My name is Adam. I am 26 years old, living on the south side of Indianapolis. I got into the painting trade when the Assistant Construction Superintendent job for a local home builder did not work out. One of my subcontractors when I was employed with the builder offered me a job when I told him the news. It was slow going at first, I didn't have a whole lot. It just so happened one of his top guys, Todd, lived near me and kind of showed me the ropes. That was back in early 2002. I stayed with the company for slightly over a year, and was in one of 3 crews he had, one for exterior and interior spraying and priming, the other two were caulk/putty/cut/roll/touch-up crews of which I was part of. Long story our boss opened a catfish house, and paid more attention to it than painting, causing scheduling conflicts and the other two crews were not quality workers anyway. Myself and Todd were his "top two" guys before the end as we were told by the Area Supervisors.
Soon after my uncle got laid off when they shut down the United Airlines Maintenance Center at the airport. Within a week he sent me an e-mail with a flyer he had made advertising handy-work. Within a year we had learned a lot of things we didn't know before and gotten much better. Soon we got more and more calls for painting. My uncle hates to paint, so we decided to branch off. He would bid the paint jobs and pay me an increased hourly rate and keep what was left. Problem was he was horrible at bidding. I finally cut him off when he charged a guy 400 bucks for an exterior job with a lot of lap siding that took me a week to do. He thought it would take me two days! I eventually took over all parts of painting. I bid the jobs, I did them entirely myself and we agreed I would give him 10%. This was around mid-03.
The last two years have gotten much busier. By 2005 I worked more on my own than I did with my uncle. Last year and this year I worked with him from January until mid to late Feb while I was slow. After that, I was on my own aside from some occasional days I helped him. I have had several repeat customers, lots of tips, and I can only count 1 unsatisfied customer (which my uncle warned me not to work for, lol!), and 1 unsatisfied at first and happy at the end since I first went on my own in 03.
I have expanded my versatility. I bought a sprayer a couple years ago and have used it on a lot of exterior jobs, ceiling and trim jobs, as well as doors. I began offering drywall touch ups, then wall repairs, then ceiling and texture repairs. Now I offer hanging and finishing, on a limited basis though. I also offer siding replacement, mainly lap or barn siding no vinyl, also on a limited basis. I just finished re-siding a friend's house with Hardi-Plank lap siding and it turned out terrific. As soon as the weather gives me a couple of nice days I will get it painted. I also plan to offer ceramic floor tile sometime soon.
As of now for the most part I have all the tools I need for the job. What ladders I don't have I borrow from my uncle. When I need a man-lift I have a family member that is one of the exec's at MacAllister Caterpillar. I'm set up nicely, but I feel I still have a lot of things to learn. I still have not advertised, other than my uncle's advertising and word of mouth that is how I operate. I am glad I found this forum. I hope to learn a lot that I don't already know, and get advice on the best direction to go.