Running a profitable painting business takes a significant investment in time, effort and patience. As a business owner, it’s important to make strategic decisions to maximize profit and keep the business growing. This is especially true with equipment that is relied on every day.
More precise and efficient equipment saves time
Every painting contractor knows that increased productivity usually drives higher profits. But increasing productivity doesn’t always require adding more employees; the right equipment can increase productivity without adding a single new employee. Each year, new technology is introduced that provides new features that will help boost productivity. Even if it only saves minutes to an hour each day, these increments will add up so you complete jobs faster and start the next job quicker.
For example, some new airless sprayers have high-speed cleaning modes to reduce cleaning time — resulting in more time for spraying, thus higher productivity. And new lightweight, ergonomically designed airless spray guns help reduce fatigue so painters can perform at maximum productivity throughout an entire day. Also, new low-pressure spray tips can now be used on high-volume and large-surface-area jobs to use less coating and reduce overspray for less mess and shorter cleanup times.
In addition, select new sprayers provide access to a mobile app that works with Bluetooth®-equipped sprayers to track a sprayer’s location and hourly productivity information for each job. Features like this can reduce the number of visits a foreman makes to jobsites so they have more time to focus their attention on improving other areas of the business.
New technology helps avoid unexpected equipment failures
The saying “time is money” is especially true for professional contractors. All too often, ongoing equipment maintenance is ignored, which helps create the potential for unexpected equipment failure, resulting in downtime. This could cause a missed deadline that can hurt your business’ reputation and can potentially even eliminate the chances for future job opportunities.
With new technologies available on some of the newer spray equipment, staying current with regular maintenance is easier than ever before and can help maximize uptime and ROI on the initial equipment investment. The previously mentioned mobile app provides a way to capture in-field maintenance requests along with the ability to schedule regular maintenance. Simply set a preventative maintenance alert and the sprayer will provide a reminder when service is needed to keep sprayers running more often with less downtime.
In addition to new pumps that provide longer life than ever before, some new airless sprayers provide plug-and-play, no-tools replacement pumps for faster, easier servicing on the jobsite to prevent downtime. This user-friendly repair technology can also be found on airless spray guns. Select guns even allow painters to replace all wear parts in seconds with a single cartridge without using any tools. These solutions help you finish jobs faster and get to the next job quicker.
Expanding your offerings through new technology
New equipment can also provide the path to grow your business by expanding your services to secure more applications on each job. For painting contractors, the best approach may be to add the capability to spray other materials besides primer and paint, such as texture and Level 5 finishes or fireproofing applications.
While this may seem like a daunting proposition, select new texture sprayers provide the power and performance to spray drywall mud and more viscous materials as well as primers and paints. By doing more applications, you can assure that all surfaces are properly prepped while experiencing added efficiencies by keeping a full schedule, staying on jobs longer and reducing transportation costs—further increasing your profitability.
An expanded capability set is also more attractive to general contractors, as it helps streamline jobsite information to deliver the customer’s expectations while using fewer resources.
Increased productivity and profitability can be one simple equipment upgrade away — especially if a new piece if equipment is already being considered. Stay on top of new equipment and technologies when visiting your local paint store and browsing online. There is a good chance the equipment needed to transform your business is waiting there for you.
This article was written by Dan Johnson, who joined Graco in 2007 and now serves as the Global Product marketing manager for the company’s Contractor Equipment Division’s Pro Paint segment. He is responsible for developing and implementing market development plans across the professional paint industry. See a full list of professional spray equipment at the Sherwin-Williams contractor website.
