In the blunder stage, you're faced with overhead, because now you have to pay people to do the work, along with other business operating costs. In the wonder stage, he didn't have much overhead. Now, in the blunder stage, he has to buy trucks, pay for business licenses and insurance, and pay himself a salary, and he hasn't factored that into his overhead and priced his work accordingly. Just because you're a good painter doesn't mean you're going to be a good manager. Different skills are required.
Painting is a technical job.
Lynn Bicknell, owner of Bicknell Painting Inc. in Fairfax, VA, said if he had to do it over, he'd work for a large painting contractor and go through an apprenticeship program. Five years into the company's 15 years of operation, Domas found himself splitting his time equally between production and management. Knowing where you're breaking even and starting to make money is the difference between being in business and chasing your tail. Georgia contractor George Burke started his business in 1981 as a one-man operation, but quickly added another painter and has regularly added to his staff ever since. He hit a peak of about 14 painters as the 1980s came to a close.