Image courtesy: istockphoto
Friends, there’s my family business of Painting Contracts. We are Painting contractors of Industries, Residential Places or any wall wanting to get groomed in a new colour. We provide full range of painting services like applying Distemper Paints, Plastic Paints, Royale Paints and many more. My Dad has been in this business for over 36 years and my Brother too has been for somewhat 4-5 years. (I’m not sure whether the Painting line can be termed as business but still it feels good to term it as business here). Initially when my Dad started, he made a very good fortune and become a prominent figure in this painting line. The key to his success has been his hard work, hunger for more & more work, working very late and quality oriented but we also need to thank the monopoly he had in those days when he started.
There were very few Painting contractors in the city when he started which helped him to amass good affluence in a very short time. At that time he had a strong team of 80-100 skilled painters. He never faced the shortage of laborers as men from our native place always kept pouring in asking for any available job. They would come here and learn the skill of painting job and become a skilled laborer in 2-3 months and get a decent pay. But gradually something went wrong. There came a year 2005 when more and more people started entering this line of Painting contractors and the monopoly which we had was lost in a very short span of time.
In his golden period he didn’t had to go out to search work. Customers themselves came searching for us and were also ready to pay a premium to get their job done by us. But gradually everything changed and my dad didn’t realized the fast changing world around him. To cut a story short, our market share from 90% came to as low as 10%. Such catastrophic was the hit.
Having completed my MBA, I started to analyze this segment of Painting Business more from the managerial point of view. In my opinion this line has significant potential. I think this because:
- This line is more unorganized, the painting contractors are mostly uneducated (With all due respect) and aren’t much organized in their approach. They are still using the orthodox means of doing business. I think, I can introduce many changes which will expedite the process and lure more customers because of our ability to complete the projects on the promised date and to their satisfaction.
- I see constant development and construction in the regions of Vapi, Daman & Silvassa. (Vapi is the place where I reside.) All this 3 regions have in total of more than 9000 Industries which require the painting job from time to time basis especially the Pharmaceutical industries.
- I have also prepared the strategy of targeting the Bungalows in these regions. I have planned special offers for the Bungalow owners. There are more than 1000 big bungalows in Vapi Itself which adds to my craving to enter this Painting line and redefine its terms of business.
- I want to become the No.1 Painting contractor in India. That is my vision, to become the best in the industry because no one is yet to achieve that feat and with the support of my Dad’s experience in this line, I think I can make it through.
At the moment I’m doing an On-field marketing job for a fastener mfg. company in the regions of Vapi, Daman & Silvassa. But lately, I’ve been thinking to jump in this Painting line which is full of opportunities.
Now the actually problem why I wrote this article is here, I would highly appreciate your valuable feedback to help me take a decision. So here it begins:-
Few days back I expressed my interest of joining this painting line to my Dad and my Brother. I spoke to both of them on separate occasions. I expressed them my plans & my strategies. I revealed many bright side of the business & the untapped market at the disposal and the changes we could bring to this industry. But to my surprise, I received advice cum warnings to stay away from this line. They said they have been in this painting line for quite a while now and they don’t want me to join this business because of the following reasons:
- Firstly, this business isn’t meant for the whole year. During the rainy season, the business is completely down for around 4 months. So it’s more like having business for just 2/3rd of the year.
- The problem of labourers is the most critical one. The labourers go to their natives during the summer season for harvesting or just to meet their families and return only after the month of August.
- My brother also gave examples of others painters who have exited this line and opted for some other profession just because of the above mentioned 2 reasons. He kept stressing on the problems of labourers.
- He told, since we have lost our monopoly and reduced market share, we are uncertain of getting business regularly, so we also can’t keep labourers on salary basis to avoid the problem of labourers, as it is risky, we may either get business or not and currently we face the financial crunch to take a risk in this matter.
- In the absence of the labourers when any business comes to us, we have to go & pick up labourers from “naaka”. Mostly the naaka workers aren’t skilled and still they dare to ask you for a wage which is equivalent to the skilled labourers and some of them have the courage and to ask a wage even more than a skilled labourer. They say, “Sahab, yeh hi market rate hai”. So when we take them to work, they don’t give output as per their pay which leads to a very thin margin.
So my questions are as below:-
What innovative I can do in this painting line to regain our lost monopoly?
What to do in those empty 4 months of monsoon season? ( Please don’t say, “Change your line”)
And the most crucial question, how can I solve this problem of labourers (Painters)?
I would be really thankful to any of your valuable advice on the above subject matter. Please don’t hate my average English.
******
Awarded the
“Rodinstar” Post
of the week!!
asha chaudhry
hey ankit,
quick one – where are you based? your profile says vapi? is that correct?
Ankit Gupta
Yes, its Vapi. A small city in the state of Gujarat adjoined to Silvassa and Daman.
Rupin
Labour is and is going to be a problem in India for sometime now.
My 2 cents
1) There are a lot of new age companies who need snazzy and creative workplaces. I think Bangalore, Noida, Gurgaon are hubs for such companies. These folks want to have , not just a painted wall, but a wall that speaks. This is outside the reach of general painting labourers, but needs artists. This could be a niche you could evaluate.
2) For those four months of lessened business, do you translate your skills to painting outside of buildings than inside?
3) For the months where you have work and less labour at hand, its a tough spot to be in. this is the farming season, where people go back to till their lands and what not. How about geographically and seasonally knowing who does’nt travel back home during summer? Is there a certain state or geography within India that has a delayed season where folks return back home?
I understand that you want to go Pan India with your business. It is going to be expensive taking your team everywhere you go. Maybe a franchise option will work in your favour.
Ankit Gupta
Thank you so much Rupin for taking out time and going through my post.
1)I’m really thankful that you analyzed it from a wider perspective and introduced me to a niche that i could cater to specifically. And i liked your words “These folks want to have , not just a painted wall, but a wall that speaks” and I’ll do more study on this niche and see how it can be worked out.
2)Secondly, Clients mostly postpone the painting activity even if it’s meant to done in the interior part of the premises. Also the fact that the paint doesn’t dries up easily in these rainy time which extends number of days adding to clients disliking. They want to get the job done asap.
3) Oh yes, I can try looking for laborers this way.
And ofcourse, its going to be on the expensive side but If i ever succeed in my vision of becoming the No.1 Painting Contractor in India I’m sure franchise model will be playing a big role in it.
I sincerely Thank You Rupin.
Omkar Nisal
Some suggestions for monsoon:
Omkar Nisal
May be technology could be your answer in labor shortage months :
Near by engineering college students would definitely be able to this project for you. Its not too difficult..
Omkar Nisal
May be something like this is available in India ? Quick drying paint
Do also try Japan Drier and MEKO but do it with caution .. read more here
Of course labour intensive and expensive heat guns are also available.
Omkar Nisal
Noisy and not too great result but mechanism ideas could be borrowed from this video
more tech info to help you build your own painting machine [despite the horizontal video presentation.] 🙂
and quick painting tip might be helpful
asha chaudhry
ankit – i have a crazy idea for monsoon.
go meet students at the faculty of fine arts, msu – baroda.
or NID a’bad.
see if you can do something creative with them!
wall art! it can be huge considering the fact that people in gujarat are blessed with large houses…..
Nikhil J
Hey Ankit,
* What innovative I can do in this painting line to regain our lost monopoly?
–>
1) Don’t just focus around Gujrat – considering the fact that there is huge market almost in every major city. Your next step should be cities like “Pune”.
2) Don’t just focus on painting – start doing things like interior designing etc (start a subsidiary?). These days interior designer are primarily responsible for every other design decision.
* What to do in those empty 4 months of monsoon season? ( Please don’t say, “Change your line”)
–> Interior designing, home re-design. Improve your house / home. Cleaning. etc. There are so many things you can do in this business.
* And the most crucial question, how can I solve this problem of labourers (Painters)?
–> This is something I am not sure of. In my opinion – you can solve this by using contractors and partners.
Last but not the least – I think you should hire me as profit based consultant. 😀 …
Anuraag Jain
hey Ankit,
try using spray paint guns. it will result in less paint and labour used, quick dry, superb finish. also you can make alot of different designs using stencils with this method.
added benefit is a quick turn around time. 🙂
Ankit Gupta
Whooooaaa!!! These are some real cool insights. Firstly, very thankful to you for taking out time and providing me with these invaluable insights.
I had that Kid’s room idea in mind but allowing the kids to paint their own room is something real catchy you brought up.I could see this happening in future. I’ll be brainstorming really hard on this.
Stencils, Stickers, seems really interesting and viable.
Yes, we do use vertical fans at times for drying, but haven’t tried the electrical heater thing. And I see myself using it very soon.
I’m not sure about the alcohol thing, but it does sounds logical as it will evaporate soon :D.
Once again thanking you sincerely for all the efforts you took; Sharing the links, invaluable insights, new possible avenues.
Thank you Boss!!
Ankit Gupta
Thank you Omkar, I saw every video you have linked above and I educated myself about so many technological advancements going on this painting industry around the globe. I learnt from every video and the “Direct to wall inkjet printer” was a brilliant one. As i advance in my profession I wish to use this technology.
Ankit Gupta
Hi Asha!
I’ll sure plan on meeting the students at MSU, Baroda. Yes, Gujarat is blessed with large houses and specifically this Vapi region (as per my observation). Wall art is a big opportunity indeed !!
Thank you for sharing the references (MSU & NID).
Chintan Lakhani
Monsoons indoors: Dehumidifiers can be faster and cheaper than most fans/blowers. Considering Vapi on the industrial belt, factory/plant scale dehumidifiers shouldn’t be too difficult to procure. CapEx can be recovered in Ops during monsoons, making that your company’s USP, all while making sure the machine name is not revealed. Reminds me of days of Pan Parag when the proprietors/partners used to instruct factory workers to add 2 buckets of red water with half a bucket of blue water… “Be dol laal paani ne saathe adadhi dol vadli paani” when neither of them were water/paani, but the formula lasted for a long long time.
Chintan Lakhani
To add, introduce a MyDesign concept. Unskilled labor grown to painting contractors cannot provide this service/consulting kind of approach. A few hours reading color theory books articles is enough to advise clients on what indoor/outdoor colors are best suited for the expected results. Learn from how bad the colors on Airtel building on NH8 Delhi-Gurgaon highway looks, to how orange in bedrooms is not as good as orange in living/drawing rooms or office internal meeting rooms and not client meeting rooms, to draw your insights. The killer is “insight”. Painting service providers/contractors are available a dime a dozen – completely commoditized.
Omkar Nisal
You are most welcome bro!
You know, on my brother’s birthday (in college years) we managed to get him go out with some friends on a long drive, and before he came, me and his entire school and college best friends had his room emptied of furniture, then taped plastic paper on all four walls, and then another layer of paper.Then of course everyone wrote their birthday wishes, drew old memories or painted graffiti all over the room with few brushes and water colors!
Everyone had a blast and of course lot of memories and special moments remembered and created!
May be you could do the same in a special birthday hall (business tie up with halls?) dedicated for such kind of thing in monsoon and other seasons as well ! 🙂
There might not be much revenue in this but you can definitely get a tremendous publicity and brand building and social media love by doing when one painting event per quarter!
Good luck !!
asha chaudhry
dear ankit,
i painted something at the bottom of your post!
your “average english” gave you a rather awesome heading. i’m sure it struck a chord with everyone!!
do pls keep us updated on what you decide to do….!
Hardik Khanna
Hi Ankit
My suggestion is you need to:
1. Understand customers pain points
2. Move up the value chain
Like you said there is no organized player . So thats where the opportunity lies. Organized player brings promise of quality . One of the problems as a customer I face is that the work never gets completed on time and the whole place is upside down. Solve this problem.
You dont need to recruit painters. Hire them on contract or project basis. Give them higher pay for meeting your qality standards and timeline.
In long run create a brand for yourself. Asian paint does this.
Ankit Gupta
Thank you so much Nikhil, I just loved each and every suggestion of yours. And they are very much relevant to my painting line too.
* Interior designing, home re-design. Improve your house / home. Cleaning. etc. There are so many things you can do in this business.
–>Yes, Interior Designing does seems to be the answer for those 4 months off-season. “A subsidiary unit” – sounds wonderful. I’ll plan very soon to meet some interior designers and get more familiarity with interior designing.
* This is something I am not sure of. In my opinion – you can solve this by using contractors and partners.
–>I tried looking for contract labourers in this region, but didn’t find much on this that could be worked on. I’ll still keep toiling to fix this problem of labourers.
And YES Of course, I’ll be glad to welcome a consultant with such creative & bright ideas. Once i start getting traction in my pursuit, I’ll be definitely getting in touch with you.
Thank you Nikhil, for all the wonderful ideas.
Zeeshan Khan
I and you being an MBA, I can tell u in B-school jargons.
First things first. Monopolies are not created just like that. There are a couple of factors that gives a company monopoly. First thing is the presence of switching costs. Second is the network effects.
For Example: Microsoft has a monopoly because people find it difficult to switch over to any other OS because they know how to operate windows & office. Thus Microsoft has more than 95% market-share. Even Google faces the risk of switching costs that is why the launch of chrome and android through which it can put Google on every place of access.
I don’t see any switching costs involved in painting business. You can only create switching costs if you provide the best Quality of painting. Now thats easier said than done. First issue as you rightly said is LABOURS. You cannot hire employees on a payroll because your business is seasonal. The best way is only to hire them is on a contract basis. Now the problem with hiring on a contract basis is ‘Compromise on Quality’ which again leads to depletion of switching costs. If you hire people on a full time basis you can train them and henceforth reap the benefits out of it, i.e. you can create standards and procedures which leads to a better quality.
Also you have different classes of consumer segments. First is the Industries. Now I don’t think that industries wants to paint their buildings beautifully. The only thing that would interest industries is ‘PRICE’ rather than quality. If you could provide them with your painting services in lowest cost possible to them; then they would hire you for your service.
Another problem you missed out is the ‘duration of repurchase’. In easier terms, the time it would take your consumers to again get their properties painted. We got the exterior of our house painted in 2008, that too when my sister was getting married.
Thus the solution that I would recommend is that you increase you customer base. There are a lot of benefits from that. The success of a business highly depends on the no. of customers, whether a business may be a catering to higher segment of society or lower.
Thus you could look for following as customers: House owners, Industries, Colleges, Schools, Govt. Institutions etc. You could also tie up with Real-estate builders, interior decorators, architects, paint retailers and other people involved in the real estate industry. You could offer them commissions when they recommend you to anybody.
Now when you would target a higher no. of customers you would be gaining ‘Economies of Scale’. You could buy paints, brushes and equipments in Volumes and get a heavy discount. You could pass these margins to your customers and get the contracts or you can keep them for your own business.
Another advise is that when you do a business then provide your customers some incentives to buy from you again. For Example: offer you customers a coupon, say Rs. 2000, if they get your services again in the future. With corporates, try and create a contract with them that they would be getting their painting and maintaining services from you only for next 5 years and in return you would offer them a lower price. These measures would lead to lock-in of customers in your business.
Now coming to your goal of being the largest and no. one provider of painting services in India. In earlier replies people have recommended that pune and bangalore are good places to be. But putting your office in these places would require a lot of capital expenditure which I don’t think so you have. And even if you do its not smart to take so much of monetary risks when the business is so uncertain.
Thus i recommend that you try to became an aggregator first, by maintaining the database of painters in different cities. You can get this data from Justdial or else you go on the ground to acquire it. Contact different retailers of paints in different cities and ask them for the contact details of some painters. You can provide these details under your name through a website or a voice over service. This would not be even a fraction of cost that you would have spend in establishing yourself in different cities. Today website designers are like a commodity. You hurl a stone and every other guy it hits, would be a web designer. You could include some great apps in your website like customers could upload photos of their building and see how it would like like in different paints. This may though take some genius to build and a little more money.
You can then do a brand building excercise by making painters wear clothes and caps of your company when they go to paint. This adds credibility and status to your business. ‘Jo dikhta hai so bikta hai’.
Another thing is why don’t you want to get in other lines of business. IF YOU SEE MONEY; DO IT. A businessman should see things realistically. I don’t suggest you to start an Airline business. But do something that is closer to your business. Like sticking wallpapers or cleaning exterior glasses of building. This would add margins, diversify business, increase cash flow & mitigate risk.
When you become a big player at National level, then you could tie-up with companies like Nerolac or Asian Paints. Its a highly unorganized sector. Thus it would require a lot of hard work but your gain would be tremendous.
Also you need to move fast now since you have written it here. I am currently busy rolling out my new venture else I would have stolen your idea. Also you cannot move up the value chain coz you haven’t started yet. Its bullshit. And as a businessman, I know how difficult it is. It takes years to do.
Last thing, you wrote nicely, even better than what I would have written. English is the language of business. You are an MBA and about to be a businessman. You cannot apologize for your English. That is criminal and suicidal. It does not makes you sound humble, it gives a perception of lack of confidence. It shows that this guy would have done MBA from some Champa-Chameli College. Remember, in business, “IT IS NEVER MY FAULT”. If you accept your fault, then you lose your credibility and a chance that your customers would rip you off. Take my criticism in good light.
‘Confusion is the begining of clarity’. I wish you all the best, and hope you become India’s No.1. Keep updating.
Ankit Gupta
Thank You Anuraag for talking out time for me.
We do use spray paint guns. But they are mostly used where we need to give best finishing and lustrous glow to the subject. They could be used for purposes like grill painting, gate painting, deco painting, polishing the wooden furniture etc.
Yes, stencils it is. Even Omkar Nisal (Rodinhooder) adviced me for Stencils. Very soon they are going to be part of my armory.
Thank you once again.
Anckur Motwane
Hi Ankit,
I got my house painted 6 months back. And experience with painters is still afresh. Though Van Gogh is the other name when I think of painters 🙂
Sharing some experience and insights and suggestions.
1. Painting industry is largely labor intensive and going to remain the same for long time to come. If you dealing with houses and apartments, you can’t think of bring in technology because the cost (assuming painting technology is expensive). And technology may work out only in case of industries.
2. Painting Industries is price sensitive, labor intensive, non-innovative and unorganized.
Team Building
1. An my experience, labor started their day for work, at 9:30 or 10 am and wind up by 5:30 pm. They use to have 2 tea breaks and more than couple of bidi breaks (Indian cigarette) and meals and nature’s call and phone calls and what not. Neither they were pro-active and speedy and on time and unprofessional as well. And these are your employees, so you need to understand your employees first.
These lads only understand language of “how much”, how much for this painting job. (I may sound harsh and blunt to you, but yes, that’s how it is).You can’t deal with How Much problem, you should be prepared to pay high, as in most part of your profits should be going to them, to develop and rope their interest in this industry.
2. Fortunately, those who worked at my place, were skilled enough to perform an amazing paint job, but they still committed mistakes and sometimes blunders even when being skilled and being in industry since so long. Quality and finishing was still compromised, but yes, was corrected on informing them. But that was because of non-professionalism and carelessness. Causing time wastage and material wastage and bad service.
a) Make them look professionals with uniform. what they gonna appear, they might in-act too.
b) Set a timeline for work. Under state the time to labors, then the deadline you have got for yourself.
c) Develop a training program and empower, train, deal in small multiple teams, which are managed by contractors.
d) Be a aggregator, get all the painting business at one stop, which is you.
e) Lure them by money and price only. Earn them more business and money, they will earn it for you.
f) Introduce price-list for painting, like Rs 10/sqft for one type of quality, and Rs 20/sqft for the other. There by maintaining quality. It will help you create benchmarks and cost and quality differentiation, enabling you to cater to larger audience.
g) Create Value : Innovate and try something new. Design, creativity and beauty, will surely earn you margins and publicity.
Off Seasonal time can be roped in for training program only. And those traveling to native places, creating back up and allowing teams to travel at different timeline shall help. Like letting 2 teams go on leave, only one after the other.
Be front face to your customers and make them do work at the back end. Keep slash of commission per job for yourself and raise and train and empower, more and more team.
Ankit Gupta
Thank you so much Chintan,
I’ll check the dehumidifier thing. Can you share with me the link where i can study the Pan Parag story you mentioned. Sounds interesting!!
Ankit Gupta
Wow!!! That’s going to stay as one of my most memorable painting.
Yes!!! It did stuck a chord. I’m so glad I posted my dilemma here, I’m introduced to so many new ideas from Rodinhooders that i actually could work upon.
And a big thanks to you :-).
Ankit Gupta
Hi Hardik, thank you so much for your time.
1) “Pain Points” – Yes, I too had that point in my head from the very start I thought of jumping in this line. To understand my customer pain points more better, I’m planning to do a survey asking my prospects a set of questions and taking their suggestion as to, What problems they have been facing in their past painting experiences? where i can improvise?, and so on.
2) Just to solve a problem similar to your experience I can do stuffs like, I Would promise a concrete date to my clients before starting the work and ensure that by any mean I finish it before the promised date either by hiring extra labourers or doing night shifts too. I know it’s easier said than done but that’s what going to discern me from the rest.
Another pain that i have heard House owners have is, After the paint of the house is done, most of the painting contractors don’t clean up the small droplets of paint stains on the floors, staircase etc. And I promise, none of my clients will have to complain for this.
Ankit Gupta
Whoooaaaa!!!! That’s an exhaustive overhauling you’ve done of my business and I just loved it!!
1. For switching cost, I think i need to extend the best painting experience to my clients and also could offer 2 years warranty for my work.
2. Yes, I agree that Industries are more Price oriented. In future I also plan to setup a little training centre of my own where Unskilled labourers will get training for about one month. In their training period their pay would be decent but post training considering their improved skills, their pay will be raised.
Loved the idea of offering incentives to customer for repurchase. I had to say, you got some killer insights. I’m more pumped after reading your analysis.
Each and every word of yours are soaked in completely. Lastly, Do not steal my idea 😀
Thanks a ton bro!!
Zeeshan Khan
🙂
Ankit Gupta
Wow!!
So much to learn for me!. I loved your suggestion of “creating backup team and allowing teams to travel at different timeline. Like letting 2 teams go on leave, only one after the other.”
Thank you Ankur, I’ve learnt many things from your analysis and i need to work on many of them to achieve what I have envisioned for myself..
Once again thank you so much for the time you took out.
Ankit Gupta
Wow! That’s really a creative thing you people planned and executed. I literally could visualize that room.
Let’s see how i could blend it in my profession. Another creative idea i stock for the near future.
Thank you Omkar!
Zeeshan Khan
1. For providing warranty, I think you will need to make sure that the quality of products for e.g. putty, paint etc. are of high quality. And include the conditions for which the warranty would be valid, else customer may start misusing it. Also you need to be very careful in your financial analysis for the same. You need to set aside a provision.
2. For setting up a training centre, you could get some funding from the govt. I don’t know exactly but there is some help and grants provided by the Govt. You can look into these links:
https://www.nsdcindia.org/pdf/proposal-private-players.pdf
https://nscsindia.org/AboutUs.aspx
Omkar Nisal
You are most welcome Ankit! 🙂
Omkar Nisal
Hey why not tie up with a graphic designer on Rodinhoods to help with awesome wall designs for your premium clients?
Anckur Motwane
What should work aptly for this kind of unorganized business, is mostly dealing in teams. Creating equilibrium between centralization and decentralization of control and quality assurance.
You will have to deal with multiple teams, train them with intensive and detailed training program, there by dissolving quality, professionalism and benchmark in their ecosystem. And define the grades of quality , with different price point, which will help you to scale and I guess the only way to scale with such labor intensive industry. In a way being aggregator and trainer to teams.
Along with that, after completion of jobs, get it quality checked and assured by a team right under you. A quality assurance department right under your nose to approve each job on scale, there by ensuring quality and consistency.
Ankit Gupta
Wow! Thank you Zeeshan.
I’ll check the links
Sudhakar Orsu
HI Ankit ,
Painting is a wide range industry and it has very good scope in Real Estate Market for Painting contractor who apply creative thoughts. Its combination of Design, Art and Colors choice .
I am providing few inputs; it may help you as per your aspiration and if your dream is on No.1 Painting contractor in India then we need think Out of Box .
Your major concerns and possible solutions:
1) Monsoon impact :
2) Labor impact ( Insufficient skills / required huge wages for daily basis/weekly basis):
3) Regaining as MONOPOLY:
Think about what you provide value add-on for your client / customer, apart from your paintings.
You may charge for few things may not be all.
1) Wall cracking –Filling holes mechanism – Service might be free , you can charge for the rest of the things
2) Wall Fading – Able to Suggest with required paintings color / product?
3) Rain Penetration – Able to Suggest .
4) Interior design for old houses / Bungalows: Are you able to suggest Interior designs with free of cost based on old proto type?
You will reach your target when you’re able to satisfy the client /customer.
Let me provide painting areas with few details so that it will be good for you .
Painting has various kinds of areas – briefly
– Required High end interior design with paintings
B. category -2) Hotels / Restaurants /Apartments/ individual houses
– Required medium interior design with paintings .
C. category -3) Public places/ Govt offices / Govt Hospitals /
– Required normal paintings
Above categories are just for your understanding and now think about your strategy on market.
Want to be a No.1 Painting contractor in India then couple of queries and possible suggestions as per my knowledge:
ü What is your projected market in your City?
If it is growing/developing city, then it’s well and good for startups and try to target your city first and capture the market ( already having 9000 Pharmaceutical industries) , but as an entrepreneur thinks always “OUT OF BOX” and endless boundaries .
ü Do have Interior design team?
If you have Interior design team, it’s well and good, If not having tie-ups with other teams make sense.
ü Do you have contacts with painting industries / distributors / franchise?
Franchise with other vendors / Trainings from Painting industries on new products/ Having contacts with distributors.
ü Do you have marketing team for you?
It’s better having marketing team if you want to catch new projects / new clients.
ü Do you have your own office setup?
It’s better having small office – for marketing, websites – to show your ability and capture new clients.
ü Is painting work having co-relations with other wings for other labors?
Yes – While working on paintings, you can figure out other wings – Paints (painters and interior designers), Repairs (plumbers ), Power cables wiring work ( electricians ) , Wood work ( carpenters )….
You can spread aspirations as much as you expected …………
Wish you all the best … 🙂
Yours
Orsu
Ankit Gupta
Hi Sudhakar, thank you so much for going through my post and providing me with some new insights. I liked the way how you have segregated every aspect related in the painting industry and also enabled me to have a similar perspective through your analysis.
Yes, I agree with you that to be at the No.1, it has to be something Out of the Box and combining your ideas with all the other suggestions i’ve recieved here at the Rodinhoods, which I believe will surely lead to something Out of the Box and more closer to my GOAL.
And I really liked each of the below mentioned tips by you:
1) Wall cracking –Filling holes mechanism – Service might be free , you can charge for the rest of the things
2) Wall Fading – Able to Suggest with required paintings color / product?
3) Rain Penetration – Able to Suggest .
4) Interior design for old houses / Bungalows: Are you able to suggest Interior designs with free of cost based on old proto type?
Thank you so much Sudhakar for the time you took out for me. Thank You.
Amit Shroff
Ankit,
Labour is a problem, whether skilled or non-skilled. If you consider us at Professional Labours, there is an issue in today’s world, no body simply no one would like to justify their salary and take responsibilities. Hence you will have to find ways to handle it.
Yes painting is a challenging line, because the other person cannot judge the quality, secondly service is not provided post the job is done. Hence in order to improve market share one should consider looking at improving customer satisfaction and service, yes cost is a factor too, hence to ensure you give good service don’t double charge a customer.
Here are certain suggestions.
Regards,
Amit
+919811122212
Abey John
Okay here’s my take:
1. You can never regain the lost monopoly. Back in the day your father was a pioneer in the field when there were not enough players. Contract painting was a specialty. Now it is a commodity. The question you should be asking is: How can I create a monopoly in this commoditized space?
2. Monsoon suggestions: Indoor paint jobs. Special pricing. The reality is that in wet weather paints don’t dry and so everything will take longer. Can you do a paint job that is not slowed down by the weather? Use it as your marketing season. Bad paint jobs will start showing worse when the surface is wet and you could offer a special booking drive with advance down payment so that you start the painting as soon as the rains stop. You’ll need to create an irresistible incentive for them to plonk down the advance.
3. As long as you are hiring daily wagers you’ll have this problem. You need to have a small team on the rolls. Or create a preferred list of painters and offer them a higher wage but you will need your own project manager/supervisor then to kick their ass if they slack off.
General thoughts:
1. You need to position yourself as a specialist. You have the pedigree and depth of experience.
2. Forget volume go for high value contracts only. Get out of the price wars. Price yourself 20% higher than everyone else. Back the higher price with stronger guarantees.
3. Its not the size of the job but the quality. Position yourself as someone who offers higher quality. Some amount of branding maybe good. Worker overalls with your company name. Scrupulous attention to detail when they go into paint a residence for instance. All the exposed non-paint surfaces like floors etc get covered with plastic sheets or similar. And so on.
4. With such an approach you can’t work with contractors unless the client themselves specify you. You’ll need to reach out to residences, offices, etc.
5. Become a source of advice and expertise (blog!) for any standard/non-standard painting application.
6. If there is something new in the paint market, be the first to find out about the details and pitch it to prospects.
7. Create a conversion funnel and keep them engaged. You’ll create a steady “endless” supply of customers. The hard part is implementing the conversion funnel, that can break your back. 🙂
Ankit Gupta
Thank you so much Amit for sharing your ideas with me. Just as you mentioned, “service is not provided post the job is done”; That is where I’m gonna improvise and offer 1 year’s service against any issue in our painting job, may it be even a slight touch-up work or a big thing to be fixed in reference to our painting job, our painters will see the client within 48 hours(maximum) and fix the thing at the earliest. This is one of the ways how i wish to develop ourselves as a Brand and a reliable Professional Painting Contractors.
Wow!! I checked both of your websites, you got a great website and a wonderful range of products. Wallpapers, I’m planning to have them added to my list of services in very near future.. Now I have your contact number, I’ll get in touch with you 🙂
Thank you Amit!!
Ankit Gupta
Thank you so much Abey John for your reply,
And Yes, that’s the question I should be asking, “How can I create a monopoly in this commoditized space?”
Yes, I’m using this monsoon season as a marketing season. Post rain, I believe my potential customers are going to rise due to rain damaging the exterior walls of their premises. I see many bungalows here who have already lost their lusture because of rain and they would be my target post-monsoon. Till then I’m working on creating some lucrative offers for them.
I’ve made e-fliers which I’ll be mailing to the industries from tomorrow.
I’m planning to expand my network base by increasing the no. of customers as the more the number of customers, the more the chances of getting frequent business. Atleast I’ll stay occupied most of the time. And once I built up the network, then I can pounce on the idea of charging a premium for special offerings.
We’ve been practicing the approach of covering all the furnitures, floorings, and every important thing on house with plastic sheets, and will continue to do that :-).
Thank you so much for each thought of yours, I’ll be working on them.
Amit Shroff
Thanks for the Appreciation Ankit. You are most welcome. Let me know if you wish to start an eCommerce store for painting. It could be a change that you can bring to Industry, where customers can buy it online with clearity on what will be offered to them.
I know it is challenging since the current wall situation also decide on the cost etc etc. But think of a innovation and idea.
Omkar Nisal
Check out the awesome wall art these guys have made…
they have mentioned price for each design as well …
Decorative wall paintings
Ankit Gupta
Wow!! This is real good stuff. This is what I wish to add to my product line. I checked their facebook profile and have left a message, awaiting their reply.
Thank you so much Omkar for sharing these great links.
Sincere Thanks!
Omkar Nisal
Direct to wall inkjet printer
wall inkjet printer
Ankit Gupta
Wow!! Thank you for the share.
This is Wonderful Omkar, especially the Mural Wall Printer. I went to the Zeescape website. They are Australia based. I am curious what color they are using for the print and what’s the life of the mural wall print. I’ve Just emailed them my queries.
Ankit Gupta
Thank you Omkar for this share, I got in touch with the Zeescape people in India. They are based at Rajkot, they sent me the images of the Actual wall print, the brochure of their products, and every details regarding machine. I’ve planned to visit them in the coming week.
Omkar Nisal
Awesome!!
Glad to know that you are gearing your business up with latest technologies!
Please always remember :
Our common desi crowd is usually very price sensitive… and elite crowd as well as good paying businesses are much less price sensitive but are quality conscious.
Kindly define your service prices & quality, keeping this in mind.
Eager to see you emerge as a market leader.
We all are with you .. Keep rocking!
Ankit Gupta
Thank You Omkar, I’ll treasure this piece of advice with me. 🙂
RK Dhanvada
Ankit
Just explore this link of Berger Paint Academy in Kochi https://bit.ly/1v1W8OZ
What is required are two :
1. Completion of work contract in time frame ? Demand Bonus for early completion or say penalty of per day delay. The customer trust will increase
2. That includes cleaning also to remove stains and last speck/scratch. Get some equipment mentioned in the link
Lastly this expert in Delhi does for Embassy building and HNI to earn premium. To win the heart of the labour .. He did for free for the slum colony where the labourers came. He always got loyal labourer to work extended time to complete before time. Ensure premium daily wages and non monetary benefits
Admire you Ankit for the spirit to ask
asha chaudhry
ankit,
as i’m getting my house painted in goa – i’m remembering you.
any kind of labour intensive job in goa becomes an issue. though all the workers are from karnataka – everyone seems to enjoy island culture!!
trust me, there is a huge opportunity of getting work (your traditional painting work) since a lot of builders are building townships. and there is a huge gap of good workers. pls do a recce if you reckon you have folks interested in taking on a new market 🙂
asha chaudhry
happy b’day ankit!
have an awesome day and looking fwd to an update from your side!!