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Craftsmanship is not what makes a business successful

96K views 241 replies 159 participants last post by  CornerstonePainting 
#1 · (Edited)
I guess the first thing I should do is preclude this post with an explaination. I'm sure the blood pressure of many has risen just reading the title of this thread. This is not about big versus small. It about generating profit.

Doing high quality work is a given. I don't think anyone here will stand up and publicly declare that they do substandard painting. There may be plenty of guys that don't know how to paint but they don't (or shouldn't) own businesses. If a company is asking someone to trade their dollars for a paint job, their work has to be above and beyond what the average novice can perform. So again I say that craftsmanship should be a constant for everyone here. Please consider this though, being the best painter will not neccessarily make you a successful business owner.

I am not trying to preach to anyone, declare your business a failure or compare your goals to mine. I want to parlay that people will pay good money for a positive experience. It is this experience that makes a company successful and able to achieve longevity or growth.

Why Do You Own a Business?

There are many reasons a person will venture out on their own and hang a shingle that says "Painting". They tire of working for a disorganized company. They tire of making someone else rich. Maybe they even want to offer a level of quality that doesn't exist in their market. The bottom line of all of those is.. that person wants to generate more money than he can working for someone else.

Where The Plan Goes South

It's very easy to get single minded and let your ego blind you to your goals. If, "I'm going to offer the highest quality work" was your mantra and you stayed true to that goal, you have realized that quality work is expensive (for the business owner). You need to use high price paints, your prep takes a long time, you have to hire high end employees, the list goes on. If you haven't priced your service as the highest in the market, you have been taking it on the chin. You are probably slaving day in and day out doing estimates at night and strapping on your boots in the morning. Is this what you envisioned when you opened shop? Have your personal finances increased every year since you started this thing or are you in the same place you were five years ago?

But.. My customers get quality work and that's what counts the most.

Okay so.. your paint jobs rock. You do not need to advertise because you are in demand. People line up to get "quality at an affordable price." I don't know who to call but you are a candidate for a Nobel prize for altruism. You bust hump, give people awesome quality, charge a fair price and they love you for it. Meanwhile you pray your truck doesn't break down because your daughter needed braces and your central air just kicked the bucket. You can't afford to put your guys in uniform.. wait there are no guys, you cannot afford to hire someone that paints to your standards.

Are you trapped? Is "enslaved" even more accurate a word? What if you get hurt tommorrow? Will the business operate without you? Even if it stays afloat, are you building wealth? Hourly employees live paycheck to paycheck. Wasn't owning a business your ticket to get away from that stressful lifestyle?

So if not quality, what is it that makes one successful?

John is a decent painter. Most homeowners would call his work "good"
Alan is a craftsman. The cream of the crop when it comes to quality. John couldn't hold Alan's strap when it comes to cutting lines or turning a wall into a canvas.

Alan drives an 8 year old van with a magnet, works by himself and makes $38K a year. He has tried raising his prices but his customers complained. His referral network fell apart when he went up. He cannot close new work at the higher rate because his image does not parlay that he is a successful painter. Alan realized his workload was falling off so he panicked and went back to his old rates. Alan comes on the internet at night and types.. "marketing doesn't work. Selling doesn't work. People in my area won't pay that much for a paint job." Alan can look at photos that other guy's post and immediately see the flaws. Alan is a damn good painter. Alan's wife wishes he would go back to making union wages working for someone else.

John offers a good paint job. His customers are very satisfied with his work. John realized early on he wasn't the best painter in the world so he sought to make customers confident in hiring him. He has professionally designed business cards, brochures, and uses various advertising medium. When someone calls for an estimate, John is on the phone with them within the hour. He schedules appointments, he shows up on time. He speaks well and he knows the painting business. He instills confidence in the homeowner. John carries all the insurance, wears the logo'd gear and has brochures and color charts for the customer to view. John is not so busy that he cannot spend some time with a customer making sure they feel comforable before signing a contract. John isn't knee deep in mud doing texture every day so he can answer his cell phone and talk to a customer that has concerns. John's customers absolutely love the experience in dealing with his company. They feel that their needs are always first. The job is done cleanly, efficiently and in the customer's eyes, is flawless. They know why they paid John twice what that guy Alan wanted to charge them.

Alan thinks John's business is a scam.. smoke and mirrors. Alan's ego makes him believe this his superior quality is all the customer wants or needs. John just put his sixth truck on the road and hired an operations manager. That burns Alan's hide that John is able to con people into using his service.. after all, Alan is the superior painter.

There are many criteria that customers look for in a buying experience. Contrary to what you may have convinced yourself, quality is only one part of the equation and not neccessarily the most important. Ask yourself this. Does Starbucks have the greatest coffee in the world? It has to be right? They open new stores every single day and are the largest retailer of coffee in the world. I can't imagine how they do this since I find the $1.50 large coffee at Dunkin Donuts far superior in smoothness and taste. Starbucks provides a good customer experience.

Look directly into that mirror

Whenever you get the temptation to sit back and post "I don't need to advertise, my work is all referral" put yourself into check and look at what you are doing. Is it your ego that is successful or is it truly your business? Business is measured by profit. I don't want to create a wrong message. Success doesn't mean a hundred crews on the road because that comes with headaches that many don't want, no matter what the profit.

A one man show can be plenty profitable for some and have the right balance of working and having a life. If you are booked for the next four months without doing any type of advertising I am going to venture that you are underpricing your service. Actually, its not a guess, its a certainty. Try raising your prices. As little as a ten percent raise can put an extra ten thousand dollars in your pocket this year. Are you going to lose some bids? Of course, but who cares? So now you will be booked 45 days in advance instead of 120. Maybe you will finish working by two o'clock every day instead of by 5 or 6. A strange things also happens. You find yourself working less and making more money. Is that all that bad? If your work quality is all that you think it is, you'll still get the referrals and be making enough on your jobs to hire that union guy or other craftsmen like yourself to start taking away your burden.

You can only be your company for so long. Its always juggling swords of fire. Eventually, something happens and you can be left burned. Now is a good time to preclude making that mistake.
 
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Discussion starter · #23 ·
You guys give me too much credit. I am not trying to play the false modesty tip. I really appreciate the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.
 
Discussion starter · #71 ·
Glad to see there is still great dialogue happening on this thread. I understand all of the points because at some stage of my business career, I have been all of the above. By nature, I am a perfectionist. Deadly. I still do some field work and those lucky customers get flawless work. When I analyze the numbers, guess which jobs are the least profitable? It is what it is.

The goal of this article was not to imply cutting corners or throwing quality out the window is acceptable. Its the perfectionism at a "good rate" which alerts the trumpeteer to play TAPS. It can't be done. Let me rephrase. It can be done but at too great a price to the business owner.

I don't expect anybody to read this thread and change their business model tomorrow. Its a seed that many newer company owners (and stubborn old school contractors) will have planted in the backs of their minds. How it grows and is nurtured from there is up to the individual.
 
Discussion starter · #102 ·
I agree with you, Foil. The point of my original posting this was to make people think about what it is they are doing. While I certainly appreciate all the super kind words throughout the thread, I like knowing it struck chords with many readers.

There are many things that go into service work. The service itself is of course important... you have to do good work to stay alive. My feeling is that the actual service is only a part of the equation. I've seen the work of large companies and I have seen the work of one-man-show craftsman. There is no comparison. It is impossible for a large company to replicate the work of a talented and experienced painter again and again. Yet, one thing always perplexes me is that the craftsmen are the ones struggling to make ends meet while I see the larger company owners on the golf course on the island in Ocean City. There is a definitive line between business owner and what could come down to being a paid hobbyist.

Perfectionism is a disease. I have had it and honestly, if I stayed a one man show I would be bankrupt.
 
Discussion starter · #113 ·
I've read each and every post in this thread. Though many points were made, one was neglected... Justice for the ones that take the time to do it right. All of you out there that sacrifice the quality of your jobs by allowing a lesser quality job to "pass" inspection will soon find out that the perfectionists (like Alan) of the world are screaming mad and the voices of those that have been subject to this "make the buck at any cost" injustice are being heard the world over (hence the steep fines imposed by the EPA).

Honestly, it is simple to take advantage of a large group of "ignorant to painting" customers and rake in big bucks, knowing that there are only a few that demand a job done right (my customers). I not only refuse to do anything illegal, but also refuse to do anything as unethical as you suggest by conducting my business in the "what they don't know won't hurt them" attitude. I believe the internet will LET THEM KNOW how to shift the balance of "rush to get it done" painters, to "it'll be done right & it'll last" painters... no matter how pretty your work vehicle is.
I can only speak for myself. You may have missed the point.

The post was not to coax anyone into putting out subpar work but to make a person think about where they are with their business and where they want to be. I never once suggested doing anything illegal, immoral or unethical. Trust me, I understand your viewpoint. I am a craftsman at heart. I do everything methodically and meticulously. But... markets change. Things used to be built to last. Now everything is plastic and disposable. My mom used to have the interior painted every ten years. Now people want it done every 3 yrs. Companies like Walmart reduce customer service and experience for the sake of low prices. We may not like it, but it is what it is. I shop at Nieman Marcus and Macy's because I want service and quality. I would hire LC to paint my house. I take my vehicles to the dealership. I get it.

Please reread the post. It is not about work quality per se, it is about balancing pricing. Not everyone is born to be an artist. Artists usually struggle financially for most of their careers. An artist that may not paint like a master but can market himself can make a living. If you paint for hobby, then you can absolutely be a perfectionist. If you do it for a career, well, read the article..
 
Discussion starter · #121 · (Edited)
Gypsy, quality is always important. You say you have to give a "9". As long as you are profitable at giving a nine and everyone is happy with a nine, then you don't have to get caught up in trying to give a 10. If you had to give a ten, then you would have to give a ten. And, of course, you would have to charge substantially more as quality becomes exponential in time output.

From the business standpoint, its important to establish the customer's expectations. Every one of my customers wants a perfect ten. When I start talking about carpentry work, floor sanders, hand sanding, setting nails and tightening screws and let them know the added cost, most people opt out. I don't preclude those options or not offer them, I just charge extra for them.

I'll have a crew on a job for ten days if the job is $8000-$10,000. What I cannot do is give ten days worth of work and perfection and bill for five.

Commercial work is different from residential work. I have usually found the opposite to what you mention. A parking garage may say they want all the grease spots treated, all the corners cut perfectly, every drop of water reclaimed and the concrete looking like new after acid brightening. But when I bid those expectations from RFP, I drive by a week later seeing some husband and wife using wands to rinse off the concrete with a steady flow of runoff heading down a curb. Seeing the concrete a week after that and it doesn't look like it was touched. I'll try to find out the winning bid. In the above I bid $22,000 and the winning bid was $3500.

There are some between the lines things in my original post. I tried to preclude what I knew would be the proud-to-be-a-broke craftsman folks attacking the premise of giving high quality work. One can give the umteenth quality of work as long as they are charging for it. The problem with the craftsmen (and this is a big generalization) is they don't look at their numbers and sales are not generally their strong suit.

Disclaimer: I don't mean every craftsman out there. I'm sure some are profitable.
 
Discussion starter · #145 ·
So long as you can assess the customers expectations for the the paint job upfront, you charge them based on what they're looking for. Then, knowing that many change what they expect when they learn what it costs to achieve it, it's good to have an alternate scope of work that lowers costs for them and gets them (hopefully) within their elusive budget. Then you can achieve harmony between performance and expectation.

Dee, I agree and advocate what you are saying. The only specter that can creep in, especially in a one-man show company, is that the owner will charge for X and also perform Y and Z because he knows no other way and is a perfectionist. I've done that in the past.
 
Discussion starter · #162 ·
I don't know where I stand on this thread.

Been a while since I have seen it. I would say that if you want to be mcdonald's and do 900 homes in a summer then no.. your craftsmanship model will not work. If your plan is to do 5 to the tee.. then the craftsmanship may be where you want to be. You just have to ask yourself if you want to work hard for the same money that you could have been the craftsman and made in a 1/10th of the work. the latter you may or may not hear alot of no's.. but you will enjoy what you do get :)
N8, that is the general gist of the article. The thought I had while writing was not whether a craftsman driven service or being a production company has a singular advnatage over the other, it was more about making sure you are priced right.

100 jobs at $3,500 is a $350K gross. If one goes the craftsman route (solo or with a helper) and instead does "5 to the tee" they may have to charge over $40,000 for that same job to make the same net. More likely the craftsman would work his tail off to convince the homeowner was worth the $9K he charged. And at that price, craftsmanship will put him out of business.
 
Discussion starter · #170 ·
The beauty of being a business owner is that you can run it however you see fit.

Wise, you may have missed the point of the original post. Its never been about craftsmanship solely, its about the proper mating of your service offering to pricing, efficiency and being a business owner versus a paid hobbyist. If you say your business is successful, we have to take you at face value. Don't sweat it. I've been on the earth long enough to know not everyone will like everything. As the saying goes, if it doesn't apply, let it fly. Business is business. You either know how to do it, or you don't. What you're selling or offering is irrelevant.
 
Discussion starter · #171 ·
I'm not sure if a power washing business can relate to a painting business. The difference in what customers want from a paint job and a wash job are vastly differentinregards to prep.When your targeting residential homes, we don't live in a give them what they want and charge accordingly society. When it comes to painting, homeowners want high end quality work and must pay for it. I mean how to you give a cheap quality paint job ? Its all aesthetics (Visual). Where do you cut corners? I mean you cant just paint over cracks, nail hole, nail pops, peeling paint, have sloppy cut lines, slop up trim that's not to be painted The list of what you cant do for a proper paint job goes on and on. Unlike other trades, for example like plumbing and electricity, customers don't care how pipes or wires are ran throughout the house, cause its behind the walls, who cares, who sees it. My residential business is all referral, which is because of my reputation for high quality work and materials. The advice given in this original post applies greatly to the commercial market. They don't question coverage, prep ,or durability . Commercial is allways about the lowest price which almost always gets the job. Commercial contractors including home builders, always use the cheapest paint they can buy, and how long the paint job lasts is never a factor. I been noticing for a few years now people are getting tired of hiring the lowest bid to save money because as the old saying goes" ya get what you pay for". Guys never sell yourself short of your chosen profession, talent, and worth. You know yourselves when people say anyone can paint, there is a fine line between painting and slopping.
There really aren't any points I disagree with nor are any of the shortcomings of not being professional that you are implying included in the article. I don't recall writing about pressure washing. Did you read the article or skim it and get your shackles up?

I've been a business owner for the better part of 25 years. I've toured the country to speaking to other business owners sometimes as a spectator and sometimes as a speaker. I will mention the same thing I did to Wise.. the product you are selling is irrelevant. You cannot sell junk and expect to stay in business. I thought that was pretty much universally understood.
 
Discussion starter · #173 ·
Gabe, I don't think you are an ass. An ass is someone that forms opinions without knowing what they are talking about then, when unable to present intelligent debate, resorts to trying to personally insult. It is usually resultant combination of insecurity and ignorance. That does not describe you in the least.

You're opinionated, but not an ass. :jester: Most guys on paint talk are very cool.
 
Discussion starter · #178 ·
I would like to ammend your topic statement from "Craftsmanship is not what makes a business successful" to "Craftsmanship ALONE is not what makes a business successful" I can understand that you worded things in order to garner the best possible response to your post, but the statement is just not accurate. It's true that good marketing will help a business become successful but it also won't be able to accomplish this alone. It's all about balance and how you can find use this in order to attract customers and keep their business in the long run.
Reread the first paragraph. Quality is a given. For some, its a paid hobby and their wife pays the bills. Craftsmanship, to those I just mentioned, is the only measure. The article is more targeted at those that don't want to merely be the best painter.
 
Discussion starter · #192 ·
Hi Jake, welcome to the forum and thanks for your viewpoint. The goal of this article when I wrote it was not to insist on anyone choosing a particular business model. I know plenty of profitable owner/operator companies that prefer the lower stress of having no employees and enjoy their craft. The truly profitable companies have savvy owners that can blend good business and service with offering a good job. But one variable remains.. you have to price right and that was really my intended message. All of us have to consider that one injury that ends it all. It doesn't have to be job related. There are precautions that can be taken such as disability insurance and cash reserving/investment that can hedge the bet. With that being said, by and large, the savvy business owners are the minority in the trades. Even if every single person that has ever posted or read here at Paint talk represents the elite, there are tens of thousands that believe that working hard and doing a better job than the next guy is the key to success. Admirable in its goal, it just does not represent reality.
 
Discussion starter · #229 ·
Thanks, Drake!

I think the concern would be that a company decides where it is going to present itself in the marketplace. I know guys that do apartment repaints, guys that do commercial spec work and guys that do high end repaints. None of them could step into the others' shoes because it is completely different work.

So let's say our proverbial interior craftsman is in a lower income neighborhood and prices a job accordingly (which I think is not good business, but I digress). He intends on working faster offering a little bit less perfection. Do you really think he will be able to sacrifice quality and just say, "that's good enough"? That is very unlikely and is the real root of my original post. Be a craftsman and either price it high enough or enjoy the low paying hobby. Remember, we are talking craftsman.. slaving over every wall with perfect prep. Sanding between all three coats of perfectly thinned trim enamel so it lays like glass. This guy could never sacrifice his quality anymore than an average painter could step up his game to output "perfection".

Even if a one-man-show is disciplined enough to vary between a 5 and a 10 job, how does he teach his employees to do the same?
 
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Discussion starter · #231 ·
Good points all around mate, can't disagree with any of that. Thanks for the perspective.

I guess my main concern would be, if you're a high quality craftsman- the kind you're describing- and you're in a city that's right in the absolute worst part of the country, still in full on recession, and not a great part of town to boot, do you really think you can get by as a successful business pricing yourself at what you know you're worth and still outputting that very same fantastic quality work you know you do?

I don't have the answer to that question myself, I'm just curious what yours is.


Edit: And I totally agree that quality painters who undercut themselves with their pricing are doing themselves and everyone around them a disservice.
The first thing I look for when starting, or thinking about buying a business is the market. Can it produce enough customers? Opening a $100/entree steak house in the middle of a ghetto can work, but its going to always be an uphill battle to keep up the customer count.

Using that analogy, lets say the restaurant is hurting. It decides to use cheaper steak and putting out buy one get one free coupons in the neighborhood. The result is that the suburbanites that maybe would ventured into the city for the food is turned off and they stop coming. It is still too expensive and fancy for the neighborhood so new business is not gained. Meanwhile, the same upscale staff and chefs are draining payroll and the business folds. What happened? This business tried to be something it wasn't.

So, for me, most important is establishing who you are going to be in the market. If you are going to be the craftsman, you would have to put together the marketing plan to build the higher end clientele. It is next to impossible for even the best business person to be both Tiffany's and Walmart.
 
Discussion starter · #233 ·
I don't necessarily disagree with any of that, either.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is: who markets to the lower end jobs? Do you think only painters who are bad at their trade should market to lower income jobs? Because if you're a good painter wanting or being forced to go to lower income markets, you have to do one of two things:

1) Compromise your price
2) Compromise your workmanship/quality

We know you're not going to get that kind of job at high end prices, but someone has to sell to them, so who is it that sells to them?

I think it's worth discussing because that's surely a sizable part of the market.
I agree.

Your thought progression is exactly what prompted me to write this article. Remember the title of "Craftsmanship is not what makes a business successful". You obviously need painting skills to be successful, so I took that out of the equation as a constant. I realize there are many lousy painters out there and they will never be successful unless they step up their game.

My contention in the article is that a person that knows how to market, sell and properly price their work is going to have the key tools for success. The article was never really about craftsmanship or actual skill set per se. I wrote primarily to eye-open a person that feels that craftsmanship is ALL that is needed to be successful. You can be the mediocre painter, the halfway decent painter or the craftsman and as long as you market, sell and price properly (within your niche), the business can grow.

I used "John" and "Allen" as two literal representations of my points.
 
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