Painting Your Retail Space While Staying Open

If you have a business that receives customers onsite then you know that appearances matter. You want a location that looks neat, appealing, and professional.

Having a retail business, service location, or restaurant that is freshly painted in a current style lets customers know that the business is alive and thriving. Consider the last time you went into a business that looked dated, scruffy, or just bland and you will realize that appearances are part of the overall impression people have of your operation. Knowing that something as simple as a fresh repaint can make your business more successful is important and shouldn’t be neglected.

The problem always seems to be around finding the time to paint your business and doing it in a way that doesn’t disrupt your business in a big way. With a few easy steps and a bit of planning, you can have commercial painters paint your business without having to shut down or inconvenience your customers too much.

How to proceed in planning with your commercial painting contractor

If you have a large space the first thing you will want to do is plan the painting in a series of separate areas so that you can break the job into stages, allowing you to keep most of your establishment open and unaffected by the work being done. You should make a day-to-day plan to manage this as it might require moving displays, merchandise, seating, etc. and it may affect traffic flow as well.

Schedule as best as possible. If your business isn’t open around the clock then you can work with your painting contractor to paint when you are closed or at least when you are least busy. If it’s a professional office then try to schedule the work for the weekend when the office is normally closed. For condominiums and apartment buildings you may try to schedule the work outside of peak commuting hours like early morning or evenings to allow people to come and go without passing by work areas.

Make sure to post notices in advance and around work areas to let people know to avoid any work areas. If you have scheduled appointments at your location or employees, it’s a good idea to forewarn everyone, you may even want to make a note of it on your website, Facebook page, or in automated emails during the period in which the work will occur. Add signs in the area alerting visitors as well.

Seal off work areas with plastic tarping to contain paint and odors. As you work in each area of your plan make sure to tape off and seal the area with floor to ceiling tarps. Add cones, signs, and yellow tape to alert people to avoid the area. Sealing off sections with plastic should be done with some consideration as to the location of air ducts as well.

Have a plan to handle ventilation and drying times. You want a repainted facility not a lingering odor of fresh paint. You may want to temporarily turn off your air conditioning or add fans during work periods to direct the flow of air in a way that expels fumes and aids drying. Your painting contractor would be able to advise you on a good course of action.

Have a plan to move inventory, materials, machinery, etc. with the equipment to get the job done quickly. You may need to reconfigure your work area more than once during the painting so planning will help to minimize the disruptions.

Once the work is completed there is nothing left to do but shout about it on social media, your website, and anywhere else you share information. You can turn a paint job you were afraid would be a huge disruption into a “grand re-opening” or “whole new look” announcement. Be sure to include some dramatic before and after pictures. If you are investing to freshen up the look of your business you might as well use it as a selling point for a return visit!

When you’re ready to plan a repainting at your location give CertaPro Painters of Northridge-Granada Hills a call and schedule a free estimate. We’re more than happy to make the perfect plan for the perfect paint job with you!

Read more about our commercial painting experience here.