painting business, painting contractor, painting, business coach, painting

How to Find the Quality Employees

I found the perfect employee.

And I am going to tell you where and how to find them…

I am Ron Ramsden, and I am a DYB Coach, also painting contractor.

“Perfect” Employees Do Not Exist

First of all, “perfect” employees do not exist.

We are not perfect, but it seems when I talk to other contractors, we are all looking for that diamond in the rough, that perfect employee.

Well, I’ll tell you, they are not there!

So, do we have to settle? No!

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Be Specific In Your Job Ad

You can stack the cards in your favor by having a well-written Ad.

Put an Ad on Craigslist, Facebook, or wherever you are putting your Ad, but be as specific as you can, and lead with what you are willing to pay the employee.

If you’re willing to pay lower on the pay scale, that’s who you are going to get.

Experienced professionals are going to feel like you don’t even care about them and you are not willing to pay them –they are not going to apply.

You just lost that whole stack of employees.

Also, if you just write “experienced painter”, you might not really get the experience you’re looking for.

Write a long, good Ad, and be as specific to what you’re looking for as possible.

Detailed Pay Range

Be truthful of what you are willing to pay; $15 to $20 an hour, for instance, is a big range.

If you are looking for an experienced painter and the highest is $18 an hour, put $16 to $18 or $17 to $19.

Quality Interviews

What are you going to do for an interview?

Maybe you don’t do an interview –you are the guy who met the painter at the paint store when you were looking for painters and he said, “I work for 20 bucks an hour”, and you said, “Come on”.

I hate to say it, but we’ve all done it, however, we usually get what we pay for, and we get what we give in the effort.

You didn’t give any effort into hiring that guy just with a handshake, you actually have to do your homework –sit down and find their character, if you want them to last.

If not, in a month from now, you will say, “Oh, I am sick of employees, they never work out”.

The reason they never work out is that we usually don’t put the effort in.

Of course, there is always a bad apple now and then, but I will tell you, we’ve gotten a lot more shining stars.

For me, whenever a painter says he is going out on his own, it hurts, but I feel that I have done my job because that’s what I did at one time and that’s what you probably did also –you left your employer and went over and started your own business.

Yeah, we get mad when they leave, but we have to pat them on the back for taking that leap because we all did also.

So after creating a great Ad and conducting quality interviews, check their references.

Schedule Start Date and Walk Them Through Everything

Do an honest check of their references, and then schedule a time for them to start.

On the day they start, don’t throw them a bucket of paint with a brush, walk them through everything.

Walk them through how you use T-sheets online, if that’s what you use, online punching in and punching out for the records.

Show them where you keep everything at the shop if you have a shop, show them everything in the van, who is in charge of the van, who is the boss, etc.

Also, open up GroupMe for them, help them download Basecamp and GroupMe on their phones, have them feel like they are a part of the team!

It might take you an hour or two at one time, but they can never say you didn’t show them.

Also, when you actually show them all these things, have them sign something saying that they know how to use all those pieces of software, so that down the road, if there is a mistake with T-sheets, or they don’t punch in and punch out, they can’t say “I didn’t know”.

We have to help mold these “perfect” employees, we want to give them shirts, tell them what tools are required –all these in paperwork ahead of time.

When they come to the job, they are not just carrying a bucket of paint and a brush.

If they don’t feel like they are part of the team or company, when 50 cents more an hour comes around, they will be gone.

That’s how you find a perfect employee.

I hope that helps. Happy hiring!

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About the Author

As many of you know, my journey has been one of grit, grace, and transformation. At 19, I was a high school dropout, single father, and struggling paint contractor in Michigan. I later moved to Florida, where I faced both personal and professional hardships. With nothing left to lose, I turned to prayer—and was blessed with a relentless hunger to learn. I devoured books, attended seminars, and discovered better ways to streamline and grow my business—even through the Great Recession (and yes, I did hit the wife lottery along the way!). In 2014, I published How To Double Your Business and later sold the painting business, launching a new chapter: coaching others to grow their businesses. For the past 10 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping business owners scale through the DYB System, while also drawing from frameworks like EOS, Scaling Up, and The Four Disciplines of Execution. Yet something was still missing—something more adaptive, integrated, and complete. Then I found Pinnacle. After months of research and interviews with other Guides, I joined Pinnacle. Their tools and strategies have exceeded every expectation. Now, as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help leadership teams implement a custom-tailored operating system that draws from the best in the industry—but flexes with your unique business. It’s a dynamic, proven approach to achieve clarity, momentum, and lasting growth. I’m no longer taking on any more 1:1 coaching clients… Instead, I now specialize in working with visionary business owners who are ready to get their leadership teams aligned—around a clear vision, a focused strategy, and an actionable execution plan. With the tools and process I now have as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help turn alignment into momentum, and momentum into results. If your business is growing—but your leadership team isn’t fully rowing in the same direction—let’s talk.