Pint Sized Samples in ANY Ben Moore Color

July 2nd, 2009 John Posted in Decorations, products | No Comments »

Using the ultra precision of automatic dispenser technology for the Gennex waterborne tinting system, Benjamin Moore and O-Gee Paint can offer you ALL of Benjamin Moore’s extensive color selections in handy pint samples.Choose any color to be blended in the premium interior eggshell finish for exploring all your decorating options. For only $7.55 each you can have any color from the Classic Color Collection, Color Preview, Aura Affinity, Historic Colors, or America’s Color Collections. Benjamin Moore’s patented Gennex waterborne tints means you have exceptional color precision together with low odor, hi-hiding and fast drying painting.

Click Here to get your samples

Although these sample pots aren’t available in larger sizes like gallons, they are a premium interior eggshell product and will be handy for DIY small projects and faux finishes.

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Get Graco’s The Primer

May 15th, 2009 John Posted in sprayers, airless | 4 Comments »

It is important to understand how an airless paint sprayer works to use it to its utmost. Effective productivity can be hampered when unfamiliarity causes an operator to diagnose problems or try things that lead away from the root cause. One of the best books for quickly learning about the basics of airless paint spraying is from Graco. Their book “The Primer” goes over all the systems of an airless sprayer including the pump, the motor and spraying techniques as well as some troubleshooting. Get The Primer here Read the rest of this entry »

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Promoting Your Company with BM’s Help

May 12th, 2009 John Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

In these times you have to make sure your potential customers see your company as a better value than the cheap thrill of riff-raff handy-men and day laborers. You need to let people know you are better and professional but how does that happen when you’re busy on the job?
Let Benjamin Moore help you! Their “Inside Edge” marketing tools are a fast easy way to create attractive pieces to help get more jobs.
They currently offer the following customizable marketing materials:
# Door Hangers – 3 different creative pieces
# Postcards – 5 different creative pieces
# Thank You For Your Business
# Thank You for Your Referral
# Job Site Sign
# Letterhead
# Business Card
# Business Card Magnet
# Sticker
Log in at benjaminmoore.com/marketing to get started.

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TriTech Airless Gun - $125.00

April 14th, 2009 John Posted in Uncategorized, paint | No Comments »

If you are looking for a good deal on a new spray gun, look no farther. Here we have a TriTech T360 Professional 4 Finger Airless Spray Gun along with two 517 tips, a 50 mesh Filter in the handle and a 3′ x 3/16″ Whip Hose for only $125.00.
This gun is compatible with all major brand tips and hoses. The filter is compatible with SprayTECH gun filters. Click here to go to our main sprayer page where you can get one today.

T360 Valu pack includes gun, 2 tips and whip hose

T360 Value pack includes gun, 2 tips and whip hose

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Natura Featured on THIS OLD HOUSE

April 14th, 2009 John Posted in products | No Comments »

Benjamin Moore’s newest VOC free paint has been given a little blurb on the This Old House web site. Click here to view the full article

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Titan and SprayTECH Rewards Offers

February 22nd, 2009 John Posted in sprayers, airless, sprayers, h.v.l.p., sprayers, h.v.l.p., sprayers, line stripers, sprayers, texture | No Comments »

Titan / Speeflo and SprayTECH have just let us know about their rewards progam for 2009. Both companies are giving away free merchandise through December 31st, 2009. To get your free stuff you must send in a copy of your invoice and the completed coupon  to the factory. They will send you out your free merchandise directly to you.

TITAN / SPEEFLO - This year continues the great Tool Bag Rewards program from last year. When you buy a Titan or SpeeFlo airess sprayer or linestriper system you can get a tool bag filled with FREE MERCHANDISE such as tips, inlet screens, repacking kits and more. POWRTEX buyers will get a bag with a 1/2″ DEWALT  drill well suited for mixing their texture materials. POWERLINER buyers will get upto $750.00 in products including a FREE STENCIL KIT and FREE LASER POINTER.  Click to get a copy of the reward coupon.

SPRAYTECH - Just as in previous years, the SprayTECH 2009 Contractors Club allows you to choose your reward from 3 options when you purchase a new sprayer or airless gun. Each sprayer There are values a-plenty especially since you can get a FREE COMPLETE FLUID SECTION with any sprayTECH model except the EPX 2155 or 2255. CAPSpray HVLP buyers can get a FREE CUP GUN, HVLP Accessory Kit or other valuable products. We have a scan of the flyer in adobe reader format if you want to see everything that is available.

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Painting! Digital Magazine

February 4th, 2009 John Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

product stuff

Jobsite Magazine now has a digital magazine for painting and drywall products. Similar to their hardcopy edition, you can page through ads for the latest and greatest products available to painting contractors. But the digital edition goes one better with active links to jump out to manufacturer websites, downloadable content and printable pages so you can surf all day and night scheming up superior production speeds and efiiciencies beyond our grandfathers most wildest dreams.

I hope our readers will share their comments on some of these items, on the stuff that works - or doesn’t. If you think somethig should be on our shopping sit, let us know and we’ll try to get it on for you.Painting - January 2009

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New Ben Moore YouTube Video

February 2nd, 2009 John Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Here’s a new video from Benjamin Moore made for YouTube highlighting their new waterborne paints. A hummingbird flies through a black & white line art house filling the rooms with colors.

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Coral Gables Looking for Dirty Roofs

January 8th, 2009 John Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

12/30/2008: GOT A DIRTY ROOF? CITY OF CORAL GABLES WILL BE CHECKING EXTERIOR STRUCTURES OF HOMES & BUSINESSES BEGINNING IN FEBRUARY

Dirty Roof

Dirty roofs have become a serious issue in the City of Coral Gables. So much so, that beginning this February, Code Enforcement officers will be conducting a sweep to check that all exterior structures of residential and commercial properties are free of excessive mildew or scaling of paint.

The entire month of January will be devoted to educating the public that it is their responsibility as property owners to keep their homes and businesses in good condition. The exterior of every structure –walls, roofs, walkways and driveways – needs to be maintained with reasonable attractiveness to protect the value of neighborhoods.

The City code states that “all exterior building surfaces shall be free of chipping, pitting, cracking, discoloration, peeling or fading.” That’s exactly what Code Enforcement officers will be checking citywide beginning in February.

Residential and commercial property owners that are not in compliance will be cited for a violation and will receive a letter asking them to correct the problem within a certain period of time. If after this time the problem is not corrected, violators will be fined $250.

In consideration of previous years’ water restrictions, City officials have not been citing property owners for having dirty roofs, but the measure is needed since maintenance of exterior structures has deteriorated through many parts of Coral Gables.

For additional information, contact the City of Coral Gables Code Enforcement Office at 305-460-5226.

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The End of the Professional Painter?

December 19th, 2008 John Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Today I got to meet one of our homeowner customers at his home. This fella, a white collar worker in an apparently successful business gauging by the Cadillac he drives, was having some trouble. He picked a color from a little paper color chip and “fell in love” with it. In fact he had seen it on a neighbor’s house and thought it was terrific! It should look great on his house too, right?

He bought the paint, instructed his handyman to paint his house and left for work. Upon returning home he discovered that what he thought was the perfect color  (the perfect color for his neighbor’s house)  was too yellow. Immediately he called our store and insisted that there was some problem with the paint, that color was made wrong. There was much consternation and upsetting behavior but when the actual paint was compared to the little chip the color was spot on. It was mixed right and the handyman did a decent job of applying the paint but painting is more than just putting paint on the wall.

So, here’s an intelligent man who thinks he knows something about paint and painting but wouldn’t verify his pick of a color. He didn’t sample it on the wall to see what it looked like before he bought the paint or had the entire front of his house painted. His handyman didn’t sample it, he just went and did what he was told. His impulsiveness created a situation that caused a lot of stress for himself and my employees because he skipped a few basic protocols that a pro would have walked him through. Fortunately we think we can adjust the remaining paint to a better color  but it is still going to cost him in having to pay to repaint over the unwanted color.

It is hard to be a painter - it definitely is a skilled trade and the people who decide to make a career of it deserve respect. There is a lot to know and products are  being introduced / discontinued / modified constantly. The paint we will be using in a couple of years will be technologically very different from what was industry standard 5 or 10 years ago. There are specialties within the universe of coatings such as  wood staining, faux finishing, driveways and garage floors  that require years of experience to do properly.

There are lots of costs that painters must contend with that a handyman doesn’t. Insurance, licensing, signage, advertising, uniforms and lord knows what else that must be paid in order to do business. Miami-Dade county mandates that contractors recieve 8 hours of instruction per year but doesn’t provide classes on painting. So painters go to class to waste a day in a room while someone drones on about air conditioning or some-such.

Throughout 2008 we offered evening events to help interested customers  to see new products that could help elevate them over their competition.The attendence was astoundingly poor. Even our day events such as painter breakfasts and equipment demonstrations did not attact much attention, a fact which I find distressing. These events have our factory people on hand to talk directly to the consumer, the end user. And if the painters refuse to learn new things or find ways of increasing their value to potential clients then there is no help at all for them and they will continue to lose ground.

Not to get  all maudlin but the industry has been shifting around for quite a while now and as a store we are  increasingly selling paint to homeowners; not so they can do their own painting but so they can pay a handyman to Do-It-For-Them.  This is not a good trend by my book and we at O-Gee want to help encourage homeowners to use career professionals. Give us some comments on ways painters can raise their value. Is it helping with color decisions, warrantees, product knowledge, clean appearance, or something else that would make a potential client willing to pay the higher dollar? What do you think?

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