Branching into industrial coatings from commercial painting skyrocketed Service Painting of Florida in Ft. Myers from $3 million to $28 million in revenue in 16 years.
Its niche is rehabilitating concrete structures in municipal water and wastewater facilities, power generating plants, reconstruction sites, and some food-processing plants. Dependability, financial stability, a strong middle management, and professionalism enabled Service Painting to build such long-term customer relationships that 80 percent of municipal clients use the company 100 percent of the time.
To compensate for a soft economy and market share lost on the commercial side, the company earned its QP-1 certification from the Society for Protective Coatings and began hydroblasting and painting bridges, often from barges. It has also expanded into fireproofing.
In 2007 and 2008, Engineering and News Record ranked Service Painting, founded in 1982, as Florida’s largest painting/coating contractor.
Finding a vision
In 1993, owners Gary Johnson and Ken Kelly hired a full-time employee (who has since moved on) as a visionary in sales. Assigned to find new ways to build revenue, he approached his clients and contacts from 14 years in industrial cleaning. With their support, Service Painting entered the field in 1995.
“Our biggest challenge was finding qualified employees,” says project manager Brad Ervans. To that end, Mike Beausoleil, a superintendent from another industrial cleaning company, was brought on board.
“His ability to mold individuals made us,” says Ervans. Beausoleil hired young men with no previous cleaning experience and taught them from the ground up. Concrete rehabilitation is such specialized work that the industry has a maxim: You’re not a good flooring contractor until you have a good failure.
Ervans says most people know concrete is porous, but they don’t realize the water and air trapped inside the pores expand as the ambient temperature rises. That creates little bubbles in primers that require filling. In one instance, a project engineer on a sewer-lining job insisted the men fill the bug holes in the epoxy-modified cementitious mortar by dabbing each one, then sandblasting again.
Learning from experience
Instead of grinding down to sound concrete and repriming as is proper, the project manager accommodated the engineer. Repeated sandblasting only opened more holes. “By the time we coated, we had a million pinholes instead of a monolithically hole-free surface with the same mil thickness,” says Ervans. “The failure of that lining tarnished our reputation with the customer, but we have since repaired it.” Consequently, Service Painting always includes priming in a bid even if it isn’t specified.
Another failure occurred inside a prestressed equalization basin built on a diaphragm that expanded by about two inches. The engineer specified a rigid epoxy concrete coating that cracked to bits as the tank filled. “No one told us we were rehabilitating a moving concrete tank,” says Ervans. “Now we ask.”
A failure at a Miami water plant taught company project managers to believe in themselves. Someone used stainless steel pins to attach foam board insulation to the interior of a 150- by 30- by 30-foot-high concrete chiller tank. Called to waterproof the styrofoam, the project manager swore it couldn’t be done. The general contractor, however, assured him that the rubber-like coating passed the test.
After two attempts, the waterproofed tank still leaked from rips at every foam board joint. The crew embedded a full mesh and applied more elastomeric polyurethane coating. This time the rips occurred at each mechanical fastening.
“That’s when the light bulb went on,” says Ervans. “As the tank filled, water pressure crushed the styrofoam as much as one inch. The weight of the water then forced the coating into the gap and ripped it.”
Water power
Service Painting operates two trailer-mounted high-pressure water-blasting systems from Carolina Equipment and Supply Co. (CESCO) in Charleston, S.C. The Aqua-Miser D-115 units produce 3.5 gpm at 40,000 psi, and the BOSS injection system pressure-feeds any abrasive media or degreaser.
“We learned that lower flow and higher pressure cleans concrete exactly like 6 gpm at 20,000 psi,” says Ervans. “However, less volume produces less strain, and my guys can hydroblast all day using hand-held lances with standard nozzles.”
Hydroblasting also reduces contamination. “Concrete and blasting sand both release silica, which is harmful to our employees and the environment,” says Ervans. “Water is safer and cleans up easier than abrasive media.” Service Painting subcontracts with vacuum loading companies to remove the slurry.
Ervans sees the hydroblasting market growing, because clients are still surprised to learn what it can do. For example, utility crews use jackhammers and chisels to remove 8 to 12 inches of lime from steel water softener tanks. Besides risking surface damage, the work takes months and is repeated annually.
“Hydroblasting vibrates the walls and loosens the deposits,” says Ervans. “Once the stream gets underneath the lime, it rains down all at once. The tanks are back in service that day.”
Rotating duty
Plant shutdowns for routine maintenance produce cyclical work. Service Painting meets the challenge of keeping employees busy during slower times by rotating them between the company’s commercial and industrial arms. “Our employees have averaged 50 or more hours a week for the last 15 years,” says Ervans. “Mike trains them to be versatile in every aspect.”
That versatility includes hydroblasting coatings off condominium, plaza, parking garage, and boiler room floors using an enclosed attachment with rotating heads and a vacuum to remove the slurry. Degreasing agents added to the water remove oily stains. The men apply coatings and linings at new construction sites, hydroblast deteriorated concrete or stucco from structures undergoing restoration, rehabilitate culverts under highways, remove graffiti, and rustproof steel tanks by hydroblasting the interiors with corrosion-proof additives.
The dirty, hot, unglamorous work results in high turnover, but not among foremen and superintendents. “Most foremen have been with us for six to eight years,” says Ervans. “The superintendents have been here 10 or 12 years. That’s an impressive retention rate for painting contractors.” Middle management employees receive a 401(k) retirement plan, health insurance, and company cars, and are eligible for profit sharing.
Dam good
Some of Service Painting’s biggest projects involve dams. For example, a municipality was drawing water from Lake Manatee, but the acidic water eroded the concrete in the plant and was reaching the rebar in the chutes on either side of the dam.
“We worked with URS Corp., an engineering firm in San Francisco, and coating manufacturers Tnemec Co. Inc. and Sika Corp., to present a solution that gave the structures a much longer life than they would have by following the bid,” says Ervans.
The $1.5 million job involved hydroblasting, priming, and waterproofing more than 50,000 square feet of concrete. The hydrostatic pressure was so great inside the dam that water seeped or streamed through the walls, requiring constant pumping. “Damp walls were good for the cementitious primer we used,” says Ervans. “Big leaks, however, required grouting.”
It took three days for each of two topcoats to dry. Then the men applied cementitious paint. Keeping the layers clean and dry was a major challenge, as even droplets of perspiration pitted the coating. The exterior chute walls were restored with elastomeric polyurethane.
“Tnemec developed some fantastic products after a lot of research,” says Ervans. “We send all our guys through the company’s training seminars.” Coatings from C.I.M. Industries Inc. and Epoxytec Inc. are other regulars.
Planning ahead
This year, the company expanded its industrial arm to fireproofing and cleaning and painting bridges. The latter often requires working from barges. To qualify for rehabilitating steel structures in the field, Service Painting needed a QP-1 certification from the Society for Protective Coatings and preapproval by the state Department of Transportation. The DOT awards the work allotments.
In the past four years, Service Painting of Florida has grown from $13 to $28 million in revenue. “We have policies to put in place and certain areas to consolidate to stay competitive,” says Ervans. After reducing profit margins to help clients remain in business, projected revenues should average $22 to $24 million. Ervans anticipates maintaining that level for a year or two before growing the company again.
