Painting Professionally

Chapter 1 - Introduction
There is nothing quite like having your own business to make you feel financially independent and in charge of your own destiny. One easy business that you can start up, that is just right for the current economy, is a home painting business.
Why home painting? People always need services. Even in the Great Depression, service businesses were still in hot demand. Since most people are not selling their homes and are staying put, many of them want to spruce things up a bit. Painting is one of the most inexpensive ways that people can fix up their surroundings. Most people do not know how to paint nor do they want to learn. They would rather hire a painter who is in the business to do this necessary, but messy, job.
House painting is a recession proof business. It also works well when the economy is good and people are selling their homes. One of the first things that a real estate agent will advise someone who is looking to rent or sell a home is to give it a fresh paint job.
House painting entails both inside and outside house painting. Both of them are basically the same concept, although different paints are used for inside and outside. Your company should offer as many services as possible in order to fit the needs of just about every customer.
This book will teach you all you need to know about how to start your own home painting business, how to hire help, how to get customers, and what you need to know about starting any type of business. It will also give you an insight as to which are the right paints to use, the difference between paints, the different types of finishes and designs people like to have in the home, stains and even how to deal with customers who do not pay.
It is not difficult to learn to paint. It is one of the few trades that does not require vocational training. You just need the right equipment, the willingness to work hard, a few simple tips and the desire to succeed and you will have so many painting jobs that you will not know what to do with them all.
Even in today’s economy, people are searching for those who perform services. You can develop your own prosperous business and never look back at the 9 to 5 world again!

Chapter 8 - What You Need To Know About Indoor Painting
A great many people will be glad to pay for interior painting. This includes painting walls, ceilings, woodwork and even cabinets. Interior painting is a tedious job and most people want to avoid it, if at all possible. They are usually only too happy to have someone else do the painting for them.
There are two ways to get business with interior painting. One is to appeal directly to customers and bid for jobs for them. You need to make sure that you understand everything that needs to be painted before you do this work.
The other way is to offer your painting services to general contractors. General contractors who are building houses or even renovating them or apartment buildings are usually looking for subcontractors to do this sort of work. As is the case with individual customers, you have to bid for the job. When you paint for general contractors, it will also involve staining woodwork that will be put in the home. This can be a very profitable business all on its own and many painting contractors concentrate most of their business on this area. The bad news is that housing starts are down and that there is not that much work for those who only focus on painting new construction. However, the renovating business is booming because of the recession, so it still pays to bid out jobs for general contractors.
You need the same type of materials when you do indoor painting as you do for exterior painting. You will need ladders and scaffolds, although for many homes you will not need to have a scaffold. If you paint a large home with a two story entryway or living room, however, you are going to need a scaffold. If you concentrate only on interior painting for your business, you can skip buying scaffolds and rent them. This can allow you with getting away with just basic materials, like paints, tarps and smaller ladders. Of course you also need painting supplies such as brushes and rollers for this type of job.
The paint that you use for interior painting is usually latex paint that is water based, although for woodwork and cabinetry, you will have to use a primer as well. If you are re-painting a room that has a dark color in it, you will also want to use a primer as this will not only enable the paint to go on easier, but will eliminate any see-through paint from the previous job. Primer is much less expensive than paint, so it makes sense to put a coat of primer on the walls if they already have color.
The most important thing that you want to remember when you are painting interiors of home is that you do not want to damage anything in the home. While it can be easy painting new construction because there is...