In the last few years, two competing worldviews have surfaced in our culture. One worldview is steeped in gratitude and the other is steeped in the language of victimhood. One worldview tells you to take stock, see your faults and situation, and then work to improve yourself. The other worldview tells you that you are more a product of your circumstance and that you will need the help of others to improve your situation for you. One is the view of the world in which you...
Yes, that is my family – well, most of them. From time to time I get asked, “Are they all yours.”
I usually say, “Well most of them, I left the ugly ones at home.”
Some people have told me I am quiet and don’t talk much. But, when it comes to paint, I just can’t contain myself – so I started this blog to keep from talking everyone’s ears off! I try to write about the questions I get the most so you can find answers while your in your pajamas relaxing at home. Feel free to call me anytime, I am always willing to tell you about anything I know about paint. In the meantime, you might be able to find in here. If you have ideas for me to write about, feel free to email them to office@indianapainting.com.
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What makes a good painting subcontractor?
Sep 19, 2024 | Education
In this post, I am talking to general contractors about what makes a good painting subcontractor. It takes a lot of tools and skillsets to perform well in the commercial painting market. Our twenty years in business has been spent in the direct to owner and subcontractor world, so we know a thing or two about working for general contractors and how to be a good subcontractor for them. You won’t catch us talking down the gig as a subcontractor, we have a lot of respect for...
Why is my exterior paint fading or peeling?
Sep 5, 2024 | Education, Paint Failures
Many property owners ask us why there last paint job didn't last as long as they had expected. The answer to this question is not a simple one and not because the causes aren't know, but because there are quite a few factors that involve paint longevity. In the following post, we will explore the various reasons for fading paint and how we, the painting contractor, can help extend the life of your paint job. Preparation All good paint jobs begin with preparing the substrate. In the industry we...
How much does it cost to paint the service center of my auto dealership?
Aug 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
This is a great question, but a better question might be what is involved in painting the service center of my auto dealership. We work with quite a few general managers who need to maintain their service centers while keeping them open. With an experience paint crew, this is not a problem. Our team can work with you to establish your priorities and come up with a plan to get the work done in the least painful way possible for your team. Now, what is involved in the work...
How much does it cost to paint my exterior?
Aug 1, 2024 | Education, Pricing
The point of this post is not to tell you how much it costs to paint your exterior, but to give you a good idea of what goes into painting the exterior of a home and how much it costs. First, we would discuss our process. Our team begins with pressure washing your home’s exterior. All the painted and unpainted surfaces should be cleaned thoroughly so the your home looks freshly painted and clean at the end of the job! Plus, we want to make sure all the faded paint and...
Why do painting prices vary so much?
Jul 4, 2024 | Education, Pricing, Ramblings
We get quite a few clients ask why painting prices vary so much? This is always a question I am happy to field because the answer is pretty simple and revealing of a company’s core commitments. Our two main expenses are labor and materials so let’s talk about those to categories first. First, let’s examine a company’s materials costs. What is their baseline materials? Many companies with lower cost quotes use an entry level material. We often call these top...
Behr i300 Commercial Interior Paint
Jun 13, 2024 | Education, Product Spotlights
Like a lot of contractors, I never considered using Behr for commercial interior painting jobs. First, it comes from a box store so it must be a residential or homeowner thing, right! Boy was I wrong! During the pandemic of 2020 and the shortages of the last few years, we started looking for ways to augment our supply chain to keep paint flowing so we didn’t have to tell our customers we couldn’t fulfill our commitment to them because we couldn’t get paint. We tried a lot of avenues, but...
Why is my exterior paint failing? CMU Buildings
May 30, 2024 | Education, Paint Failures
When it comes to exterior paint, we get a lot of questions about paint failure. Most of these failures are on concrete block or CMU (CMU=concrete masonry unit) buildings. Large CMU commercial buildings must be painted and repainted correctly in order to get a long lasting, protective paint job. First, I’ll go over how to correctly paint and repaint these types of buildings. New CMU Prep Most painters who are experienced will tell you that it takes 7 to 30 days for the masonry...
PPG Acri-Shield Exterior
May 16, 2024 | Education, Product Spotlights
PRODUCT DETAILS Acri-Shield® Max Exterior is a premium quality, urethane modified, exterior house paint. The advanced formula can be used as little as 60 minutes before the threat of rain, and in both normal and marginal, above freezing conditions when a low temperature cure is required to form a proper film. Acri-Shield® Max provides a 7 year Portersept® Mildew Proof* Warranty (available in all sheens). This paint and primer delivers exceptional hide and coverage and offers...
Commercial Vinyl Wallcovering
May 2, 2024 | Education, Product Spotlights
With astounding regularity people wince when you say the words wallpaper or wallcovering. I’m not sure if it is due to this disgust that most word processors don’t even recognize the word wallcovering. Go ahead and try it out, you’ll get the red squiggly underline that says this isn’t a real word! I think I can tell you why most people feel this way - how many great wallcovering jobs have you seen. Probably a lot of them, but they are unremarkable when compared to...
PPG Ultralast
Apr 18, 2024 | Education, Product Spotlights
I’ve been wanting to write a product spotlight on PPG Ultralast for some time now. We’ve been using this product for a little over a year now and I can’t think of really anything bad to say about it. Ultralast is PPG’s new ultra premium (I know, how many superlatives can we think of!) paint that is supposed to specialize is scuff resistance and cleanable. The literature tells us they’ve incorporated technology from the automotive paint industry. While I am sure this is...
What should I do if my painting contractor doesn’t do a good job?
Apr 4, 2024 | Education, Paint Failures
Sitting at one of my favorite Downton Indy work spots, I couldn’t help but notice same really poor panting had recently taken place. I started to ask myself, what if this was our team that did this? How would I want my customer to respond? Unfortunately, we see too much of this and most building owners and facility managers probably just chalk it up to “well, it’s bad, but most people won’t notice” or “we’ll fix it next year during our repaint.” This is problematic on a few levels. First,...