I started River City Painters in August of 2009 after listening to my wife and friends advise me to just go ahead and do it already. You see, I am a second-generation painter, being that my father began in the paint industry in his early 20′s. I was bathed in a 5 gallon paint bucket as a baby (see picture), scraped paint off of windows “for fun”, collected baseball hologram discs from the bottom of Big Gulp cups on new construction sites and learned mostly that painting was the last thing that I wanted to do for a living. I actually painted with a brush in high school on a few exteriors but lamented that as well.
Two years after high school my dad started a new company called Paint Pros, Inc. and my younger brother started working with him. After about 4 months, I realized that either I should fall in line, embrace a good paying job or get left behind by my little brother. I started out learning the basics of ladder movement and a few tricks like rimming out a cut bucket and not leaving a thinner soaked rag in my back pocket that first summer of 1999. I enjoyed working with a crew, listening to classic rock and laughing all the time about how bad I really was as a painter.
I spent the next two years learning the painting trade mostly as a job but not yet as a passion. The daily grind of painting took a toll on me because I didn’t care to embrace the skill of painting or see its benefits at the time. I ended up leaving the family business for 3 years before it was once again one of my last options in the summer of 2004.That summer my dad made an offer to come back and try one more time to change my attitude about painting in general. Coincidentally, the house that I left on 3 years prior was the same exact house I began on 3 years later only it was the exterior we were painting this time.
The first day was in the upper 90′s and the August humidity was brutal. I was working side by side with my brother and you will never catch either of us slacking off on the job. We are extremely competitive as far as painting goes so there was a high level of production and any new employee would have dropped to the ground and hung up their 5and1 by 4pm, but that day I found the passion I’d been avoiding for so many years.
I realized that this was something I was good at and so I spent the next 2 years becoming the best painter I could be. This journey brought out another side of me that I was not aware of which was an interest in efficiency in all aspects of the day out in the field. I created tips and tricks to pass on to all who would listen and learned to interact well with customers also. This ultimately led to becoming the Operations Manager of Paint Pros Inc and getting out of the field. I created employee evaluations, dealt with customer relations, was responsible for hiring/firing, scheduled all jobs and crews, ordered all the supplies, focused on growing profit margins, maintained the shop, did all the cabinet refinishing work personally, grew relations in the Richmond paint industry with competing businesses and learned to love what I did.
Unfortunately, Paint Pros Inc was hard hit in November of 2008 when the economy stalled and all 14 employees at the time were let go. I spent the next few months in the field doing painting side jobs for friends but always thinking that I would be in a supervisory position with another company, not in the paint industry. I couldn’t however stop the whispers from my wife and others about the idea of staying in the industry.
I was asked in July to put a price together painting a 119-year-old roof out in Charles City. This job was large enough to take the plunge into forming a business River City Painters, LLC, in August of 2009. I started on the roof of this job by myself and it was over my head to the point that the homeowner asked if I could bring out some help so if I fell off the house that at least someone would know! This is when my first employee came into the company, and still works for River City Painters today.
If you look for me, one place I tend to find myself is Panera Bread for breakfast and also to respond to the barrage of morning activity that comes with being a business owner. I hope to be your go to painter but if I can’t help you then I will refer you to someone who will!
