Shaun Temple hails from Oregon, but you can still feel a bit of New York steaming off him on a busy day. His father, after being injured on the job back east, wanted to re-start his painting career on a new coast. Shaun, as a youngster, came with him. “He’d just been electrocuted while he was spraying in an airport hangar, and the injury made him second guess his commercial career,” said Temple. “He decided to start a residential company instead — it was time for a change and more money, and Oregon was booming at the time." 

Kevin Temple, Sr., now retired, handed down a love of painting to both his sons. Kevin Jr. and Shaun still use a process taught by dad. “We do a base coat on every job, so three coats total,” said Temple. “He always liked to have a fresh canvas, so to speak, and he taught us that painters are artists, so why would you wanna start with somebody else’s painting? We attain the best possible finish with a threecoat system.” 
As the brothers grew into their careers, they began to enjoy different sides of the trade. Kevin was more into the nuts-and-bolts painting while Shaun took a liking to the business angle. “My reason for joy in coming to work is the people and the business side,” he said. “The painting was not as much fun for me as it was for Kevin. I was always painting gutters or doing “tall man” stuff, always on top of the shorter ladders because I was taller, so I found my love in the business side and I learned that the fruitage of good quality painting is having fun running a business.” 

Now, they both have their own companies a few hours apart: Legendary Painting is in Gresham, Oregon, in the Portland area, while Kevin, owner of 2 The T, is on the state’s southern side in Medford. You may have met them in the August issue, where they spoke of how they helped each other through a financial jam. Their different interests in the paint trade allow them to continue to learn from each other. “The biggest help with having a brother who is a contractor is Kevin is a better painter than I am,” said Temple. “Most people don’t like to admit those types of things, but I recognize everything he has done for his craft. There’s not a painter on this planet that I wouldn’t put against him with a 40-foot ladder and running a wall with a spray gun.” Part two of this is that Shaun can help keep Kevin’s business brain running smoothly. “That’s why we do so well together. We pick each other’s brains about the science, the business, and just the overall Born2Paint mentality between both of us.” 

Lift each other up 
Another way Shaun followed in his father’s footsteps was serious injury, it was a “bigger they are the harder they fall” debacle in the weight room. Shaun’s got more than a bit of muscle on him from days at the gym, but he wasn’t always going about it the right way. “My injury was a result of years of heavy lifting with bad posture,” he said. “I am six foot eight and 270 pounds, so it wasn’t friendly for my spine when it happened.” For a while Temple was worried his career would end, and this is where both Kevins came to help. “I was going to close, but I made it through with the help of my brother and dad. I also started back working with my nutritional company; I was one of the top managers for GNC. I didn’t think I was going to be able to paint anymore and at the time I was a one-man show.” Kevin helped save the business, making sure customers had their work completed. 

Legendary partners 
Shortly after he recovered, Temple took on a partner; they now own this company jointly. “Having Wayne Woodfin in the mix makes me more available to focus on the business,” he said. “That’s the way Kevin is going as well right now, trying to find somebody to carry the torch.” 

From Wayne’s perspective, it got him into business without having to spend too much time at the school of hard knocks. “I don’t have any experience as an owner,” he said, “but fortunately for me I got to skip some growing pains and go right into what I’m good at: painting and dealing with customers.” 

Temple’s work ethic and overall motivating presence helped Woodfin feel comfortable taking the plunge. “Legendary is simply the best name you could ever have,” he says. “Also, when you and another have the same goals and different perspectives that click, it makes sense. I don’t have to worry about the aspects I don’t like because that’s what the other half likes.” 

Woodfin has 22 years of painting behind him and looks forward to more years in front of him, plus it provides him the means for a great family life. “I absolutely love to paint and giving my customers instant gratification. I am married to a wonderful wife and have two of the best children you could hope for. Shaun and I have a bond much deeper than business. I don’t have many true friends, but we are more than that — he has become family, a true brother!” 

Any way you slice it 

Temple, married and raising four kids of his own, stays in tune with youth culture; he wants to see the industry evolve so that it’s of interest to the younger generation. He believes that it’s time for some changes — the ‘suck it up and get to work” mentality just doesn’t fly anymore. Pretty soon the industry is going to have to suck up the fact that it’s driven away more people than it’s attracted, Temple said. “We have traditionally had this rough, tough mentality on a job site, it was passed down to my generation but now it has turned off some of the more introverted and quiet types from coming to a job site because they’re concerned about the culture. Culture is the future of construction, and as baby boomers retire, fewer young people are entering the trades. That number will be reduced to zero if we don’t fix the culture.” 

He’s found another way to embrace the younger generation … pizza. Temple recently spent some time back east helping his mom recoup from life-saving surgery, but a lot of time was also spent at Franco’s, a family-owned pizza business in North Utica, New York. It encouraged Shaun to try his hand at a new enterprise. “I fell in love with it, and while I was working, doing dough, and idea came to me,” he said. “I’m an entrepreneur at heart, and I want to do something absolutely amazing for youth under the age of 21, so they can have a safe space that is open late and serves good food reasonably priced and offers great value to the next generation.” 

Shaun’s trademarked and procured domain names for Miyagi Dough Pizza, with plans and dreams to franchise it nationally and overseas — as far as this world will have it. “I was thinking about the places that we used to have back in the day, places like pinball parlors, etc,” he said. “I’m thinking of creating a safe space very similar to a pub scene but for people under 21. My plan is to have screens on the walls and have them able to adjust the backgrounds from the table so they can do their Tik- Tok or whatever, then I’m going to hire an older generation for my staff and pay them well. That way they can pass on their great information to the next generation.” 

His commitment to a better tomorrow motivates him to offer his clients a better today. “I would never want customers to say Legendary Painting didn’t do something right. I’m not afraid to tell people I’m expensive, but I’m also not afraid to tell people that I want to help them if they tell me their budget. Some people might use that as a means to get more money, but I use that as a way to determine how much I can help. I just want to do it right.”