As with any business, time is money and as Michael Owens, owner of Owens Decorators, quickly learnt, in the painting and decorating industry it’s important to keep up to date with the latest product innovations and decorating techniques, or risk being left behind in a highly competitive market.
Owens Decorators, based in Bury, has been painting and decorating pubs around the North West for the past 25 years. Michael said that on average it used to take two painters three days to manually paint a pub’s exterior and even longer if the weather was bad.
Michael said: “When pricing up jobs we always had to give an estimated completion date that allowed for some bad weather, which meant that whenever we had a dry spell we had to work even quicker to get the job done. When we heard about a new product on the market that claimed to be quick and easy to use and up to four times faster than using a traditional paintbrush or roller, it seemed too good to be true.”
The product Michael was talking about was a spray paint machine which, in a recent head-to-head test, completed a job nearly 19 hours earlier than a team using a traditional roller technique.
Keen to experience the results first hand, Michael went down to his local Dulux Decorator Centres’ and after being given an in-store demonstration, Michael purchased a DDC spray paint machine, and has never looked back.
“Using an airless paint sprayer has enabled us to complete a job in less than half the time and has had a huge impact on labour costs. It used to take two painters nearly half a week to re-paint a pub and now with the DDC spray machine, a pub’s exterior can be re-painted in just one day,” said Michael.
“The two main machines we use are the Trade DDC-1000 and DDC-1300, both of which can be used internally and externally, and are for professionals who spray most days of the week. We’ve tried other leading brands, but have always favoured the DDC spray machines, because they offer the same performance and quality of the leading brand, but at a much more competitive price.”
A masonry specialist, Michael said that hand painting uneven surfaces, particularly in cellars, with paintbrushes and rollers used to be very time consuming and sometimes required several coats of paint. Whereas now, the DDC spray machine provides an even finish after just one application.
“There's nothing like spray paint machines for painting rough, uneven areas, or spaces where precision is not important and everything can look the same,” said Michael.
“There is a common misconception that spray paint machines can sometimes be messy and are only suitable for high volume painting contracts, but we use the machines on the majority of our interior refurbishment projects, as well as exterior.”
Easy to clean and operate, Michael said that the DDC spray machines have been of great benefit to the business: “They’re great logistically as they are small and compact and fit neatly in the back of our vans, leaving plenty of room for our other tools.
“Even though buying a machine is more expensive than purchasing a traditional paintbrush or roller, it is worth its weight in gold and quickly pays for itself. It has kept labour costs to a minimum and we now have a competitive advantage, because we can complete jobs in less time without compromising on results.”
Drew Hutchinson, product and development manager for Dulux Decorator Centres, said: “Many painters and decorators haven’t had the chance to test spray painting machines and customers are telling us that once they've tried it for themselves, they wish they’d discovered the benefits of spray painting sooner.
“We have introduced special ‘Spray Points’ at our Salford, Huyton and Feltham stores, with a nationwide rollout throughout 2012, to provide customers with the chance to experience the benefits of spray paint machines, in a special paint booth and we urge painters and decorators to go in store and see the benefits for themselves.”
Dulux Decorator Centres’ spray paint machines, all come with a 12 month warranty and six months interest free credit is available on selected models.
Dulux Decorator Centres is the UK leading decorating specialist offering expert advice to help accomplish any decorating job – big or small. Each centre carries a wide range of products, from paint to wallpaper, accessories and tools, as well as a decorator recommendation service.
