There are an estimated 259,775 painting companies throughout the United States, and choosing the right one to take care of your home can be overwhelming.
Fortunately, in a crowded industry filled with dizzying competition, one franchise in particular has emerged at the head of the pack to help take out the guesswork—
Fresh Coat Painters.
Founded in 2004, Fresh Coat prides itself on being different. Like other companies, they specialize in both interior and exterior residential and light commercial painting. But what makes
Fresh Coat truly unique is that they use bonded, insured, and background-checked painters who are employees of the franchisee and not subcontractors like used by some other companies. By introducing that level of professionalism into a highly-fragmented industry, Tara Riley, president of Fresh Coat, believes they’ve struck gold in an untapped niche.
According to Riley, homeowners value true customer service, but oftentimes with subcontractor work, trust and quality can fall to the wayside. Fresh Coat aims to add that missing element by ensuring that their painters are at the location on time, that those who paint are insured and that they’ve had a thorough background check performed. By guaranteeing that every painter setting foot inside a client’s home is an employee of a Fresh Coat franchisee, they’ve been able to enact more control over all of these fundamentals.
“We are the only major painting company that has its own employees. It allows us to control the quality of the job,” said Tara Riley, president of Fresh Coat. “That’s why we are growing so rapidly—because of repeat business. That’s because customers get great service, and it means people will stick with our company for years rather than just being hired on a per-project basis.”
Fresh Coat began franchising in 2005—only a year after it was founded. Since then, the brand has expanded to 35 states and is operated by more than 130 franchisees. Fresh Coat has consistently been recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as a “Top 100 Low-Cost” and “Top 100 Home-based” franchise. The $29,350 suggested liquid capital required is relatively low for buying into the $31 billion home services industry and overall investment estimates range from $47,350 to $74,950.
“This business is very strong and very profitable. There’s not a lot of overhead. For the price of a new luxury car, you can buy your very own Fresh Coat business,” Riley said.
When it comes to growing their brand through their franchise system, Riley believes the key to success for both franchisees and the company is a sound onboarding process. At Fresh Coat, that process starts with a three-week training program for new business owners called “Base Coat” training. This initial training is done at the brand’s Cincinnati headquarters, and it covers the basics of opening and running the business, how to assess potential employees and how to use the company’s proprietary quoting software—Fresh Coat’s own unique technology that allows someone with no experience in the industry to come in and provide a profitable quote that is fair to the consumer and the franchisee.
“We do everything in our power to get franchise owners off on the right foot quickly, so they enjoy immediate and continued success,” Riley said.
Fresh Coat puts that same kind of effort into making sure they’re hiring the right painters, too. To do so, the company partners with Sherwin-Williams and Prep to Finish—both of whom specialize in painter training—to make sure that each of their painters is as well-versed as possible on best practices and methods when setting foot in a home.
With customer service that’s second to none in the industry, and a strong, well-rounded training program in place, Fresh Coast is set to expand significantly in the near future. And Riley believes that they’re more than equipped to completely change the face of the commercial painting industry, too.
“We really believe in building the best commercial-painting in the industry, and to do that, you need to start with trust, innovation and a passion for the pursuit of excellence. Fresh Coat provides all three of those promises, and we’re eager to watch the brand grow,” Riley said.