Described as “a breezy, blissful blue with a hint of silver lining,” Upward SW 6239 (224-C1) is the Sherwin-Williams 2024 Color of the Year. Continue reading The 2024 Color of the Year: A Breezy Blue with a Hint of Silver Lining
The 2024 Color of the Year: A Breezy Blue with a Hint of Silver Lining
Better Colors for All Your Jobs: Colormix® for Commercial Spaces
The annual Sherwin-Williams Colormix® Forecast is not just a useful resource for your residential projects. As the company’s team of experts craft their color forecast, they hand-select key commercial colors and weave them into each palette. The result is Colormix® for Commercial Spaces.
From stunning blues and greens to dramatic darks and deeps, you can recommend these colors for your customers’ commercial properties with confidence. In this article, we’ll take a look at these curated picks as they apply to commercial, hospitality, education, healthcare, multi-family, new residential and beyond. Continue reading Better Colors for All Your Jobs: Colormix® for Commercial Spaces
Pros-Only Coatings: How Can I Use These to Up My Game?
Want answers to your most pressing painting problems? PPC’s Ask Your ProPartner™ columnist Dennis Fiorilli is here to help. The subject this time: high-performance coatings developed especially for use by professional painting contractors. Continue reading Pros-Only Coatings: How Can I Use These to Up My Game?
Large Commercial Projects Key to Growth of Carolina’s A&K Painting
Paint is definitely in the blood of the Robbins family. For four generations now, they have been doing award-winning professional painting work from their home base in the Charlotte metropolitan area of North and South Carolina. The current family business is A&K Painting, founded by Andy Robbins in 1994. Continue reading Large Commercial Projects Key to Growth of Carolina’s A&K Painting
Contractor Q&A: Tim Conley on Property Maintenance, High-End Residential and the Challenges and Opportunities of Each
For more than 30 years, PPC magazine has been on job sites throughout the U.S. and Canada asking residential and commercial paint pros to share their stories. This issue we talk with Tim Conley of Conley Brothers Painting, Mishawaka, Indiana (pictured above right with Sherwin-Williams Property Maintenance Sales Rep Kevin Bell). Continue reading Contractor Q&A: Tim Conley on Property Maintenance, High-End Residential and the Challenges and Opportunities of Each
Navigating the Talent: Hiring and Recruiting Strategies for Success in the Painting Industry
Once again in 2023, PPC is teaming up with the Painting Contractors Association (PCA) on a series of articles to help you grow and improve your painting business. This year’s theme: Productivity is the path to profitability. In this article, PCA marketing specialist Lauren Forman shares some of the organization’s best hiring and recruiting practices for painting company owners and managers. Continue reading Navigating the Talent: Hiring and Recruiting Strategies for Success in the Painting Industry
5 Ways to Kick-Start Your Business for the New Year
A little bit of planning in December can go a long way toward the continued health and growth of a business in the next year. In this article, we’ll look at five ways for professional painting company owners to take stock and make plans to be more productive, profitable and generally improve their businesses in 2024. Continue reading 5 Ways to Kick-Start Your Business for the New Year
Top 10 Stories of 2023: A PPC Year-End Roundup
What were paint pros reading about in 2023? Here’s a list of stories that PPC readers clicked on the most in the past year:
Continue reading Top 10 Stories of 2023: A PPC Year-End Roundup
Surface Prep: For Perfect Walls and Ceilings with Less Effort, Try the New Planex Drywall Sander
The new generation PLANEX from Festool is revolutionizing drywall construction – with LED light and random orbit movement.
In this article, we review the four key benefits that professional painting contractors will get from using the new PLANEX LHS 2 225 Drywall Sander. Continue reading Surface Prep: For Perfect Walls and Ceilings with Less Effort, Try the New Planex Drywall Sander
Winter 2023 Editor’s Picks: Five Cool Tools and Products That Will Make Your Jobs Go Easier
As part of our ongoing mission to help painting professionals maximize their job site productivity, each issue of PPC magazine features our favorite application tools and essential job site equipment and supplies. Here are our Winter 2023 picks: Continue reading Winter 2023 Editor’s Picks: Five Cool Tools and Products That Will Make Your Jobs Go Easier
Winter 2023 ProBuy® Specials: Save 20 Percent or More on Select Painting Equipment and Supplies
Each issue of PPC magazine includes a roundup of special ProBuy® pricing on some of our favorite application tools and essential equipment and supplies. Continue reading Winter 2023 ProBuy® Specials: Save 20 Percent or More on Select Painting Equipment and Supplies
3 Secrets to Organic Social Media Success
Stumped by social media? You won’t be after reading this advice
When it comes to connecting with your local community, social media can be a game changer. It lets potential customers find you without you having to spend days knocking on doors or cold calling.
But social media isn’t just a box you check—using it well is a craft unto itself, and like any craft, some techniques and methods work better than others. While paid ads and sponsored content can be a quick way to get your name out to prospective clients, the savvy social media user may be able to draw a large audience with just a smartphone and a little trial-and-error. Continue reading 3 Secrets to Organic Social Media Success
How to Fit Everything You Need in One Van
Save time and skip the headaches by decluttering your van
The painter’s van is the central hub of your business—your office on the go. That’s why optimizing your van’s loadout is so important. A disorganized or overcrowded van can make it hard to find what you’re looking for when you need it. Painters can be stuck taking multiple trips from the van to the job site and back again just to get everything they need, time that could be better spent painting or with a client. Continue reading How to Fit Everything You Need in One Van
How to Build Your Social Media Presence
Generate quality leads from social media with these 6 tips
Tell the painters on your team to pull out their phones and get on social media. No, it’s not a distraction or a waste of time on the job. In fact, savvy social media skills can save your business time and help you land more jobs and make more money. Continue reading How to Build Your Social Media Presence
The Pro’s Guide to Airless Spraying
If you haven’t already gone airless, here’s 3 reasons to start
When purchasing a sprayer, you want to make the right decision. After all, buying a sprayer is a significant financial investment.
Many painting contractors have been increasingly choosing airless sprayers. Garrett Bogart, national account specialist at Graco, explains the three main advantages of choosing an airless sprayer, a couple of models he recommends for pros, and some best practices to keep your sprayer functioning at a high level for years to come. Continue reading The Pro’s Guide to Airless Spraying
3 Ways to Start the Color Conversation
Bust through homeowner indecision with these icebreakers
For some customers, committing to a specific color can be intimidating. What if it’s not quite right? What if it looks different in real life than how they imagined it in their head? What if this color goes out of style almost as soon as it dries? That fear can lead to paralysis—and may delay the start of your painting project waiting while you wait for a decision.
But you don’t have to wait. By engaging the customer in a conversation about color, you can help them gain the confidence to lock in their color selection and move forward. Best of all, it doesn’t require you to be a color expert; all you have to do is get them talking and pay attention. Continue reading 3 Ways to Start the Color Conversation
Beyond Taping
6 creative ways tape can add efficiency to your work
Painting pros know a high-quality tape can deliver sharp paint lines. But on painting jobs, painter’s and masking tapes offer many more uses than their names might imply. Over the years, pros in the trades have come up with some tape hacks to boost efficiency, clean work areas and keep painting jobs on track. Continue reading Beyond Taping