My father was the one who brought me into the painting business, so one could say the business was inherited, it’s a family business. And growing up, my father didn’t only teach me how to paint, he also taught me to take pride in the business. I spent years working alongside him on painting jobs across Southern California, and that eventually pushed us to build something official of our own. In 2018, Custom Painting & Decorating, a family business, was brought to life.

So for me, it’s never just about putting fresh paint on someone’s walls and calling it a day. It’s about the little details, keeping people informed throughout the project, and treating their homes with the same care we’d want someone to show ours. We’re a family-run business, and I think that personal investment in the work is what really sets us apart.

Honestly, the company’s official first set of customers came from the painting gigs my father and I used to do before painting Customs was established. This is how a lot of our customers got to know us from Painting Customs. We didn’t start with some big marketing plan, instead, we built things gradually with customers we’ve had before Customs Painting, and their referrals.

And even till now, we still depend highly on these referrals. Painting is quite personal because people are letting you into their homes, so recommendation from someone they know carries a lot of weight. However also, that doesn’t mean we still don’t get a lot of customers from online. We do, but it’s just that at the end of the day, doing a good job and having someone recommend us to their neighbour or friend is still one of the best ways to grow.

One decision that really changed things for the company was taking the step from working on individual painting gigs to building a proper family business in 2018 with a solid brand name. And what this meant was that we were now not just doing the work well and paying more attention to how we communicated with clients, but we now also organised projects, and built something people could rely on.

As for mistakes, one mistake I learned from was underestimating how much communication matters. You can do a beautiful painting job, but if the client doesn’t know when you’re coming, how long something will take, or why a delay has happened, that can affect their whole experience. I learned that keeping people in the loop isn’t an extra part of the job; it’s part of doing the job properly.

What I think is that people have become more interested in making their homes feel personal rather than simply following whatever decorating style is popular at the moment. We’re seeing more attention paid to color choices, finishes, and how different rooms come together. We’ve adapted by taking more time to understand what each homeowner has in mind before starting a job, rather than assuming we already know what they want.

I’d tell them to learn the actual work before worrying too much about building a business around it. Spend time on real jobs, understand different surfaces and finishes, learn how to prepare properly, and pay attention to the small things that make a difference to the final result. You can’t really shortcut experience in this line of work.

I’d also tell them not to get too caught up in what other businesses are doing, especially the pressure to look big or take on every job that comes along. Focus on doing good work, being honest with customers, and building a reputation gradually. In painting, people remember how you treated their home just as much as they remember how the walls looked when you finished.