Restoration of Dining Room Table

Monday, August 28, 2006
We are not just your ordinary painting company. We also specialize in staining and finishing custom woodwork. The latest project was the refinishing of an old dining room table. View the refinished product here: Tabletop

No Material Cost (now through Oct.)

Tuesday, August 22, 2006
If you schedule with our Painter for a Day™ program now through October 31st, you will pay no material cost. Utilizing Painter For a Day™ is an excellent way to: 1)get to know us and 2)to do minor touch-ups around your home, freshen up your baseboards, re-paint your entry door, or quickly add a new color scheme to a small bedroom of your choice. The total cost to receive a fully-licensed and qualified paint technician to your home is only $570 per day. He will arrive in a company vehicle with all the necessary tools and equipment he needs to complete your painting request. Please call our office for more details.* Note: *Extra cost may apply for certain specialty products such as select marine varnish, waterproof coatings, faux finishes or European paints.

On the Importance of Certification

Monday, August 21, 2006
Would you take your vehicle to a service technician who was not certified to work on your car? Would you allow a dental hygienist to clean your teeth who had not received proper training? I'm sure that like most of us, you want to feel confident that your car or your teeth are in well-qualified hands. The amount of training and time an auto technician puts into being certified is more than most would expect. The power of certification is huge in any industry. It requires diligence and a high standard of excellence. We at Chism Brothers Painting have observed the lack of quality and professionalism that is prevalent amongst many so-called professionals in the painting industry. We espouse a standard that is a cut above our competition. Because of our commitment to excellence, we established business goals; we practice superior preparation and quality standards; maintain tax and contract laws; and provide workers' compensation, employee training and safety meetings, as well as employee benefits. We also obtained certification from the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA). This PDCA seal of quality work and professionalism has been granted to fewer than fifty painting contractors in the United States. We are one of only two Certified Residential Contractors in San Diego County. When you hire Chism Brothers Painting to paint your home, you can enjoy utmost confidence that we will stand behind our word and provide you with quality you can depend on.

Las Patronas Spirit of Giving Award

Friday, August 11, 2006
Chism Brothers Painting received the 2006 Spirit of Giving Award from Las Patronas. Las Patronas is a philanthropic organization in La Jolla with a long history of giving to non-profit groups in San Diego. We dedicate this award to our former Vice-President, Pat Chism, for his faithful service with Las Patronas. Pat volunteered his time each year with a few of our employees until he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2005. Read more here: Spirit of Giving 2006

Kitchen Cabinet Ideas

A couple of weeks ago, I had an existing client in La Jolla call me to look at her white-washed oak cabinets. The finish was begininning to fail and yellow fairly severely. Several years ago, we had stripped and refinished a few bad areas to prolong the overall life of the kitchen cabinets. After inspecting the many cabinets, I gave her three options: 1) We could touch-up the cabinets like we did last time for around $1,500. 2) We could strip all the finish and re-stain them to whatever color she wanted for around $10,000. 3) We could thoroughly clean, prime and finish the cabinets with a very hard (non-yellowing) paint for around $6,500. Mrs. Dawson selected the third option, and I think she made a wise choice. Touching up the cabinets would have merely put a band-aid over the problem. The option to strip is an excellent choice, but costly. If you like the wood look, it is best to get an estimate on re-facing or replacing rather than stripping the surface and re-staining. Our company specializes in painting or staining cabinets and woodwork. If you have a questions related to your woodwork or even your furniture, please feel free to call, email or chat with us.

Hug Your Customers

Thursday, August 10, 2006
The Wall Street Journal recently had a review about a book entitled, Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell. This book offers excellent tips and anecdotes on how to treat your customers well. While reading the book, we realized that we have already been creating a "hugging" atmosphere here at Chism Brothers Painting. Hug Your Customers explains the importance of creating a business that excels in customer service so that customers feel special and important. We work hard to make our employees and customers feel that we treated them right. We want to build loyalty and trust in our customers so that they will look to Chism Brothers first for a paint job or great referral. We have one client in La Jolla who has asked us each time she needed a new tenant! This is the type of relationship we want with our customers. If you are a business owner, Hug Your Customers is a must read. If you have had a tough experience hiring great service companies, consider hiring us for a 1 day job to try us out!

Why Would You Hire a Painting Company?

Tuesday, August 08, 2006
If you have a moment, we would like to ask you a few questions that would help make our painting service even better. You can email your response or simply type your thoughts into our blog. We want to know what is most important to you in selecting a company to paint your home. We know that there are hundreds of painting companies in San Diego, so your decision is no piece of cake. Your response to the following questions will help us to offer even better service, pricing, and quality.

• What do you look for in hiring a painting contractor?
• How can a painting company make you delighted? Great prices? Showing up and doing what is promised? Excellent communication? Helping with colors? Special offers?
• Do you base your decision typically on the total price, quality, or reputation of a paint company.
• Would you hire a paint company if their bid was the highest price if they had the best reputation?
• How would you determine if a paint company had a good reputation?
• What kinds of things would hinder you from hiring a painting contractor or service company?
• If you had your wish of hiring the perfect paint company, what might that look like to you?

Summer Customer Newsletter

Monday, August 07, 2006
Here is a copy of "The Local Color" newsletter distributed to our clients. We try to keep them informed on what is happening in our business. We also offer design and maintenance tips, special offers, and other things that they may find helpful.

ChismNewsletter~Summer06.pdf

Summer Customer Newsletter 2006

Angie’s List Positive Feedback

Thursday, August 03, 2006
We recently had a member of Angie's List write up a positive report for our company. We appreciate the extra time they spent to inform others of the service we provide. We do what we can to make everyone feel they made a great choice. We love hearing your feedback so we can keep providing excellent service.