Join Club

Arlington Startup Aims to Make Painting Personal

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

Normally, when someone wants to paint their business or a room in their house, they go to a contractor, who in turns hires another subcontractor, and so on. But Harrison Edwards wanted to do things a little differently.

Edwards, the founder of My Painter, LLC, says the Arlington-based startup is intent on being a one-stop shop for painting needs.

“We are employee based,” said Edwards. “There’s no subcontractors. We’re the painters. We’re the employees.”

Edwards said being an employee-based, rather than subcontractor based, painting company has allowed the company to form close relationships with its clients. Often for subcontractors, Edwards said clients have experienced problems trying to get ahold of which painters were working in which location.

Edwards said he spends very little on marketing, preferring to work based on referrals. Edwards said the company works at about 30 t0 40 percent profits from their jobs.

“People know our painters and they see us, it’s how we get referred,” said Edwards. “We get callbacks a lot of time, which means each client could theoretically be worth $1,000 per year, although a lot of time these are one-time jobs.”

The company is small, with 13 employees currently, but is looking to expand with another seven employees in 2019. My Painter is based out of Clarendon and takes jobs throughout the Washington, D.C. region, but does 90 percent of its work around Arlington.

Edwards founded the company in 2016 and said he was inspired by his father, who is a general contractor. Edwards wanted to work in specialized contracts, which meant learning a lot about painting and learning a lot about business.

“There was a lot of trial and error at first,” said Edwards.

Edwards said one of the lessons was that for painters, one of the most important parts of the job happens before the brush ever touches the wall. The preparation for a painting job is all about finding a way to respect and protect property as painting is going on around the space and making the painting work as unintrusive on the client’s home or office life as possible.

Edwards said My Painter also sets itself apart by offering to bring on color consultants before the job starts to help the client identify what colors would work best for the space.

In the aftermath of a job, Edwards says he helps clients coordinate with the painters on areas that may need work or touching up.

“It’s all about taking the headache, heartache and hassle out of painting,” said Edwards.

Recent Stories

Good Wednesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar. 🕗 News recap The following articles were published earlier today…

Arlington is receiving nearly $300,000 in federal funds to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay. The money is part of a much larger $206 million federal grant given to the National…

Schedule your tour today to see The Grace and Reva residences in National Landing. Located in the heart of the neighborhood’s vibrant food scene on Crystal Drive, these two residential…

James Beard semifinalist Peter Chang’s second restaurant in Arlington is expected to open next month in Crystal City. Located at 1550 Crystal Drive, the Chinese restaurant NiHao initially planned to…

Award-winning drag queen Tara Hoot is bringing her Family Fun Story Time Brunch to Arlington at Freddie’s Beach Bar! Saturday April 6 at noon! Join Tara for songs, stories, puppets, bubbles and joy! It’s not just stories, it’s a SHOW that’s perfect for kids and kids at heart–fun for everyone! Plus a tasty brunch at Freddie’s! Click the link and make your reservations now! ❤️ 🫧 🌈

Submit your own Announcement here.

The Summer 2024 STEAM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Arts/Math) Fellowship application is now open! Apply by April 15 to be considered!

The STEAM Workforce Development Teacher Fellowship provides Arlington Public Schools (APS) high school, middle school, and elementary school teachers with opportunities to learn about workplace needs in STEAM-related fields and for them to use the experience to enhance student learning to match workplace expectations in a selected industry. STEAM Fellows participate in a three-week summer fellowship, receiving a $4,000 stipend upon completion.

Applicants planning to pursue a fellowship in the arts must demonstrate how they will build connections between the arts and science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

Click the button to learn more, share, apply, and see the variety of fellowships completed in previous years.

Read More

Submit your own Announcement here.

ACFCU’s Homebuying 101: Steps to Getting Pre-Approved

Are you ready to jump into homeownership, or have you started considering it but don’t know where to start?

Financial preparation is key when thinking about purchasing your first home and the first step to getting pre-approved. Join ACFCU for

Free Right-Sizing Workshop – How to Get Rid of Your…

Cody Chance and Dick Nathan of Long & Foster are hosting a free workshop at our office on Cherry Hill Rd. (formerly Lee Highway) on the topic of “down-sizing” Thursday, March 28 from 5:30-7:30. We have created a workbook with

×

Subscribe to our mailing list