Buying Canadian in the Painting Business

Many of us are looking for ways to ensure our purchasing power supports Canadian businesses. It’s something our family cares about deeply, and I wanted to create a post to share the options available for our customers.

First and foremost, we are a local family-owned business. I immigrated to Canada in the 1970s from Scotland, my wife was born in the GTA, as were my three children and my grandson.

After spending over 30 years working for paint companies I purchased a CertaPro Painters franchise in 2019.  CertaPro Painters operates franchises all across North America and has offices in both Canada and the United States. The very first CertaPro Painters franchise was started in Toronto.

CertaPro Painters is a division of First Service. First Service Corporation is a Canadian company based in Toronto, and listed on the Toronto stock exchange under symbol FSV. You can read more about First Service here.

When you’re dealing with CertaPro Painters, you’re supporting a local, family-owned business and a Canadian company.

Making Canadian paint choices is more complicated with most of the major brands having businesses on both sides of the border. I’ll try to break down the choices available to you and how each company operates in the Canadian market.

Sherwin-Williams is US publicly traded company that sells through company-owned stores. Sherwin-Williams is managed by an Oakville-based Canadian division and has been selling in Canada for over 125 years. The majority of Sherwin-Williams architectural coatings are manufactured in the United States. However, they operate four manufacturing facilities in Ontario, one in Brampton, one in Brantford, one in Grimsby and the largest in Fort Erie. The first three are specialty plants, making products for the local Canadian market. The Fort Erie plant manufacturers coatings that are sold both in Canada and shipped into the United States.

Benjamin Moore is a US-based company who manufactures the majority of their products in the United States. They do, however, sell through 850 independently family owned stores and 7 distribution centres across Canada. When we purchase Benjamin Moore products, we are supporting a local family business.

Dulux Paints operates manufacturing plants in both Canada and the United States. They are owned by American Industrial Partners in the US. Like Sherwin-Williams, Dulux Paints has Canadian offices and Canadian company-owned stores.

Cloverdale Paint is a Canadian family-owned business based in British Columbia. They operate stores across western Canada and southwestern Ontario. Cloverdale also has operations in the United States, however their main manufacturing is in Canada, including a plant in Oakville, Ontario.

Home Hardware is another Canadian option with dealers across the country that are again family-owned. The BeautiTone line of paints is manufactured out of a facility in Burford, Ontario, which is just outside of Brantford.

All of these paint companies employ Canadians in different operations of their business, including manufacturing, sales and distribution.

In the end, our goal is to apply the best possible paint, to give you the longest service life and best durability while respecting your wishes for the origin of the manufacturer. We’re very happy to offer multiple quotes on jobs to show the options between buying a Canadian manufactured product versus a product that is manufactured in the United States.