Buying a painting company in Florida

Painting companies paint the insides and outsides of homes and commercial buildings, and many add pressure washing, drywall repair, wallcovering, stucco patching, waterproof coatings and cabinet refinishing. Florida's sun, humidity and salt air wear out exterior paint, so repainting comes around regularly. Condo and homeowner associations repaint whole communities on a cycle, often requiring specific coatings and formal bids.

Customers fall into a few groups. Homeowners hire for one-time jobs and find the company through referrals and reviews. Property managers and associations bring larger bid jobs and repeat repaints. Commercial building owners are another group, and so are builders and general contractors who need new construction painted; that work is bid per project, usually at thinner margins. Revenue is mostly one-time projects, with repeat business from managers and associations. A typical company has painters (employees or subcontract crews), crew leaders, an estimator or salesperson, and the owner. Labor is the main cost, so how much a crew gets done in a day decides profit.

• Repeat commercial relationships: property managers, associations and businesses that call the company for every repaint. An association that repaints every several years is a customer for decades.
• An estimator other than the owner who wins bids at good margins.
• Crew leaders who run a job, manage quality, protect landscaping and cars, and talk to residents and customers.
• Experience with the coating systems that large exterior jobs often call for, and a record of honoring the warranties that come with them.
• A balance of residential and commercial work.
• Lifts, sprayers and scaffolding in good shape, and safety training for work at height.
• Strong recent reviews that keep homeowner leads coming.

Florida doesn't license painting contractors, and state law bars cities and counties from requiring a license for painting, or a license to get a permit for painting work. There are two exceptions. Local governments that licensed rooftop painting and coating above three stories before 2021 may keep doing so. And coating a roof to waterproof it, stop leaks or extend its life counts as roofing work, which needs a roofing contractor's license. Expect a county or city business tax receipt.

Two rules do apply. First, work that disturbs paint in homes or child-occupied facilities built before 1978 falls under the federal lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. The firm must be certified by the EPA, which runs the program in Florida, use certified renovators and follow lead-safe practices. Second, Florida treats painting as a construction trade for workers' compensation, so coverage is required once the company has even one employee. Corporate officers count unless they've filed a state exemption. Check how subcontract crews are covered too, because a contractor can become responsible for an uninsured subcontractor's workers.

• Revenue by customer type, and the share from the largest few customers, especially associations and property managers.
• How jobs are estimated (by square foot, by day) and the actual margins on recent jobs.
• Who does the work: employees or subcontract crews, how they're paid, and proof of their insurance.
• Warranties promised on exterior and coating jobs, and how often crews are called back for peeling or failing paint.
• EPA lead firm certification and records for any pre-1978 work.
• The condition of sprayers, lifts, scaffolding, pressure washers and vehicles.
• The workers' compensation claims history, especially falls and ladder injuries.
• Any roof coating jobs, and whose roofing license they were done under.
• Signed work not yet started, and association repaint bids still awaiting a decision.
• Paint supplier accounts, contractor pricing and any rebates tied to the owner.

• Who are your main commercial and association customers, and how long have they used you?
• How does your work split between residential, commercial and new construction?
• Who does the estimating and selling today?
• Are your painters employees or subcontractors, and how are they paid?
• What warranty do you give on exterior work, and how often are you called back?
• Is the company EPA lead-safe certified, and how often do you work on older homes?
• When are your slow months, and how do you keep crews busy then?