Plano man retires, then opens paint franchise

by Tessa Howington of North Dallas Gazette

Dave Wilson opened CertaPro Painters of Plano on July 21, 2008. He says that he has been in business since July 18, but that’s just the day he retired.

When most people retire, they spend some time relaxing, work on unfinished projects, travel, or just enjoy the time they can spend with their family and friends. But not Dave Wilson; when he retired on Friday, he went right back to work on Monday.

But this time, he went back to work not as an employee, but as boss.

“I wanted to give something to my son” he says about why he decided to go into business for himself. That, and taking note of Hillary Clinton’s run for the white house, he adds “She’s my age; if she could do that, then I could open a business.”

“We were originally looking at a home cleaning business,” he says. “We were looking at many franchises opportunities, and we choose this one.” He and his son, David Jr., both have a background in computers. Dave is actually an electrical engineer, and his son is a software engineer, and laughs as he says that they are just “computer guys now attempting to be painters.”

CertaPro Painters of Plano paints interior and exterior areas of the home or small businesses and services all of Plano, parts of Richardson, Murphy, and Parker. They are very customer oriented and feel that customer care and experience comes first. They are also bonded and insured and use only the best Sherman Williams paints. An average project takes 2-4 days and can happen about a week after your estimate.

Dave and his son decided to open a CertaPro Painters franchise, instead of going into business for themselves alone, because of the support. Truth be told, “We had no idea how to open a business” David says. CertaPro provides office support, a call center, marketing materials, and has a mentoring program so there’s always someone to call when they need to ask questions. Dave hopes to one day be a mentor for a new franchise owner.

Just because CertaPro Painters have a great support system for their franchise owners doesn’t mean that opening the business and maintaining it is extremely easy. Like every small business, Dave still has some difficulties being his own boss. “Some Mondays I wake up and ask myself, ‘Where are we going to get customers this week?’ But I get up, and go to work, and things fall into place.” And that, “Instead of worrying about yourself, you have to worry about your crew because they depend on you to find work for them” so they can make money and be responsible too.

Also, there’s a huge transition in mind set that he and his son have to go through to be successful business owners instead of just employees. Dave has been with several start-up companies, but never has been fully responsible for all aspects of the business. He has learned that when dealing with start-up companies you have to be the person that is willing to do whatever needs to be done; sometimes run things by the “seat of your pants” – just like starting your own business. He has also learned that “working with customers [professional clients], is very different than working with residents.” Going into a very personal part of a customer’s life, like their home, can be challenging.

“Overwhelming” is how Dave describes their first paint job. He’ll admit, that at the time, everyone knew and had a theory of how the process was going to work, but they didn’t know exactly how much work and what to expect. It made Dave stop and ask “What did I get myself into?”

But once they got past that first job, things started to fall together and are continually getting easier. He says having a “phenomenal crew” with an amazing work ethic really helps and keeps the business going.

Despite the difficulties, Dave and his son David, Jr., are appreciating the benefits of being their own boss and owning their own business. Dave says that “Seeing a satisfied customer is a great.” And seeing all 5’s on an evaluation is the “most gratifying” feeling.

Eventually, Dave would like to eventually really retire and let his son, and hopefully his grandson, take over the business fully. They would also like to be able to give back to the community, but haven’t thought about it much, and “would like to do it in the future.”

Overall he says that opening a business has been a good experience. He wants others to know that if they are thinking about it to be sure and put “customer care first. If you take good care of your customers, you’ll get referrals and life will be good.”

For more information, or to contact them for a free estimate, they can be reached directly by phone at 214-450-8278, or through their main number at 972-208-8533. You can also find them on the web at http://plano.certapro.com/ or email at dwilson@certapro.com.