The construction industry relies on building relationships and creating partnerships. While talent and skill are of course important traits, at the heart of every business are clients. Knowing how to foster great customer service is a skill that can help propel any company to success, and no one knows this better than owner of both Central Painting and Industrial Floor Systems, Dave Graham.
Having worked in construction since he was 10 years old, Graham is no stranger to the industry. His father worked as a mechanical contractor which he believes led to him growing up more blue collar than white collar. Graham went on to graduate with a degree in finance, all while running a college professional painters’ franchise. After graduation, Graham was drawn fully into the construction industry as it felt like a natural progression to him at the time. In 1994, Central Painting was started and Graham’s journey truly began. “I moved to Barrie with my girlfriend at the time—my wife now—and never looked back. We got in with some chains very early on and started working all over Ontario. Then one of our clients, Loblaws, came to us and said, we have a big program out West, would you consider working on it? That’s how our western expansion started back in 2007/2008. We opened the first office in Calgary and we had offices in Saskatchewan. A lot of our expansion has been very much customer driven because customers liked our service. They’d often ask if we could do more, and that’s how we got into flooring. Our locations have grown because of that and our services like flooring and roof coatings all progressed through client demand.”
While Graham initially set out in business with a painting company, he soon became aware of a gap in the market that his team could cover. While working on time sensitive and complicated shutdowns, the coordination never worked out as well as any of the parties would have liked. Wanting to serve his clients better and offer the best service possible, Graham decided to setup Industrial Floor Systems. Now, Graham can offer the whole package when it comes to commercial or industrial institutional work.
What does this mean for clients? Well, it means clients no longer have to manage two separate trades or worry about the complexities to schedule. The project is now taken by both Central Painting and Industrial Floor Systems — who operate independently to each other — and brought back to their offices to be shared amongst project managers.
“These operations managers work very closely together on these projects to make sure that it’s as pain free for the client as possible.”
By creating a one-stop-shop, Graham is able to reduce the amount of time projects take to complete and provide the ultimate customer service that both Central Painting and Industrial Floor Systems have become known for. Recently, both teams worked on a very large project in Edmonton which was a painting project that happened to coincide with a very large flooring project. The project was a two and a half million square foot robotics warehouse facility for Amazon that included floor remediation, which ultimately left the clients incredibly satisfied. “We just did a couple of big remediations this year, 100,000 square foot plus buildings where we did flooring and painting. We also sandblasted the buildings which really showcased what our guys can do. This involved working very closely with the client and our own project managers to shorten schedules and get the buildings in operation as quickly as possible. We’ve got great teams and the thing about it is as much as they are two separate companies and two separate sets of employees, these guys meet weekly. These operations managers work very closely together on these projects to make sure that it’s as pain free for the client as possible.”
Customer service is a huge part of both businesses and one that Graham is increasingly proud of. While customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance, Graham also gets satisfaction from the repeat client base that comes with it. Reflecting on how Industrial Floor Systems flourished, Graham is now asking himself, what is the next service he can add on? Graham recently added roof coatings, which have been great for building owners. This means that rather than tear off a roof, a roof coating can be put on it, saving both time and money. Also, great warranty can be provided with the rubberized coating which is even better for owners.
With the customer in mind once again, both companies have decided to invest in elevating their training programs to increaser their service level to an even higher standard—if that is even possible.
Graham has clients he has worked with for 20 to 25 years, who still prioritize Central Painting and Industrial Floor Systems as their main choice, and he would like this to continue. By focusing on their own people and training, both companies have the opportunity to excel at service by working from the inside and then outwards. The training will involve making field staff more efficient in order to help the client better and create a more seamless project completion. “Well-trained people are always happier in their job and the clients are happier when you have well trained people on site. We have somebody now that was a full-time trainer, building these programs, implementing them, and going around the different offices training. We already see where it’s paying off and it’s not just on how do you execute your job? It’s how do you serve the client? How do you interact with the client? We want to be known as those guys that are great to work with. In our business there’s always things that come up and the best people are the ones who figure out solutions and work with the other trades for the client in order to make the path as smooth as possible.”
Central Painting and Industrial Floor Systems are not a ‘one and done’ company. Both companies pride themselves on repeat business, and that fight to become the number one choice for clients is what motivates them to keep pushing the limits on what can be offered.
Graham built both companies with the mindset that clients can reach them whenever it may be to find a solution for something, even if that means calling on a Saturday evening. There is no time Central Painting and Industrial Floor Systems will not be there for the client, which is what serving customers the right way is all about.
