CertaPro Painters: Working Hard to Make Your Next Painting Project a Certainty

August 2020

We have all heard that old Ben Franklin saying that nothing is certain in this world except death and taxes. The folks at CertaPro Painters are working diligently to add one more certainty to your life: that you will be highly satisfied after they complete your next residential or commercial painting project. In these times of great uncertainty, it’s good to know there is someone out there working to add some certainty to your life. For Certa Pro, it starts with their mission statement: consistently delivering extraordinary experiences.

About Certa Pro

In 1992, CertaPro Painters began with the vision of making residential and commercial painting services easier and more convenient for homeowners and business owners. From the beginning, their promise has been that of certainty, aiming to reassure customers of their quality and expertise. Today they are the largest residential painting contractor in North America. CertaPro operates through a network of locally owned and operated franchises.

The local CertaPro franchisee has been serving the greater Indy area since 2001. As you might expect, they are fully licensed, insured and locally owned and operated.

What Does CertaPro Do to Ensure Certainty?

We asked the question to J.J. Darr, president and one of the owners of the local franchise, who started in sales 10 years ago and was provided the opportunity to advance to his current position. As Darr answered, “Certainty comes with experience, and that comes with timely communication, transparency and honesty. Those are all things that we build in our processes so that customers can hire Certa-Pro with certainty.”  

Darr stated that one of the main ways CertaPro creates certainty in its work is by having developed over the years effective systems that help them monitor and manage nearly every aspect of their business. As Darr explained, “Metrics are important to us. You can’t manage what you can’t measure. We like to have processes so that we can create standards and hold teammates accountable for positive results for our clients.”

At the heart of CertaPro’s customer service is what they call the Certainty Service System (CSS). Darr explained that CSS is a six-step process that CertaPro developed to ensure their paint crews can deliver great results to their customers. It begins when the sales associate responsible for the project has an in-person handoff to the head of the paint crew in order to go over all the details of the project. The job site supervisor, who will be wearing a gold shirt, on arrival at the job will walk through the project with the client. At the end of each day, that same individual will go over with the owner the progress made that day and the plan for what will be accomplished the following day. At the end of the project, the site supervisor will do a “pride walk” with the owner to make sure the owner’s expectations have been achieved.

In order to try to measure how well CertaPro is doing in meeting client expectations, Darr explained that CertaPro has adopted a system used by many companies called a Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS is an important metric for CertaPro that essentially asks customers after a job is completed how likely they are to refer CertaPro to other potential customers on a scale of 1 to 10. According to Darr, “The score is a clear reflection of customer satisfaction based on how referable you are or how much your customers enjoy doing business with you. This year our NPS is at 71%.”

CertaPro’s Response to COVID-19

Like nearly every business in the world, CertaPro has had to adapt to the issues presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. First, they have adopted new standard operating procedures where painters are required to wear masks, painters’ temperatures are taken each morning before showing up to a job site and, to the extent possible, painters exercise social distancing. Second, each painting crew carries a bottle of disinfectant and is instructed in proper procedures on its use. In addition, many of the documents that used to be on paper have been converted to digital and are loaded on a tablet.

Another major development by CertaPro to address the issues related to the pandemic was the creation of its unique online estimate system.

CertaPro Offers Both In-Person and Online Estimates

Typically, projects begin when a potential client calls the CertaPro office where they are directed to a sales associate who is responsible for the specific area in which the caller lives.

The sales associate will then come to the home and look at the project, but prior to arriving, they will call the client to alert them they are on their way. The sales associate will talk with the client, take a look around the project and prepare an estimate. All the estimates are done on a tablet and completed onsite within approximately 30–45 minutes. Once the estimate is produced, the sales associate then reviews it with the client to make sure everyone understands what is proposed for the project.

Alternatively, an estimate can be done through CertaPro’s unique online estimate system. With this system, you go to a link on the CertaPro website or use a QR code like the one you see below. Once you are on the site, you will be asked a series of questions about the project you want CertaPro to address. After the questions, you will be able to upload photos of the area that you want to have painted. This process usually takes about 10 minutes. Presto, you will then receive an estimate in your email.

The online estimate system is a terrific way for you to receive an estimate if you choose not to have a sale associate come to your house for whatever reason.

Just as importantly, an online estimate is a great way for people who are in the process of buying a new home to get a painting estimate prior to taking possession of a house or closing without having to go through the hassle of trying to schedule a time for the current owner or their real estate agent to be present.

If you have a painting project and want to assure yourself of the certainty that the project will be done professionally and that it will meet or exceed your expectations, call CertaPro to set up an in-person estimate or simply go to their website to receive an estimate online.

To begin an online estimate scan QR
or go to https://certapro.com/online-estimates/.

Writer:

Neil Lucas

Photography:

Laura Arick