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In the early years, this Owner was immersed in daily work - keeping crews busy through the off-season, managing projects directly, and handling client requests himself trying to keep the business afloat.
Strategic concerns quickly surfaced: the company relied almost entirely on four major clients - with 25–75% of annual revenue tied to any one of them. This created constant fear of collapse if even one relationship ended. The long-term solution required diversification, repeatable growth, and a stronger customer base.
The turning point came through the business - guiding everyday activity so that crews, customers, and operations consistently reinforced long-term stability. With the help of T-suite frameworks, the Owner:
from four key accounts to 25 repeat commercial customers, systematically spreading risk and building consistent backlog.
by solving non-painting problems for clients (furniture removal, landscaping, repairs), which positioned him as a trusted partner rather than just another contractor.
by aligning project scheduling and client relationships to minimize seasonal slowdowns, reducing turnover risk and protecting talent.
Over two decades, revenue grew from $560K to over $2.1M annually, with net income rising from $125K to over $500K. More importantly, the Owner no longer operates in fear, but with confidence in a balanced, resilient business.
It must be nice being a painting contractor in Florida where you can work year-round, and the business does not take a nosedive or completely shut down in winter. Year-round business, after all, is the dream of many contractors in other parts of the country. What they don’t realize is that, even in Florida, there is a seasonality for contractors. The dead season in Florida is summer when it gets hot - and it gets really hot.
While the rest of the country is making money and busy, Florida contractors are fighting heat, rain, crazy flocks of parrots, and a commercial clientele that wants work done in first and fourth quarters. It is actually very challenging. “Nice to work year-round” you say? How about also having to keep your painters employed year-round. There is no layoff for 3 to 4 months and people come back. In Florida, if you run out of work, you lose your field staff - period. Florida provides its own set of challenges.
This Owner was your typical Floridian transplant – he’d moved there from the North for the “short term” to escape winter and never left. His painting business started small and grew – not because he worked hard to gain new clients, but because all of his work came from his 4 commercial clients. As “nice” as that may sound, the reality was that at any point, if anything happened to one or more of those 4 clients, 25% - 75% of his revenue could walk out the door. Talk about a stressful existence!
When one client controls over 20% of your revenue, you live in constant fear that the client could go away, and you have no idea how you would replace that client. He lived in constant fear his company could evaporate overnight. How do you combat this kind of fear? You do what he did - you take on 1-2 new clients over time and build your client base.
In the last 20 years, this Owner has gone from 4 commercial clients to strong base of 25+ customers that provide repeat work. He has solidified his business. No longer is one client the top client year after year; every year a new client takes the top spot on the revenue list. This Owner no longer has the constant fear of losing his business or needing to have his crews paint his house for the 5th time in four years to keep them busy during the slow times.
Now, when clients call with a strange request, he figures it out and does the other things that other painters in his market won’t do. Need two rooms of furniture taken away? He does that. Need large bushes taken out? He subcontracts a landscaper to do that. Sidewalk cracked? He’s got a guy for that too. The value this Owner brings to his clients is far beyond just being “the painter.” This Owner has become “the guy” who makes problems go away for his clients.
And best of all, he is no longer concerned about losing his clients - because he’s spread out his risk and is no longer dependent the original 4. Funny enough, those 4 clients are still his clients – 2 decades later. They always saw the value in the work he provided, and it’s likely they may never have gone anywhere else. But that 4 client scenario is just too much a risk for any small business to carry. In the last 20 years, this Owner’s revenue has gone from $560K per year to over $2.1M per year. And his net income has gone from $125K per year to over $500K per year. And he has peace of mind, no longer living in constant fear.
