The Painter’s Go-To: A Professional Repainter Counts on Durable Paints for Local Michigan Business

A professional painter’s reputation stands or falls by the paint he uses. If a house looks good 10 years after it’s painted, the owner will probably call him back when it’s time to repaint. But even when the job is done beautifully, if the paint cracks and peels within a few years, the same contractor will probably not be awarded the job of repainting it.

Dan Brady, president of Dan Brady Painting in Traverse City, Michigan, knows what customers want. He painted his way through high school and college, and has been in the business full-time since 2000. His company specializes in residential and commercial repainting (as distinct from new construction), and he says proudly that they’ll take any size project. The business has thrived in this rural community on the lake in northern Michigan, a region known for long, snowy winters and short, hot summers. Through most of his professional career, he has used PPG PAINTS™.

According to Brady, his success with PPG Paints and his loyalty to the brand are partly due to the quality of the products. It is also a testament to the service he gets both from PPG Paints and his local independent PPG dealer. “PPG is primarily our go-to paint. It’s great paint, but their independent dealer up here is probably one of the big reasons I use them, too,” Brady said. 

For interiors, Brady likes to use PPG’s matte-ceramic WALLHIDE® interior paint. “It’s easy to apply and easy to touch up. The matte-ceramic hides a lot of imperfections,” he explained. Brady noted that the painted surface can be cleaned very successfully without being damaged: “It’s so scrubbable. Typically higher sheen paint has higher durability, but this matte-ceramic has the best of both worlds—low sheen and very durable.”

In addition, Brady typically uses two PPG products for exterior projects. “PRO SIDING® Plus exterior coating solid color stain is easy to apply, and it lays down flat. It does not leave a lot of lap marks that you can get with other products. When you spray the side of a house and back-brush, you sometimes see the backbrush marks.  Pro Siding Plus exterior coating lays down nice and flat,” he said.

The other paint used is TIMELESS® exterior paint, considered their “Rolls-Royce of exterior products,” according to Brady. “It’s self-priming. It’s thick, so it has good fill capabilities on siding that’s dry. Here, we have a lot of cedar siding, and if it dries out too much, it gets pitted and it wants to start cracking. Timeless exterior paint fills it well, as it’s 2.5 times thicker with one coat,” he explained.

Beyond his positive experience with the products, Brady has been impressed with the support he receives from his representatives. “They’re really customer service oriented, and whenever we’ve had any issues, they want to make sure we’re satisfied,” Brady said. “They’re available for technical help. On a complex job, they’ll help me troubleshoot it and find the best products for the job.”

Brady also finds that the PPG VOICE OF COLOR® website (www.ppgvoiceofcolor.com) is a helpful sales tool, using its visualization tools to help customers develop ideas of what will work for them. “I direct a lot of my customers there, to help them at least get pointed in the right direction,” he said. “Once they do get an idea, we give them an hour of free consultation with one of our interior designers.”

For Brady, the products he uses from PPG Paints have been easy to use and continue to retain high quality after the painting job ends. “If you put Timeless on correctly and touch it up occasionally, it holds up really well,” he said. “I’ve had houses that had it on for 10-plus years that look like it was just painted. I tell people there are always places that need to be touched up, like low areas where there’s water splashback or where snow lays against the siding all winter. But if you keep up with those areas, the house looks great year after year.”

More from this series:
In Kansas City, A Local Painter Relies on a ‘Neighborhood’ Favorite Paint
Preserving a Masterpiece: How Fallingwater Maintains its Striking Paint Colors for the Future