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Contractor Demands High Production,
Quality Output at Tract Housing Jobsites
 07/31/2005 - After a short retirement in the early 1990s following a long career in construction, Frank Teichman decided to become a painter to keep busy and earn some extra cash. As a youth he had done some painting and figured that he could generate enough business if he provided his customers with high quality results. He purchased a Graco 395ST electric airless sprayer and founded DE Painting Inc., in Phoenix, AZ. He claims he had no idea that his underlying values — hard work and quality results — would propel DE Painting into the successful company it has become today.
Today, DE Painting Inc. is one of the largest tract home painting contractors in Arizona, as well as a respected custom house and commercial painting company. DE Painting has as many as 500 employees on the payroll and has increased its stable of sprayers from that lone 395ST to more than100 Graco sprayers.
Frank doesn’t paint anymore. Along with his son, J.J., and daughter, Dawnie, he’s too busy running the company’s day-to-day operations. But he still takes pride in the work his company produces and demands quality and hard work from his crews and equipment.
And while quality remains the foundation to DE Painting’s success, Frank maintains that to be profitable in painting tract houses a contractor has to be fast and organized.
“Tract house painting is a fast-paced business,” explains Frank. “Contractors measure a crew’s productivity by the number of houses they paint each day. Our crews will spray 40 - 50 houses daily. If we can’t maintain a fast pace, we’re not profitable.”
Frank has developed specific procedures and checklists that he expects his crews to follow at every stage of the job. These instructions include how he wants the work done, as well as equipment maintenance schedules. The procedures are the same no matter which jobsite they’re at. Frank says these “rules” keep the crews from forgetting details that might be overlooked during a hectic work day, make it easier to identify and correct problems that might occur on the job, reduce waste, and allows him to shuffle painters and other workers from one crew to another without losing productivity.
“Everyone’s on the same page. Everyone knows what’s expected of them,” he says.
Frank demands the same hard work and quality from his airless sprayers. He’s tried different brands over the years but continues to rely on Graco sprayers. In fact, “every single sprayer on a DE Painting jobsite is a Graco sprayer,” he says. “The majority of these sprayers are GMAX™ gas units. They’re our bread and butter.”
Each sprayer is equipped with 150 ft. of hose and a Graco airless spray gun. Gun extensions are also used to reach the ceilings and peaks. When a painter is spraying exterior stucco he will use a 621 spray tip. He’ll switch to a 619 tip for interior spraying and will use a 413 tip for doors. No exceptions!
DE Painting recently added new GMAX™ ll sprayers to its lineup. According to Frank’s daughter, Dawnie, who manages crews at a number of developments in the Prescott area, “They’re workhorses! We start working early in the morning and are usually spraying until sunset. Putting in 10 – 12 hour days is not unusual for us and these GMAX II sprayers are running most of the time. They work as hard as the rest of us.”
Her crews are using the new GMAX II 7900 sprayers for the bulk of the interior and external spraying. A couple of GMAX II 3900’s are used for doors and a final coat of interior paint before the walk-thru and she prefers the GMAX II 5900 for applying stains because she likes the sprayer’s pressure control.
“But the great thing about all three models is that I can use them for any coating we might be spraying,” she says. Most of the paint is latex but elastomerics are growing in popularity because they have an elasticity that holds up well in the Arizona environment.
The painters appreciate the rugged cart and new all-terrain tires on the new GMAX II sprayers. One painter pointed out the piles of dirt and trenches around the jobsite and explained that the larger tires make it easier to move the sprayer around the houses.
The crews also appreciate the new AutoClean™ 2 that allows them to initiate the cleaning process and walk away from the sprayer and tackle other cleanup chores while the sprayer is cleaning itself. After the paint has been flushed from the system the sprayers automatically shuts down.
Another new feature that is designed to maximize pump life is WatchDog™. This feature (patent pending) monitors the system’s pressure. If the pressure falls below a certain rate due to no material in the paint container or clogging, the GMAX II automatically shuts down, eliminating dry pumping.
The GMAX II sprayer also features the new ProConnect™ system (patent pending) that allows the pump lower to be removed and installed quickly and easily with no tools. It can be performed right on the jobsite in only minutes, eliminating downtime.
“We haven’t had a problem requiring us to switch out the Endurance™ pump lowers but I carry a couple of the lowers in my truck just in case something would happen,” says Dawnie. “Without a spare lower I would have to call the office which is over an hour away and arrange to have another sprayer sent up here. We’d lose valuable production time and we can’t afford that.”
According to Dawnie, the GMAX II sprayers also provide a high quality, uniform finish. “A tract home owner is just as critical of our work as a custom home owner so we have to balance the need for speed with the need to produce high quality work. Our sprayers help us deliver both.”
Frank agrees. “Quality and hard work. I expect both from my crews and sprayers.” It’s been the catalyst for DE Paintings tremendous success. •
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