“The first time I entered a Sherwin-Williams store I was five years old when my dad took me to buy the decorative paper he put up in houses,” says Isidro Javier Dominguez.
Born in Houston, Texas to Mexican parents, he began painting at age 15. Painting was always part of his world. After many years of experience with different contracting companies, he decided to start True Aesthetic Painting with his friend Jovanny Vargas and his brother Guillermo Dominguez in September 2020.
In a short time, their firm has already made a name for itself among custom home builders in North-Central Atlanta, standing out for its dedication to detail and its adherence to the peculiar requirements of decorators and design experts.
Business partner Jovanny Vargas, who was born in Mexico, worked as many immigrants do in restaurants shortly after graduating from high school. He would later go into landscaping, where he would excel at managing the staff and issuing daily assignments.
“Even back then I could see we had the same customer service mentality,” Dominguez says. “Jovanny would manage groups and strive to do his best on the job for his customers.”
His brother Guillermo, the firm’s third partner, first went into the hotel industry and into photography, which he continues to practice for the benefit of True Aesthetic’s social media ages and website, and whose excellent work is showcased in these pages of Pintor Pro.
“What unites the three of us is dedication to the client,” Dominguez notes.
True Aesthetic Painting’s office is located in the north area of Atlanta, in the middle of the trendy and busy commercial area surrounding the Atlanta Braves baseball stadium. Isidro Javier Dominguez explains that they chose that location to attract the hotly contested commercial clientele in the area.
What work do you specialize in?
We do 85 percent residential, new homes and repaint, and 15 percent commercial work. We work with several large builders, well-known companies that commission us to do houses that are true works of art, both new and repaints. We have a high-end clientele and our specialty is quality finishes, accents and details – that’s our selling point. We are sought after for our attention to detail. Since we do a lot of new homes, builders are our biggest clients. So, our work also represents the company that hires us, and we strive to do our best work to make the builder look good.
How do you handle scheduling?
We now have seven crews working each day on different projects, and every month we can have up to 15 different projects. The houses we paint can’t be finished in a week. Sometimes one of those houses is a five- to six-month project that we have to paint in stages. For example, we might paint the outside this month and paint the inside the next month. The following month we finish the interior, then come back a month later for touch-ups. These are properties ranging from 4,000 to 12,000 square feet. We are talking about mansions.
How does Sherwin-Williams help True Aesthetic succeed?
In so many ways. For starters, there’s a store within 10 minutes of every project, and I’ve known my sales rep for 15 years. Also, the level of customer service in the stores is second to none, as are their recommendations and product knowledge. And when it comes to the products, I have total confidence in them. The best products make a big difference. Sherwin-Williams has products for every situation, and that helps us a lot.
If we have a large order, we place it a week in advance, coordinating with the managers to see if they have the products and then we place the orders by email. Sometimes we use the useful Sherwin-Williams PRO+ App. We also have a credit account that helps us to keep our records and receipts. The people at Sherwin-Williams always make life easier for us, and if we have bigger needs, they extend the credit and at the end of the month we pay it off. As the saying goes, “clear accounts, long friendships.”
What advice would you give to a young person who wants to get into painting?
The same as for any job. You must love what you are doing. If you go in just for the money, you’re not going to do well. We’re in a great country where you can do anything you want and, if you’re good and know how to get noticed, you’re going to do well.
Are you worried about competition from very small contractors who may charge less?
Not every client is going to be for us, and we are not going to be for every client. There is work for everyone. The type of customer who hires us knows what they are paying for. Our thing is customer service, respect for their time, their property, which is where many painters fail. From the simplest thing like parking in your driveway and cracking the concrete, mistreating the grass, leaving oil stains. We try to be very careful, to treat your property as if it were our own home, and give you the same service regardless of the price of the job.
Hiring is always a challenge in our field. What is your retention strategy?
Just offer a good place to work. And pay well, pay fair. Paying fair is a win-win. One of our goals is to always be looking for work, even if we are working at full capacity. We are always looking for more contracts, new clients, so we can have secure work and keep our people busy. Otherwise, people leave. And we also look for jobs that pay well so all of us can earn.
This article was originally published in the Summer 2021 issue of Pintor Pro magazine. Story by Jorge Arboleda, Pintor Pro senior editor. Photos courtesy True Aesthetic Painting. Read about other successful pro painters in the Pintor Pro magazine archive.
