In 2024, Sherwin-Williams introduced S-W Learning Pathway, a platform built to help pros build their painting and business skills and grow in their craft. How is this program working out in the real world? PPC sat down with two contractors to find out.
The Pros
We spoke with Gus Gutierrez Jr. and Miguel Perez, who were among the first pros to try S-W Learning Pathway.
Gus is the owner of Gutierrez Painting in Fort Worth, Texas. The company got its start in the 1960s and now has 16 full-time workers with a keen eye toward more future expansion.
Miguel runs United Brothers Painting LLC, a company serving residential and commercial customers in the Salt Lake City area since 2016. Besides painting, United Brothers has expanded its services to include flooring, tiling, carpeting and comprehensive interior remodels.
One ideal that both men share: a strong commitment to grow their business. That’s one area where Sherwin-Williams Learning Pathway shines.
Scale up business
In the Business Education part of S-W Learning Pathway, Pros can earn “business badges” by completing a series of courses to help them gain foundational industry knowledge and learn ways to build their brand and expand operations.
“We’re all trying to grow our business, get it to another level,” Gutierrez says. “So, I was really excited about trying this app out.”
Packed with valuable advice from successful, real-life Pros, S-W Learning Pathway offers excellent educational tools and “is really a big step in helping a medium- to small-size business grow,” he says.
Perez agrees.
“I wish I would’ve had it when I started,” he says. “Something like this would have been extremely, extremely helpful.” Though impactful at any stage of a company’s growth cycle, he says the courses would be especially valuable for people just starting a business.
Among the topics covered are job estimating, recruiting and retaining employees, building a strong company culture, marketing strategies and generating leads and positive reviews.
Brush up skills
Both Gutierrez and Perez also see a lot of benefits in the S-W Learning Pathway Trade Skills courses. This includes 11 modules that cover everything from surface prep and painting techniques to job site safety and cleanup.
Along with the ins and outs of the full painting process, Pros can explore available products and how to use them.
“I love the product knowledge training,” Gutierrez says. “You know, even though we’ve been doing it for so long, there’s always new products that come out. It tells you what substrates it’s for, what the product is used for, and then the application, the washing of the brush, what kind of applicators to use, things like that. Having all this at your fingertips speeds up things and it helps improve the quality of our work as well.”
Training new employees and continuous development for existing employees is an identified pain point industry wide. S-W Learning Pathway aims to reduce that hassle with impactful courses for every member of your team.
Perez says the S-W Learning Pathway product and trade skills modules will be a big help in his training process.
“From a business owner’s perspective, using this app would enhance employee training, especially with new hires that have zero painting experience,” he says. “You can implement this app and say, ‘Hey, look, I want you to go through this, this, this and this module. And then once you pass that, and you learn about some of the products, then you can start off as an apprentice onsite.”
Like many contractors, Perez says it’s hard these days to find experienced help, and S-W Learning Pathway courses offer a systematic, organized way to teach new hires the right way to do things.
“It can be a big support for what you’re doing as a manager of your team,” he says. “It will help develop a deeper understanding of the painting profession.”
Bottom line: It’s a game changer
Gutierrez is the third generation carrying on a strong legacy in the painting industry, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He says S-W Learning Pathway has already been a great resource to help the family business grow so it will be even stronger when he passes it on to his children.
“In the past, there weren’t these kinds of programs available,” he says. “It was just kind of learning from trial and error, hearing what your father or grandfather might have had to say.”
New digital tools like the S-W Learning Pathway are part of the ongoing evolution of the painting trade.
“It’s really a game changer for people that are just getting started,” Gutierrez says. “It’s also very useful for people who have been in business for a while, even ones that like us have been painting for 10 to 20 years or more.”
“This is the first type of program like this for the painting industry, and it’s built to help you grow in your craft whether you’re the new hire who’s never held a roller before, the team lead with decades of experience, or the owner trying to manage a growing business in an ever-changing market,” says Francia Ordoñez, Manager of Marketing Communications Strategy, Sherwin-Williams. “Sherwin-Williams is always proud to be an industry leader – not only when it comes to paint, but also when it comes to the learning and development of our customers.
Get started today online or on the app.
RELATED STORY: Grow Your Business, Advance Your Painting Career with Learning Pathway: An introduction to this free resource from Sherwin-Williams
This story was originally published in the Winter 2024 issue of PPC magazine. ©2024 Fusable. Photography courtesy Sherwin-Williams.