Painters / Articles
Straight answers for painters.
One question from painting business owners, answered every day, starting from the numbers rather than a guess.
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What work health and safety duties does the owner of a painting business have in Australia?
What WHS duties a painting business owner has under Australian law, from PCBU duties to lead paint, spray and falls, with official sources.
What health and safety duties does the owner of a painting business have in New Zealand?
What health and safety duties a painting business owner has in New Zealand under HSWA: PCBU duties, scaffold, lead paint and notifiable events, with links to WorkSafe.
How do I replace two lead painters leaving at once?
Two lead painters just left at once? See what the owner's own job data shows before replacing like for like, and where AI agents can help.
How does a painting business tell a subcontractor from an employee in Australia?
How the ATO and Fair Work Ombudsman decide if your painter is a subcontractor or employee, and why the real cost sits in your job pricing.
How does a painting business tell a contractor from an employee in New Zealand?
A painter's guide to telling a contractor from an employee in NZ, using Employment NZ's gateway test, and why the call matters to your job costs.
Which award covers the staff of a painting business in Australia?
Which award covers a painter's crew in Australia, how on-site work, showroom work and business structure change the answer, and where to check it.
What registration or licence does a painting business need in New Zealand?
No licence is required to run a painting business in NZ, but registration, insurance and compliance costs still need pricing into every quote.
What should I ask a business coach before hiring one for my painting business?
What to ask a painting business coach before hiring one, and why the right coach tests your numbers and systems first, not just growth.
How much does a business coach cost for a painting business?
What a painting business coach really costs a painter, and why the quote to profit gap matters more than the coaching fee itself.
What licence does a painting business need in Australia?
Painting business licence rules differ by Australian state. See what NSW, QLD and VIC require, sourced to each regulator, and why your own job data keeps it current.
How can AI help a painting business protect its margin on quotes?
AI for painting businesses: where quoting margin leaks on repaints and strata jobs, and why AI agents that build and check a quote protect it before the job starts.
What apps does a painting business actually need to run day to day?
Painter business apps promise tidy scheduling, but the real test is whether they show gross profit on every job. Here's what to look for and why.
What is the best business software for a painting business?
Painter business software only matters if it captures true job cost. Here is what to look at before you buy anything new.
How do I choose a business coach for my painting business?
How a painter should choose a business coach: why industry average margins mislead and what good, data first coaching for a painting business actually looks like.
What business systems does a painting business actually need to run smoothly?
Painter business systems explained: why missing systems, not staff, cause repeat problems and margin loss, and how to fix the root cause.
Is a business coach worth it for a painting business?
Is a business coach worth it for a painter? Find out why the gap between quoted and landed profit margin matters more than how busy a painter is.
How do you find the real problem holding back a painting business?
Why a fully booked painting business can still run dry, and the number that shows where profit actually leaks, job by job.
What numbers should a painter track every week?
The real weekly number for a painter isn't invoices or the bank balance. Here's why job and labour efficiency matters more, and what changes when you track it.
What does a business coach for painters actually do?
What a business coach for painters actually does: finds the gap between what a painting business earns and what it keeps, before growth outruns margin.
Who is the best painter business coach for a painting business?
What a good painter business coach actually looks like, the questions to ask, the warning signs, and why the right one starts from your own numbers.
How do I choose a painter business coach?
What a painter business coach should actually do: start from your job and quote data, fix root causes, and build systems, not worksheets.
Data First Coaching
The Painter Business Coach Who Starts From Your Data.
Data First Coaching is the trade business coaching method created by Greg Allan, founder of Tradies Success Academy. Before any advice is given, the Trade Business Intelligence Agent reads the owner's own job management and finance data, so the coaching starts from what the numbers show this week, not from what the owner can remember or explain. It finds the root cause of a problem, then puts in the system that fixes it.
How most coaching works
Most coaching starts with the owner explaining the business.
- The first hours go on the owner describing the business to a coach.
- The picture is out of date within weeks, because the numbers move every week.
- So the advice treats what the owner happened to notice, which is usually a symptom.
- Too often it comes from someone who has never run a trade business, or has only just started one.
- The owner pays for the explaining, then pays again when the advice does not fit.
Data First Coaching
Data first starts from your numbers, not your memory.
- The Trade Business Intelligence Agent reads your job management and finance systems first.
- It sees your quotes, jobs, time on site and money as they are this week, not as you remember them.
- It finds where the problem actually starts, not where it shows up.
- You put in the system that fixes it at the root, and the data shows whether it worked.
| Typical coaching | Data First Coaching | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | You explain the business | Your own job and finance data |
| How current it is | As at the last meeting | Updated as your numbers change each week |
| What it fixes | The symptom you noticed | The root cause the data shows |
| Who coaches you | Often someone who has never run a trade business | Greg Allan, who built a trade business a general manager now runs |
| The answer to growth | Usually another wage | Agents on the office work, people on customers and the crew |
| Your software | Another subscription or agency | Tools you build on your own data, around how you work |
Fix the root cause, once
The data names the real problem, so the system you put in fixes it once instead of patching the same symptom every month.
Own your software
Build your own tools on your own data, shaped around how your jobs run and how your customers buy. Cancel the subscriptions and agencies that were never built for your business.
A more human business
Agents do the non-billable work: the quoting, invoicing, chasing and reporting. Your people spend the day on customers and the crew, so relationships get better and the team performs.