The appeal of being your own boss and owning your own painting business can be pretty powerful. Who hasn’t wanted to have control over their own income and their own future? Starting a painting business can be an excellent foray into owning your own company and making your own money. The house painting and decorating industry reached $20.4 billion in 2022 and is forecasted to continue growing, so it could be a great opportunity to start a painting business – but there are certain considerations to keep in mind.
It can be confusing to know how to start a painting business – where to get started, what licenses to get, what materials you’ll need to get started, and more. Fortunately, the franchise model of The Ohio Painting Company takes some of the guesswork out of the process.
1. Evaluate the start-up costs
The cost to get started with your painting business will include all of the equipment needed, any licenses and insurance required by your locality, the cost to register your business name, and other fees. Going through the process of choosing a business name, registering your business, establishing an LLC and all the other paperwork can be overwhelming when you’re figuring out how to start a painting business, which is why many people opt to buy a painting business franchise like The Ohio Painting Company. With a franchise, you’re buying into a tried-and-tested business model rather than having to figure it all out yourself.
2. Get the Training
You don’t have to be a master painter to start a painting company – all you need is an entrepreneurial mindset and ambition to control your own destiny. Another benefit of buying a franchise is that the franchisor provides training for franchisees, which means that nearly anybody who is willing to work hard can start a painting business.
When thinking about how to start a painting company, consider the training provided by the franchise model, like The Ohio Painting Company. As a franchisee, you run your own business, but you are never doing it alone.
3. Quality Equipment, Quality Work
An important part of starting any business is getting the equipment and supplies you need to get your company off the ground. The same is true when you start a painting business – you’ll need paint, high-quality rollers and paintbrushes, sprayers, ladders, and more. The up-front cost to purchase all the equipment you need can be daunting, but you don’t want to skimp out and get the cheap supplies that are meant for DIY-ers.
Equipping yourself to start a painting company starts by finding the right suppliers and determining what the basics are to make get started. Figuring out how to get the best quality supplies for the best price can be stressful. One of the benefits of joining a franchise like The Ohio Painting Company is that you can get guidance for finding the right vendors to buy from.
4. Hiring for Results
If you want to build a bigger painting company and take on more work, you’ll new a crew to help you tackle the workload, in addition to admin staff like bookkeepers and office staff. Hiring your team is one of the most important investments you’ll make as a business owner. Staff that you can rely on to be good at their job is key to ensuring the success of your painting company. But finding the right staff, knowing what questions to ask in an interview, and determining the right hourly wages to pay can be complicated. The support network provided by the franchise model can help make the process easier to navigate.
5. Using Tech/Apps to Your Advantage
Keeping track of scheduling and finding new ways to reach potential customers can be made easier if you have the right tools. Scheduling apps will help keep you organized and make sure you don’t get too over-booked, while accounting software can keep your finances in order, and communication apps can help you stay in touch with your crew. There are countless apps and platforms for contractors that can be helpful when you’re still figuring out how to start a painting company, and having a network of other painting franchisees can help you determine which ones are best for your particular needs.
6. Choose Your Services
Do you want to do interior or exterior painting? How about power washing as an add-on service? Figuring out which services to offer is a key part when considering how to start a painting business. Some painting contractors will stick to just painting, while others offer wood staining or wallpaper removal as well. Offering additional services can be profitable, but can often require additional training and equipment. The best way to figure out what kind of painting business you want to start is to speak to other painting contractors or franchise owners to see what has worked for them, and what you should expect if you do choose to expand your offerings.
7. Marketing Your Efforts
Getting the word out about your new painting business requires a marketing plan. A great place to start is with an SEO-optimized website so that customers can find you online when they search for local painters. Social media can be a useful tool to get in front of new eyes and reach new people, and setting up a Facebook page and inviting your friends and family to follow you is a great first step. From there, you can move to paid ads in local publications, on the radio, or on TV. Developing a marketing plan is another task that can seem overwhelming, especially if you don’t have a marketing background. Painting franchises like The Ohio Painting Company often have marketing plans in place already and can give you guidance specific to your local market while having the benefit of name recognition.
8. Get started!
Once you get your first job booked, all that’s left to do is to get to work! Quality is key when it comes to building a good reputation as being reliable and consistent as a painter, so make sure that you have all the other tools in place to make sure that every stage of your first job goes smoothly – including communication with your customer, the quality of the paint job, the conduct of your employees, and the process of invoicing and getting paid. If you’ve followed the business plan outlined by a franchisor like The Ohio Painting Company, you’ll be set up for success!
