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. In our Pro to Pro column, we recap some of the best advice contractors have received and passed on over the last three decades. THIS TIME: Steven Foglia, Illini Paint Company, Decatur, Illinois.

“Understanding the customer’s needs and matching them to the Sherwin-Williams product line enables us to satisfy the individual needs each project requires.”

This close attention to the right coatings for the job has been key to the success of the Illini Paint Company.

Founded in 1986 by Steven Foglia, the Decatur, Illinois-based company focused at first on property management accounts.

“We worked with two local property management companies and had over 500 apartments to keep fresh for renters,” he says.

Soon he branched into single-family and custom homes, which today makes up about 90 percent of his business.

“When working with single adult homeowners, we recommend the interior SuperPaint^® line,” Foglia says. “For custom homes and for homes with children or grandchildren, we suggest Duration Home^® Matte. Its excellent washability is the selling point.”

Illini also counts on its supplier for quality exterior paint and primers, stain and deck products, as well as accurate and consistent color.

“When a homeowner wants a custom color, our Sherwin-Williams store matches the color dead-on, in our preferred products,” says Christopher Bracken, a long-time employee of the company. “That’s important because we won’t apply an inferior product.”

–from the Winter 2010 issue of PPC magazine

Steven Foglia was interviewed and photographed by Mike Starling, PPC Editor. Article ©2010, 2022 Northbrook Publishing. Read more of what pro painters have discovered on the job in the PPC magazine archive.