AMERICAN PAINTING CONTRACTOR MAGAZINE EMAIL REPORT
May 7, 2007 http://www.paintmag.com/
A News Service for Painting Contractors

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CONTENTS:

•  Leading News
•  Improve Company Culture with Employee Development
•  Ask the Expert
•  Contractor’s Tool Bag
•  Calendar

Endurance Building Systems (EBS) offers contractors a unique opportunity to get involved in new coating applications such as commercial flat roof, residential roof and RV coatings with limited competition and high margins.

What Contractors Get From EBS

• Quality Training
• Help with Leads
• Co-op Marketing
• Technical Support
• Competitively priced products
• Product warranties of 10-15 years
• Sophisticated software for bid proposals
• Territory Protection

http://www.paintmag.com/2007/5-7-endurance.htm

Frost & Sullivan Paint Contactors’ Choice Award Announced
Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, recently announced that Paint Sundry Brands’ Purdy brand of professional painting tools received the 2007 Frost & Sullivan United States Paint Contractors’ Choice Award for Best Overall Brushes. Purdy was chosen by 60 percent of paint contractors as the best overall brand of brushes, a 3-to-1 margin over any other brand. Frost & Sullivan Competitive Benchmarking Services performed the independent research in order to identify best practices in the paint industry.

The survey was completed in January 2007 using Frost & Sullivan’s U.S. paint contractor panel, which consists of 202 full-time professional paint contractors working with architectural coatings. Survey respondents were asked to select the paint products they considered to be the best in each evaluative category from a list of market competitors. Respondents were encouraged to specify other selections if their brand choice was not listed.
For more information about the Frost & Sullivan survey results, visit http://www.purdycorp.com.

DOW Launches New Dirt Pickup Resistance Technology
DOW UCAR Emulsion Systems, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Co., has launched a new technology platform focused on improving dirt pickup resistance in paint and coatings formulations.

“Formulators in every region we serve have expressed a growing need for latexes offering better dirt pickup resistance,” said Richard Jenkins, global marketing director of DOW UCAR Emulsion Systems. “We are working closely with our customers in the Americas, Europe and Asia to identify and provide technology that enables them to develop new formulations that better meet the ends of their local markets.”

The new technology platform will focus on every aspect of dirt pickup resistance, including exploring new testing protocols, development tools and products. New product research will include multiple latex chemistries, including acrylic, styrene acrylic and vinyl acetate ethylene polymers, giving formulators multiple solutions that address dirt pickup resistance.
“This research will be critical as we develop latex technologies that enable formulators to meet industry demands for products like new low-VOC formulations and more advanced elastomeric coatings,” said Gerald Vandezande, global architectural coatings product development leader at Dow.

Trends in residential and commercial construction are also driving greater need for new answers. According to Vandezande, even traditional latex coatings do not offer the dirt pickup resistance needed in applications where keeping a surface continually clean is either impractical or cost inhibited, such as high-rise buildings and new construction in geographies with higher levels of airborne dust.
For more information, visit http://www.ucarlatex.com.  

• Describe the current climate and expectations of employers with regard to I-9 compliance
• List the mechanics of successful completion and retention of I-9 forms
• Recognize the true nature of the Social Security no-match letter and crafting a policy for response 
• Identify the contractors role and potential liability with respect to managing a subcontractor workforce 
• Avoid monetary penalties of noncompliance and other potential civil and criminal liabilities

http://www.paintmag.com/Audio/Audio256.asp

No one really talks bad about employee training and development, but the real issue is will you actually carry it through? The other problem with training is that many companies make it too complicated. Once you start to write a training program or develop criteria, it can soon become endless. Companies must take care to implement a training program that is practical and realistic.

For years, I have used learning to bowl as an example of how employee expectations and development work. If you wanted to learn to bowl, you might go to the local bowling alley and ask a pro to give you lessons. Your expectations will be high because you are eager to learn and have found a pro teach you. After some instruction, you move into the accountability phase of learning: The pro gives you a bowling ball and you try to knock down some pins. Now suppose a large sheet is suspended between you and the pins. The ball goes through the sheet and you hear the clatter of pins falling. At this point, you have entered the final phase of the learning process: feedback. What if you were then told that you would not learn the total pins you knocked down in a year until your annual review? I doubt that you would be motivated to go to the bowling alley each week.

Employee training and development works much the same way. The best training programs are cultural and part of the daily process. So let’s discuss some practical steps you can take to provide your employees with realistic training.

New Employee Expectations
When hiring new employees, create an outline of what you want them to learn in the next 30 days. Discuss this with their foreman and hold a review in 30 days with the foreman present to learn how they are doing. You may also want to check in with the foreman once a week to see how the new employee is progressing. At the end of 30 days, set another timeframe and a new set of skills.

Q: I have this customer who is being very difficult. We just started the project, and I can already tell that she is going to be a nightmare. It is a large job. What should I do?

A: One of the few things you have to offer is production. Don’t give up production and then try to negotiate what the customer wants. Can you stop work and walk off the job? If so, take your lumps and leave. Better to have a little pain and no gain than the burden of a big project gone south. You may also want to confront the person now and set a benchmark for what you are willing to do.

Get legal advice now. The best advice comes in response to “what if,” rather than “oh no.” And know your lien rights. Be prepared for the worst.  Don’t take a knife to a gunfight and wonder why you lost.

I know this is tough medicine, but too many contractors do not like conflict and mistakenly believe they can work it out at the end of the job.  However, it never works that way. Now is the time to defend yourself and solve the issue.
MP

Q: I have been in business for 20 years and am thinking about changing my logo. My son is an art student, and he tells me my logo and “look” is outdated. I wonder if giving up 20 years of name recognition is a good thing. What do you think?

A: I agree with you. Changing logos can be a tricky proposition. You need to make sure you do not change it just because you are bored or tired of it. If you do change your logo, follow the Pepsi or Coke route. Their logos have definitely changed over the years, but their basic design and concept have stayed the same. Whether it is a 1950s or a 1990s Coke logo, you still know that it’s Coke.

It is also important to remember that your logo should appeal to your audience, not you. If your son is a 20-year-old art student and your average customer is a 60-year-old, your son’s tastes probably don’t match those of your customers’.

Finally, make sure it is a good logo. It needs to be readable, memorable and distinctive. Nowhere does it say it needs to be state-of-the-art or trendy. You want customers to remember your name, look it up on the Internet or in the phone book and call you.
MP

Q: I am not sure I am paying my people according to their abilities. I have lost a couple of up and coming workers who went to work for my competitors at a higher wage. In addition, I have been hiring people off the street who claim to be topnotch craftspeople, only to find that my second- and third-year helpers are better craftspeople. What is an easy way to evaluate wages?

A: I am not sure there is an easy way to evaluate wages, but there are some things you can do to determine how your pay scale compares to the marketplace.  Wages are a complicated issue, and as you have already figured out, not a matter of black and white numbers. It is also important to realize that wages are an issue of economics. If fast food restaurants are paying $8 per hour in your area, starting helpers at $7.50 might prove fruitless. In addition, you have already learned that if there is a shortage of skilled people, the marketplace and supply and demand dictates what you must pay people.
    
Start by listing your key people in order of importance. The easiest way to do this is to write down their names in order of layoff. Who would you lay off first, second, third and so on? Next, write the hourly pay rate for each person by their name. Do the lists match? Theoretically, the more valuable an employee is, the more he or she should be paid.
MP

Our Expert: Monroe Porter is president and owner of PROOF Management Consultants, a company specializing in business consulting for contractors. Monroe is also founder of PROSULT Networking Groups, a PROOF concept developed to help non-competing painting contractors. For details on PROOF’s cassette programs or networking groups, visit its Web site at www.proofman.com or call (800) 864-0284

Exterior Wood Stain
The Flood Co. introduces FloodPro Solid Color Finish – True White, a fast-drying oil and acrylic exterior wood stain designed to penetrate deep into wood surfaces. The finish offers a no prime, no peel formula that allows contractors to produce top quality work in less time. The bright, non-yellowing white offers unparalleled hiding, unsurpassed adhesion and dries twice as fast as the previous formula, allowing for the application in a broader range of temperatures and climates as well as on challenging wood surfaces. The stain offers cohesive, true “snow” white color with single-coat coverage.
Visit http://www.flood.com.

Contractor Tape Rolls
LOPAREX Inc.’s EASY MASK tape in 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-inch widths are now available in 180 foot roll lengths, allowing for easy use with most hand-masking devices. The Painting Tape’s paper construction does not allow seepage and bleed-through, as the uncoated portion acts like a drop cloth to catch spills and splatter. EASY MASK Double Edge is coated with adhesive on the top and bottom of the roll and can be used to cover borders or create wider faux finishing wall stripes. Double Edge also is now available in the smaller 180-foot roll lengths.
Visit http://www.loparex.com.

Decking Stain
Cabot introduces a complete composite deck care system engineered for the ever increasing selection of composite decks. The product group includes Composite Cleaner, Composite Decking Stain and Solid Color Composite Decking Stain. The maximum strength cleaner is a powdered concentrate designed for had-to-clean composite surfaces, including removing mildew and dirt. The decking stain contains an oil and water hybrid chemistry fortified with urethane forming a durable and rigid coating film. The semi-solid finish is designed for UV protection with an expanded palette of 97 colors, while the solid color composite stain features extra UV resistance and an unlimited palette.
Visit http://www.cabotstain.com.

Paint Brush Line
Purdy’s Pro-Extra Series has expanded to include eight paintbrush models. The brushes feature extra-thick, extra-long filaments for greater paint-holding capacity and long brush life. The brushes are designed for all exterior paints and medium-to-heavy bodied interior flat paints. The DuPont filament blend includes Tynex nylon for softness and ease of paint flow, Chinex for faster cleanup and Orel polyester for stiffness retention. The new models are the Monarch, Pip and Moose product lines, joining the Dale, Elasco, Glide, Sprig and Swan product lines.
Visit http://www.purdycorp.com.

Paint Roller
The Big Kahuna Super Capacity Paint Roller from Andropolis Painting LLC has a 3-inch diameter roll and is designed to hold 100 percent more paint, allowing more surface area to be painted on a single load of paint than standard 9-inch rollers. The roller’s 1.5-inch core fits all standard 9-inch frames and fits in all standard paint pans and 5-gallon pail/grid combos, eliminating the need for custom equipment.
Visit http://www.andropolispainting.com.

May 8-10, National Hardware Show/PDRA Paint & Decorating Show,
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla.
Visit http://www.nationalhardwareshow.com

May 16-20, SALON 2007, International Decorative Painting Salon, Ridehuset, Aarhus, Denmark.
Visit http://www.salonforever.com.

June 4-7, Mega Rust Marine Coatings & Corrosion Conference, Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, Calif.
Visit http://www.nstcenter.com/

July 16-21, SALI Decorative Painting Convention & Exposition, Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, San Francisco, Calif.
Visit http://www.sali.org.

Sept. 5-7, National Paperhanger’s Convention & Tradeshow (NGPP), Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, San Diego, Calif.
Visit http://www.ngpp.org.

Oct. 27-28, Meeting of the Masters 2007, Addison Conference Centre, Addison, Texas.