So You Want to Start a Painting Business?

 By: Andy Thompson

If you've ever seen one of those “Top 10 Small Business to Start” lists then you probably know that the house painting business opportunity has been a contender for years.

One of the nicest things about owning a painting business is the flexibility it can offer.  The income potential is so high that it is quite possible to work just three to four days a week and still make $50-$60000 a year.  

House painting is one of those rare business opportunities that is nearly recession proof and can put financial security within reach for a great number of people. 

There are no formal education requirements and basic painting and business skills are all that are necessary to succeed.  (Most of which can be learned with the right painting business building home study course).

The demands of a house painter are typically only light physical labor, which can be done by men or women, young or old.  A painting business can be used as a full time or part time income source. 

Being a painting business owner not only offers the potential to quickly earn a professional income it also offers the feeling of fulfillment and pride that comes with being self-employed and self-sufficient.

Not to mention the instant gratification you get every day you complete a job and add another satisfied customer to your list, followed by depositing another large check into your growing bank account.  It’s a nice gig!

The best advice I can offer the person considering starting their own painting business is to spend some time gathering information from reputable sources about how to market your painting business as well as how to bid and estimate paint jobs, or what I like to call the business side of the painting business.

One question I get asked quite frequently by new painting business owners is “what kind of jobs should I go after…”?  This is a marketing question.

The answer I give is always the same.  Begin by targeting residential repaints.  They are plentiful and by far the easiest jobs to paint, they have incredible profit margins and very low overhead.

The residential repaints niche is insatiable; there is enough work in that segment of the painting industry to stay booked and profitable for a lifetime.

Another wonderful benefit that makes starting a painting business so enticing is that you don't need a large budget to get started.  One of the biggest misconceptions about growing a profitable painting business is that you have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising in order to bring in work. 

This is simply not true especially if you target residential repaints.  It is a fact that you can grow a thriving 100% referral based painting business with next to zero traditional advertising. 

With the help of some very simple systems even a person who is starting from scratch can have their painting business up and running and making money in seven days or less on a budget as small as $250.00.

These are just some of the reasons starting a painting business gets so many people excited and why this outstanding opportunity winds up on the list of the best small business to start nearly every year.