Canadian Contractor - July-August 2015

PROFILE
Above: Dave Bryant takes payment from a client using an
on-site credit card reader.
and opportunities to advance. We’re an all-employee company
and do not sub work. This allows us to have a strong team and
achieve consistent results, not to mention that we feel safe having
people we know in our customers’ homes.”
Despite training and a commitment to provide consistent work,
Jon finds great painters increasingly harder to find. “We generally
follow the logic that great attitudes can be trained,” says Jon.
“That being said, it takes a lot of work to find great painters .”
“The biggest personal challenge for me is staying focused,”
says Jon. “As an entrepreneur I can easily get side tracked by
other ‘interesting’ business prospects. I’ve been involved in other
businesses in the tech industry and medical insurance while
trying to maintain the painting business and I wasn’t able to stay
focused well on any of them.”
Urban Painter Marketing
One of the things about The Urban Painter is the way its website
– www.theurbanpainter.com – stands out. It’s simple, professional,
attractive and it includes an important call to action: a simple,
online opportunity to get quotes. “Although I have a passion for
design and web development,” says Jon, “our website was built
with the help of a designer and a local developer. It’s that focus
thing again.”
“Overall marketing efforts are very important to us, as we only
work in specific areas to keep our crews close and effective. In
fact, we intentionally limit our work area to achieve this. We do a
lot of online search engine optimization and are always actively
sending out post cards, door hangers and posting signs in the
areas we want to work. On the commercial side we get a lot of
work through word of mouth from our clients who appreciate what
we do for them.”
“The most challenging part of running our painting business
has been to stay focused,” says Jon. “There are always so many
‘bright and shiny’ opportunities everywhere that we could follow,
46 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca