With Trans-Atlantic Commute Behind Him, New Franchisee is Ready to Paint the Town
Posted on December 5, 2015
CertaPro Painters set to come to Hightstown December 14th
By Sam Lee
If you ever find yourself at a dinner party with Oliver Guminski, don’t even think about complaining about the terrible commute to the office you face each day. That’s because Guminski can top your story and then some. Let’s just say he’ll have the best story in the room.
That’s because from October 2010 until May 2015 in his position as a global financial (equities) sales and trading professional, Guminski commuted for work from his Colts Neck, N.J. home to London because of employment conditions following the recent recession.
Using his vacation days, tying in weekends and holidays as much as possible, Guminski visited home every three to six weeks, typically leaving London on a Friday night after work and getting to New Jersey just around midnight, to spend a few days at a time with his family. When not in New Jersey, he lived in a small rented flat on the outskirts of London.“I was more or less separated from my wife and children for five years,” Guminski said of his wife, Gina, and children, Henry (20) and Louisa (17). “The hardest part were the weekends in London, when there was no work to keep me occupied, and no family. At the same time my wife Gina was really busy, working full-time and looking after home and teenage kids all by herself”.However, Guminski’s commute has been lessened considerably since becoming one of the newest franchisees of CertaPro Painters, America’s largest and North America’s most referred painting company.The 53-year-old Guminski purchased a well-respected existing franchise, CertaPro Painters of Hightstown, N.J. The deal is expected to close Dec. 14 and Guminski will greet the new year as a newly minted entrepreneur serving customers throughout central New Jersey.“I left my financial sector career to pursue what I would consider a very good opportunity, which also allowed me to reunite with my family,” Guminski said. “After months of research, I decided to join CertaPro Painters based on the quality of its people, from both a corporate as well as franchisee perspective; its impressive track record; the quality of its training and support; and finally, its business model.”Commercial and residential painting is an estimated $40 billion industry in the U.S. and Canada. CertaPro has been ranked No. 1 by Entrepreneur magazine in its category for the last three years and boasts a customer referral rate that exceeds 95 percent.What’s more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of actively employed painting and wall-covering contractors will increase by 38.5 percent during the 10-year period from 2010 to 2020. The bureau further concluded that sales of residential painting services are likely to increase by an annual rate of three to four percent during the same period.“Painting is not completely immune to downturns in the economy, but it is less affected by economic cycles than many other professions,” Guminski said.The painting industry is highly fragmented with many small contractors. But best-in-class operational systems and procedures make CertaPro the most professional business model in the industry and its satisfied customers are the direct benefactors.“CertaPro Painters of Hightstown has been in business for several years now and has received outstanding reviews from previous clients, even though it has been competing with a large number of local painting contractors,” Guminski said. “I plan to build and scale my business to provide the community with the same best-in-class services.”With Guminski’s commuting travails behind him, he has also been able to fulfill another pursuit that had to be put on hold while he was crisscrossing the Atlantic for five years.“I immediately reconnected with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, where I had been a member since 2009,” Guminski said. “I was finally able to complete my boat crew qualification, which I had to put on hold while working abroad.”About CertaPro Painters Founded in 1991, Oaks, Pennsylvania-based CertaPro Painters is the largest painting company in North America. With more than 400 locations worldwide, CertaPro provides a customer-driven painting experience for both residential and commercial properties that is unparalleled in the industry. The company’s stellar service and proven business system have made CertaPro North America’s most referred painting company. For information, visit hightstown.certapro.
