Once we establish a rapport with you, we use our Smart Painting strategy to help us meet your goals.
The usual scenario in residential exterior painting involves doing a little carpentry,
priming, scraping and painting the existing, weak substrate. This is not a long-term
solution because it is a
well-known fact that the life of the paint job is dependant on the quality of the
substrate (wood siding/trim) as well as the correct preparation of the substrate that has
to be painted. Unfortunately the average painter does not educate the customer on the
options available to them.
Under the umbrella of Smart Painting, we give you cost alternatives. Like buying an
automobile, we can show you a Chevette, a Buick or a Mercedes.
Which one you choose could be determined by your budget. Bidding may give the homeowners
the satisfaction of saving them a few bucks by going with the lowest bidder, but in the
long-run it provides limited value to them.
The best way to attack the price issue is with the job specifications. We love to be one
of the last estimates, because we want to challenge your specifications. Our experience
has shown us that when a homeowner gets multiple estimates there a lot of
"assumed" specifications. We probe to find out if we are comparing apples to
apples or apples to oranges.
At Bicknell Painting we offer our customers Good, Better, Best options so they can get the
best value out of the job. We call this Smart
Painting.
Our Smart Painting philosophy is backed by …
Mileage Plus
Lots of people like to get airline mileage for the money they spend on the painting
project. We offer VISA and MASTERCARD. More importantly this is the best warranty you can
get as a consumer. If you are not satisfied, you can rescind your payment. It is also
indicative of the financial stability of our company--smaller painting companies do not
qualify with these credit institutions.
Experience and longevity
Our teams reflect a paradigm shift in this industry where a floating work force is the
norm. On an average, our lead painters have been with us for over 6 years. They have
between 10-20 years of experience in the painting industry; many ran their own painting
businesses before joining us.
Training
We have graduates of the PDCA Apprenticeship program on staff. We are members of the PDCA
and Lynn Bicknell, the owner, has served as President of the Washington Metro chapter.
Keeping close ties to organizations such as the PDCA helps us maintain professional
standards and keeps us in touch with the latest techniques and knowledge in our field.
Customer satisfaction rating
In an independent study conducted by the Public Research institute of San Francisco and
Valuestar rating organization, we were awarded a "very high customer satisfaction
rating" for the period Feb 2000-Feb 2001. A score of 92.3%! The customers were polled
at random from a list of 100 past customers.
Drug-Free workplace program
We want to make sure that our customers have peace-of-mind and trust their homes to
us.
Communication skills
One of the biggest complaints we hear from homeowners is how uncomfortable they feel if
they cannot communicate with the painters. We realize the importance of the language
barrier. Our painters speak English.
Incentive-based compensation
Our incentive program has a built-in system for accountability and quality that puts the
onus on the painters to do it right the first time and rewards them for it.
Licenses
We are licensed, insured and bonded in the state of Virginia. We carry Contractor's
licenses for Fairfax County, City of Fairfax, Alexandria and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
We are insured for worker's compensation, general liability, automobile liability
and have a dishonesty bond coverage of upto $10,000.