The Art of Painting & Business Growth with Andy Moya of Moya Painting

Audio Transcription

Mark Lamberth:
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Contractor Grow Show. This is Mark, and today I have the pleasure of talking with Andy Moya at Moya Painting and Decorating in Sacramento. Hey, Andy, thanks for being on the show today. 

Andy Moya:
Thank you guys. 

Mark Lamberth:
Yeah, fantastic. So I saw that you guys have been in business just a few years, looks like things are going great though. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about the business, the history of it, how you got into it, and where you guys are at right now. 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so the roots of our company have been with my dad. I mean, he started painting about a little bit over 30 years ago, and he’s always been in the industry. He’s been with one company for almost those 30 years, and so I got into that business with my dad because of all the experience he had. And so yeah, he’s known so much about the industry and I was able to work with him on the weekends and all that stuff. I actually got to go to college, played collegiate, collegiate soccer, and then when it was time to kind of hang up the boots, I decided to go into an industry where I might have an advantage and an edge. And so yeah, I kind of got into this business knowing that I was going to have the productivity side. I was really confident with that, and it’s just about now growing a business and kind of doing it our own. 

Mark Lamberth:
I love it. Does your dad work with you at all or does he have a totally owned company? 

Andy Moya:
No, no. He’s a partner with us and yeah, we work with him and we’ve been slowly been able to, I always relate everything to sports and for me it’s been a slow process to recruit the right prospects and sometimes some people come and go, but we want to fit people that fit our mindset, so yeah, 

Mark Lamberth:
I love it. How many people do you have on your team right now? 

Andy Moya:
Right now we have six people. Six workers? 

Mark Lamberth:
Okay. Yeah. Okay, fantastic. And do you guys ever kind of scale up and down at all? Do you have any kind subs that come along or kind of temporary crew? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, yeah. I think what I’ve known to do is network with a lot of people, so sometimes when some big things come up, we can also get workers, but also just being in the industry, knowing a lot of people in our family that do basically all the trades, it’s a little bit easier to get connected that way. 

Mark Lamberth:
Interesting. What has worked for you to grow the business? You’ve got a website, you’ve got some presence around online. Is it mostly word of mouth or how have you gotten jobs? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, a big part of it is basically being personally me being able to connect with people, with contractors, with businesses, and basically, yeah, word of mouth. I’ve definitely tried some of the advertising route, but a huge, huge chunk of our work has been word of mouth and me being able to sell it to the customer and then performing and doing what I say I’m going to do, 

Mark Lamberth:
I love it. Do you quote mostly jobs or do you only quote jobs? Do you also do time and materials? How does that work for you guys? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, I mean for painting it’s a little different, right? You could have the same square footage, but sometimes there’s a lot more detail that the customer want. It could be multiple colors. So for us personally, we have a little productivity rate that we go off of. So if we’re going to do something simple, we already have a rate we go with and then anything additional, we try to add those up. And so yeah, that’s kind of how we quote, and I think everybody’s process is different, and so I think based on that process is what I would recommend to quote your jobs. 

Mark Lamberth:

Okay, cool. So just curious about your sales process. It’s how it goes. It sounds like it’s mostly word of mouth. I mean, if somebody contacts you and says, Hey, I heard about you guys that you do great work and I’ve got a house that I want to have paint suit over here in Sacramento. First of all, you guys, is it all residential or do you guys do commercial as well? 

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Andy Moya:
We do commercial as well, yes. 

Mark Lamberth:
Yeah, 

Andy Moya:
We do both sides. And right now, because we’re still a couple years in, I’m trying to figure out what’s going to be probably the most efficient for us, the most profitable. And so we’re still trying to tie down those jobs where we know that we could crush, we could profit a good amount, but in painting, sometimes balance, sometimes you do some residentials that take a little bit longer and then that kind of balances out with some commercials that are quicker and you kind get in and out. 

Mark Lamberth:
Yeah. Do you prefer a commercial over residential? A lot of folks we talk to, they prefer it actually because they’re not dealing with homeowners, and it’s kind of got the timelines usually a little more specific and direct, a little less emotional. 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, no, no, absolutely. I think for me, everything has an upside and a downside. The commercial part, profitability wise is probably the best route. But as far as craftsmanship, I would say maybe for the workers it’s more boring. There’s less of a challenge for myself as well to get a job done as opposed to a custom house. You have custom cabinets, you have a shiplap, bunch of detail, staining, all that kind of stuff that sometimes is a little bit more enjoyable when you’re out there. 

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Mark Lamberth:
Interesting. Okay. 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, 

Mark Lamberth:
So if somebody does want their house repainted, maybe interior and exterior, they heard about you guys, great company, whatnot, referral, what is going to be your sales process? Just curious how this kind of works for you as a painter. I mean, there’s a quote, is there some going back and forth in many cases? What does that whole process entail doing sales for a job for you? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, I think one of the biggest things is making sure we go out there and we meet the customer and we show face, and then we also walk the job with the customers. And for me, the biggest thing with our sales process is being as detailed as possible with our quote with what the customer wants and just be clear on every aspect to prevent any future problems. So yeah, I to, I’ll go to the customer house, for example, for a residential, say it’s an exterior, I’ll walk with the customer, I’ll see if there’s anything that I see that the customer may not be able to notice or I give them a few options. I try to limit the options I give them as far as the product we can use, and also the amount of prep we can do. And then after that, I follow up with them with an email. We do credit card payments, which sometimes folks appreciate, and so yeah, I send them a quote and they’re with it. Sometimes I’ll ReWalk the house with the customer just to kind of double check everything on the list is good. And then from there we sign the contract and we get going. 

Mark Lamberth:
Love it. Do you get paid ahead of time for the jobs? Do you guys do half down or half those complete? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, we’ll do 10% when it’s above eight to $10,000 jobs. If it’s something below, we tend to just guarantee the customer, Hey, once we’re done with the job, you can pay us after. It always depends on sometimes when it’s somebody that we know well that we do that. Sometimes when it’s something a completely different customer we don’t really know, that’s when we require more of a down payment. 

Mark Lamberth:
Okay. We’ve talked to some companies, they have a problem with getting paid the balance once the work is done. I mean, people kind of stringing ’em along and say, well, I’m checks in the mail and get you paid next month or whatever. Do you guys ever deal with that? And if you do, how do you solve for that? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, no, that’s a good question. I think, so we’re still kind of working on some of the policies we want to kind of imply as far as late payment fees and all that stuff. But to answer your question is there’s been maybe a few contractors that are a little bit delayed on the payment, but as far as homeowners, we’ve never really had an issue with them. Usually we get the job done and we walk it with them, and then they might, with painting, things can always happen. So we do ourselves a little checkup for any touchups that we need to be doing, and then at the end we’ll go with the customer and we’ll see if there’s anything they might want change. Right before we start putting everything away, we’ll do a full walkthrough, and then once they basically say, Hey, everything looks good to me, then we basically from there, we close out and there’s no issues usually for us. 

Mark Lamberth:
That’s awesome. 

Andy Moya:
Yeah. 

Mark Lamberth:
Do you think that regarding growth of the company, our listeners are always curious about how to grow their own company. Do you have any tips on what you guys have done? I mean, I know it’s been mostly word of mouth that probably has a lot to do, doing a great job for your customers, but what are some tips that you have for how to grow a contractor business or a painting business for some listeners? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah. No, I think a good way is finding a direction you want to go and then starting to do a little bit of research in your area. I mean, for me it was, so I basically got to start talking with contractors around the area, and at first it was like, Hey, I got to maybe charge a little bit less so that we can have a chance to do the job. And then once contractors can understand what we’re about, then hopefully they give us more opportunities. But that’s kind of what it’s been for me is, Hey, let’s try to expand. Let’s try to give a deal where we can. And then from there, then we start building a bigger clientele and also where we can be like, Hey, this isn’t our price range. No problem. We can go somewhere else. So that’s been a way for me to grow my business. 

Andy Moya:
Another one is commercial. Right now, Sacramento is growing a lot. There’s a lot going on. And so also for me separating in sports, I always use it, how can you separate yourself in sports? How can you be better? Same thing in the painting industry. For me, I think a route to what I’m actually doing is I’m trying to get more licenses, more certifications, put in separate myself as far as having also more insurances that higher quality jobs will require or bigger jobs will require. I think that’s a really good way to kind of separate yourself and maybe compete less with other painters. Right? A lot of residential, it’s a little bit easier to get into residential to get to the commercial part, but you also have to have a lot of working capital to start getting into those big jobs. 

Mark Lamberth:
Okay. Okay, great. I love it. So some helpful tips here. So you started by going and talking with contractors in the area and kind of learning what is out there, what maybe a need is in the marketplace. You came in kind of at a lower price to start and said, maybe pay my dues over here a little bit. I want to get on these guys radar. I want to get selected for some of these bids. If you’re actually doing bids, quotes and kind of build up from there. And then you’re also doing some extra licenses and certifications. So some jobs that are higher level, including even residential, which requires more equipment. You’re looking at taking on some of those higher paying jobs, better, maybe more technical, and for those you’re going to need some more license and certifications, and so you’re approaching those to be able to do that work in the future. 

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Andy Moya:
Yes, 

Mark Lamberth:
I love it. I love it. Fantastic. I mean, do you think that you guys are going to grow in the next few years? Is that what the plan is? Are you guys kind at the sweet spot of growth at the size of the company it is now? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, that’s a really good question. I always try to ask and learn just from contractors that have been in the business for a long time and of all trades and of all sizes of companies. And so I think from what I’m learning is I think the bigger the company, sometimes the bigger the headache and sometimes the juice isn’t worth a squeeze. And I do right now that I could have a little bit more control of a smaller company. I’m definitely right now open to explore different possibilities. Definitely growing maybe a little bit more, but as far as having a big, big crew, it’s not what I’m leaning towards right now. 

Mark Lamberth:
Sure. Makes perfect sense. 

Andy Moya:
Yeah. 

Mark Lamberth:
Excellent. Well, Andy, if folks were in Sacramento, if they’re looking for a painter, interior, exterior, or commercial and they want to work with a tight crew that knows what they’re doing, it’s got 30 years experience, they want to get in touch or they just want to learn more about what you guys are up to or talk to you about some of your other experience, what’s the best way to get in touch with you? 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, absolutely. So one of our biggest kind of platforms is our Instagram page at Moya painting, and you can find us there where we’re sharing a lot of content, a lot of different work that we’re doing. And you can find us, our website’s there, the contact information’s there, and also on our website, Moya Painting and Decorating. You could schedule an appointment with us online and find us there. 

Mark Lamberth:
Okay, perfect. So that’s Instagram Moya painting, so that’s MOYA painting, and then the website is also Moya, MOYA, MoyaPaintingAndDecorating.com. 

Andy Moya:
Yes. 

Mark Lamberth:
Yeah. Fantastic. Okay, Andy, well, these are some great tips here, man. I took some notes. I love your ideas about how to grow the business. These are excellent. We’re going to look into these a little bit more and kind of explore these. I hope that our listeners get a lot of value out of this. Really appreciate you being on the show today. 

Andy Moya:
Yeah, thank you guy