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So a little about my company first: I am like most paint companies that there is essentially a demand formula similar to a bell curve. I do primarily residential repaints and for the most part it is out of necessity to protect the exterior of their home. Winter and Fall there is little demand for residential repainting services in my neck of the woods and every painter is slow and willing to cut their own throats left and right. I am going to go to a plan where I will essentially work for 9-10months a year and do what I do best and that is to hire some extra college kids during the summer that have usually worked for another paint contractor in the past and start what I like to call my GREEN PAINT DIVISION.
I will have my 2nd hand man be in charge of shop and gear. My GPD (Green Paint Division) will operate out of cargo trailers that will be equipped with all the gear that they need to get the job done. I will have inside a utility sink that I can hook up to the water at the jobsites. I will have a microwave, and a mini-fridge to keep people from doing those long lunch runs and include some drinks they could make in a nalgene as those small things people like and that will keep them from using bottles (waste).
Every year I have my main guys which will still be in my "production division" that drive around in their box truck and spray out homes. However when I double my staff during the Summer and have them spray I incur with a slow learning curve every year and buy the time they make the time and quality standards that I would consider sufficient the exterior season is over. Not to mention the wasted hours cleaning up overspray that an experienced person could have seen and all the pump repair and someone that goes through the miscellaneous spraying sundries like no tomorrow and killing the budget. So for my GPD we will roll everything.
By brushing and rolling exterior we will use a fair amount of less product cutting back on waste and we will save a lot of masking tape, paper and plastic that I dispose of thousands of pounds of every year especially producing new construction interiors. (Another plus for the environment)
We will be using paints that are approved of by the Master Painters Institute that are at least GS-1 approved. If you don't know what that is google it. By brushing and rolling we will use less water for clean-up. We will clean and re-use rollers in a custom rigged PVC tube that cleans a roller cover in less than a minute. We will leave roller covers in a bucket of water and spin them dry before use to keep them primed and good to go. We will trim the edges with scissors as we do get the occasional dried paint edges.
In order to keep fair production I looked into products that could help speed this process up. I believe that we will be using Wooster's Big Ted 2.25" Diameter roller's with their 1/2" nap roller covers to hold more paint per dip. For getting underneath the bevels of lap siding, to paint the soffit edges and to paint the gutter fascia combo we will be using "Corner Ease" if you don't know what it is then google it. Both of these products hold a significant amount of paint and should save on multiple dips.
For caulking I will probably use Dap Dynaflex 230. I can support that company because they do have some green initiatives and this caulk is a greener product that some others and applies easily. What do you guys think? Is there another caulk that performs well and is considered a green product?
I am still looking into wood filler and exterior spackling compound for green products that perform well....any ideas?
I currently have a gas pressure washer and once I have the money I would like to upgrade it to a diesel pressure washer that I could run biodiesel which would be a lot more environmentally friendly because small gas motors don't have catalytic converters and release a lot of pollution. (California is changing this soon). Any better washing ideas?
I also do downstreaming when I pressure wash with a cocktail of chemicals including industrial bleach, Simple Cherry and F-13 gutter bomb. The later two products can be found at www.pressuretek.com and do a great job of exterior chemical cleaning of homes. Also saves me ladder movements with the X-jet. Does anyone have any ideas of "green" alternatives to this mixture? The simple cherry is fine but is there anything besides bleach to remove mold and mildew? Any alternatives to the F-13 which cleans the black streaks off of gutters which I believe are iron deposits? I don't remember for sure.
So what I have discussed as being green so far is 1)to brush and roll as opposed to spray my exteriors. This will save paint, prevent overspray, sprayer downtime, eliminate having to train someone to inefficiently spray for most of my exterior season, prevent overspray on windows, cars, plants decks etc. Don't get me wrong we will still have to use sheets on plants and drops on the ground but the splatter just falls and doesn't get sprayed and blown 50ft. away. The paint spatter is easier to control. This will also saves thousands of dollars and thousands of pounds of waste from masking tape, paper and plastic as well as all the other disposables required to use a paint sprayer. I also believe a lot of people could be sold on rolling because it works the paint into the siding better and it's easier to control sheen as opposed to spraying. 2)Wash and reuse roller covers to reduce waste. I also find they don't start to work well until the third or fourth use. Less money and less waste. 3) We will use paint, primer, caulk, and other exterior products that are green/low VOC. We will do our best to recycle all paint cans and buckets that come our way which will require some extra water (pressure washer) but will cut back on waste. 4) Most of our contracts will be via email and then all of our paperwork from follow-up mailers, brochures, business cards, operation manual binders, operation manual papers and all paper is from 100% recycled sources that use environmentally friendly products in the production process. I will eventually have all vehicles run off of biodiesel but that is in the 3-5 year plan. I would like to have products available in my area such as Mythic Paints, Safecoat paints, Aura etc. For now I have access to Sherwin Williams, Kelly Moore, Benjamin Moore, Rodda, Cloverdale, Parker, PPG, and the box store brands. They all (except parker) have green options.
What I am asking from you....what can I do to run exterior production even greener? Also what can I do to be more efficient in exterior production? What do you think of going green? With the everchanging economy and so many painters saturating my area I will be the first to make a significant switch. What's the slogan?....CHANGE OR DIE! Most will just use low voc products. I am going above and beyond that. There is a huge market for this in my area and I will be on top. Thanks for all your input and advice.
~todd
P.S. Sorry for typing so much and I appreciate it if you actually read the whole thing. This is a big change for me and I look forward to the transition.
I will have my 2nd hand man be in charge of shop and gear. My GPD (Green Paint Division) will operate out of cargo trailers that will be equipped with all the gear that they need to get the job done. I will have inside a utility sink that I can hook up to the water at the jobsites. I will have a microwave, and a mini-fridge to keep people from doing those long lunch runs and include some drinks they could make in a nalgene as those small things people like and that will keep them from using bottles (waste).
Every year I have my main guys which will still be in my "production division" that drive around in their box truck and spray out homes. However when I double my staff during the Summer and have them spray I incur with a slow learning curve every year and buy the time they make the time and quality standards that I would consider sufficient the exterior season is over. Not to mention the wasted hours cleaning up overspray that an experienced person could have seen and all the pump repair and someone that goes through the miscellaneous spraying sundries like no tomorrow and killing the budget. So for my GPD we will roll everything.
By brushing and rolling exterior we will use a fair amount of less product cutting back on waste and we will save a lot of masking tape, paper and plastic that I dispose of thousands of pounds of every year especially producing new construction interiors. (Another plus for the environment)
We will be using paints that are approved of by the Master Painters Institute that are at least GS-1 approved. If you don't know what that is google it. By brushing and rolling we will use less water for clean-up. We will clean and re-use rollers in a custom rigged PVC tube that cleans a roller cover in less than a minute. We will leave roller covers in a bucket of water and spin them dry before use to keep them primed and good to go. We will trim the edges with scissors as we do get the occasional dried paint edges.
In order to keep fair production I looked into products that could help speed this process up. I believe that we will be using Wooster's Big Ted 2.25" Diameter roller's with their 1/2" nap roller covers to hold more paint per dip. For getting underneath the bevels of lap siding, to paint the soffit edges and to paint the gutter fascia combo we will be using "Corner Ease" if you don't know what it is then google it. Both of these products hold a significant amount of paint and should save on multiple dips.
For caulking I will probably use Dap Dynaflex 230. I can support that company because they do have some green initiatives and this caulk is a greener product that some others and applies easily. What do you guys think? Is there another caulk that performs well and is considered a green product?
I am still looking into wood filler and exterior spackling compound for green products that perform well....any ideas?
I currently have a gas pressure washer and once I have the money I would like to upgrade it to a diesel pressure washer that I could run biodiesel which would be a lot more environmentally friendly because small gas motors don't have catalytic converters and release a lot of pollution. (California is changing this soon). Any better washing ideas?
I also do downstreaming when I pressure wash with a cocktail of chemicals including industrial bleach, Simple Cherry and F-13 gutter bomb. The later two products can be found at www.pressuretek.com and do a great job of exterior chemical cleaning of homes. Also saves me ladder movements with the X-jet. Does anyone have any ideas of "green" alternatives to this mixture? The simple cherry is fine but is there anything besides bleach to remove mold and mildew? Any alternatives to the F-13 which cleans the black streaks off of gutters which I believe are iron deposits? I don't remember for sure.
So what I have discussed as being green so far is 1)to brush and roll as opposed to spray my exteriors. This will save paint, prevent overspray, sprayer downtime, eliminate having to train someone to inefficiently spray for most of my exterior season, prevent overspray on windows, cars, plants decks etc. Don't get me wrong we will still have to use sheets on plants and drops on the ground but the splatter just falls and doesn't get sprayed and blown 50ft. away. The paint spatter is easier to control. This will also saves thousands of dollars and thousands of pounds of waste from masking tape, paper and plastic as well as all the other disposables required to use a paint sprayer. I also believe a lot of people could be sold on rolling because it works the paint into the siding better and it's easier to control sheen as opposed to spraying. 2)Wash and reuse roller covers to reduce waste. I also find they don't start to work well until the third or fourth use. Less money and less waste. 3) We will use paint, primer, caulk, and other exterior products that are green/low VOC. We will do our best to recycle all paint cans and buckets that come our way which will require some extra water (pressure washer) but will cut back on waste. 4) Most of our contracts will be via email and then all of our paperwork from follow-up mailers, brochures, business cards, operation manual binders, operation manual papers and all paper is from 100% recycled sources that use environmentally friendly products in the production process. I will eventually have all vehicles run off of biodiesel but that is in the 3-5 year plan. I would like to have products available in my area such as Mythic Paints, Safecoat paints, Aura etc. For now I have access to Sherwin Williams, Kelly Moore, Benjamin Moore, Rodda, Cloverdale, Parker, PPG, and the box store brands. They all (except parker) have green options.
What I am asking from you....what can I do to run exterior production even greener? Also what can I do to be more efficient in exterior production? What do you think of going green? With the everchanging economy and so many painters saturating my area I will be the first to make a significant switch. What's the slogan?....CHANGE OR DIE! Most will just use low voc products. I am going above and beyond that. There is a huge market for this in my area and I will be on top. Thanks for all your input and advice.
~todd
P.S. Sorry for typing so much and I appreciate it if you actually read the whole thing. This is a big change for me and I look forward to the transition.
To save money on masking tape just hire painters who can cut a straight line. Also use high quality rollers and paint, and you will have little overspray. Hope you have a lucky date nite!:lol:
