Buying a painting company in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida

• 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.

• 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?

This region covers Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker and Putnam counties: Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs, Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Macclenny and Palatka. Jacksonville merged with most of Duval County in 1968, which makes it the largest city by land area in the lower 48 states.

The economy leans on logistics, the Navy and financial services. Logistics runs through JAXPORT, major rail lines and the meeting of Interstates 95 and 10. The Navy has Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport. Insurance and health care matter too. St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, and Amelia Island draw steady tourism. Trucking and logistics firms, the building trades, medical practices and home services all fit this market.

Northeast Florida is less seasonal than South or Southwest Florida, with fewer winter residents and more year-round employers. Direct hurricane landfalls have been less common here than on other parts of the coast, but storms still bring flooding along the St. Johns River and the beaches, so check insurance costs and flood zones.

Military families bring skilled workers and working spouses into the labor pool, though they also move on when orders change. St. Johns, Clay and Nassau have added the most new homes, and companies serving those suburbs have grown with them. Georgia is close, and some companies here serve customers across the state line. Work in Georgia may need Georgia licenses, so ask how much revenue comes from there and who holds those licenses.