Richmond-based One Day Painting Inc. promises to finish the job in one day flat. There’s a bonus for customers if the job takes longer
Brian Morton
Sun
Jim Bodden, founder and president of One Day Painting Inc., has monthly sales of about $50,000. The Richmond company was launched only six months ago. Bodden’s plan is to sell franchises. Photograph by: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun
ONE DAY PAINTING INC.
Website: www.onedaypainting.com
Startup costs: $50,000
Number of full-time employees: 10
Number of jobs per week: about four
Total retail sales per month: about $50,000
– – –
So you’ve finally come to the conclusion that an open house may be the best way to sell your home, although the one thing that’s essential to entice those potential buyers is a spiffy new coat of paint.
But it has to be done fast — real fast — and with a minimum of fuss.
A new Richmond-based company is getting a growing list of customers by offering a solution — a complete paint job of an office or home in one day flat.
One Day Painting Inc. launched just six months ago, but already has monthly sales of about $50,000.
The ultimate plan is to sell franchises, but that’s still several months away.
“It will be four or five months anyway before we’re confident that someone could start a One Day franchise and be successful from day one,” company president and general manager Jim Bodden said in an interview. “There’s a lot of fine-tuning.”
Bodden — a veteran house painter who also owns Bodden Painting, which focuses on larger industrial and business-park buildings — came up with the concept two years ago when he was considering different types of services.
“I thought, ‘How about getting in and out on the same day, but still with the same quality?'”
The only way to do that is to bring in a large crew to tackle the project in many parts of a building at once.
“The most painters we’ve had on one job is 13,” Bodden said.
One Day Painting got off the ground with a $50,000 investment, and now employs 10 full-time painters.
Today, Bodden’s company has about four one-day jobs each week, a number he hopes to increase to six or seven within a year.
“We guarantee it in one day. But if I don’t feel it can be done, we give a two-day completion and a one-day vacation. That means we put [the clients] up in a nice hotel, with a gift card for dinner.”
Bodden said the secret to doing a complete painting (interior or exterior) in a day is preparation.
“There’s a lot of pre-planning before a painter arrives on site. We get a call and go out and take photos. We have to ensure it’s clean before the job. We get the colours approved. And each painter knows exactly what they’re supposed to do.
“I can’t just throw 10 guys on a house and hope it gets done that day. A typical work day is eight or nine hours, sometimes a little longer. And we use eco-friendly paint, 100-per-cent acrylic, which dries a lot faster.
“We reduce the disruption to zero.”
Bodden said one of his big challenges in developing the brand has been that it is a new concept and potential customers are not familiar with the process.
He said there is often a misconception that the quality of work is inferior because of how fast the job gets done.
“In fact, the opposite is true, because of how systemized and organized each project is. Some of our more skeptical customers have been pleasantly surprised that a superior-quality project can be done in a short time frame.
“So we’re realizing that educating the public on how our process can produce quality results is our main challenge right now.”
Bodden adds that customer service is essential for any entrepreneur. “You can offer low prices and good quality, but if you can’t back it up with good follow-up service, you won’t succeed.”
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
