you are paying an inordinate amount of money to even get people to stop in or ring your phone! Don’t waste money to save money!

So how much does it cost to paint these back areas of your dealership, not as much as you think. An average lounge is around 20×30 with a 12’ acoustical ceiling. If you just patched and painted the walls in that lounge, you would be looking at $1,000. Add two average size restrooms with four stalls and your total will come to around $2,200. We can often come to a lower cost by simply adding more areas. To paint all the front areas, offices, hallways, lounges, restrooms, and break room in an average size dealership, our quote typically comes in around $9,500 in all.

On a final note, fresh paint brings an excitement to your facility. It can motivate employees to care more if you set it up that way – you know, don’t tell them you are begrudgingly painting the place because they don’t take care of it. Have a meeting and tell them how much you care for them AND the building. You want a nice place for them to work and you are going to need their help caring for the facility. It’s their home away from home. Customers are also inclined to think positively of an upgrade. Our company works with you so the work feels consistent with your dealership’s look and feel. We send out a clean, trained, professional team who will impress. Some of our customers even have our crew work during business hours so their customers know they are working on things and have a professional crew working is a thing of beauty in and of itself!