“Everyone assumes that there is painting going on, but when you look at the numbers it’s a huge $380 bil-lion dollar industry in North America,” says Michael

Duchnij, the president and CEO of SuperPro Painting Systems. “When you start driving around and you look at different resi-dential homes and commercial properties many of them will need painting. We call it the itch-cycle, itching to paint!”

Duchnij had been in involved with real estate and develop-ment ventures for years, but when he teamed up with Kelly Cadwell who had been painting commercial and residential properties since 1979, everything fell into place.

“For the most part, all those buildings that require painting are all serviced by mom and pop operators; there wasn’t one company that has any significant national presence,” Duchnij explains. “We saw an opportunity.”

What an opportunity it was! The partners branded SuperPro in 2011 and have experienced runaway growth to the tune of 625 per cent since they opened their doors. For most compa-nies, this rapid growth would be completely unsustainable, but for SuperPro, it’s exactly what they wanted, needed and expect-ed. How do they keep up with the demand?

“We have invested in a strategy which has become part of our concept. Our processes involve every facet of our business – our four “P’s”: people, pride, paint and performance. It’s all about

being laser focused. We trust our processes,” Duchnij points out. He goes on to say that it’s not just knowing how to paint. It’s having tried and true processes that can be applied to any job, from a single family home, to a sprawling retail complex or manufacturing facility. “We refer to it as our proprietary, SPPM (SuperPro Process Management System).This includes our triple check system and it’s phenomenal! It involves a 50-step checklist to make sure we are prepared when we start to paint. Out of those 50 steps, we don’t address painting until we’ve cleared the first 30, and those first 30 steps ensure we are on the same page as our customer and fully prepared for the job. We also inspect every project on an ongoing basis to ensure that we complete the project on time, meeting or exceeding our customer’s expectations.”

Follow up is equally important for SuperPro. “We offer all our customers a final opportunity to provide us with some honest feedback. Our customers complete a report card scoring us on all facets of the job and give us an overall rating out of 10. If we receive anything less than eight, we consider the job incomplete and return to rectify any areas that were below the customer’s ex-pectations. The bottom line is that we are not happy until our cus-tomer is happy. We aren’t perfect, but we are surely getting there.”

With their rapid rise in the industry and tremendous growth, one would be tempted to think that SuperPro is content, but

SUPERHEROES OF PAINTINGSuperPro Painting Systems does it all – and then some – with style and panache.

by Nerissa McNaughton

SUPERPRO Painting Systems | 5 Years | Page 1

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they are still pushing forward. Duchnij and his partner have a targeted plan to ensure every home and commercial property in North America gets the SuperPro touch – and they have re-cently began franchising to make this happen.

“We’ve put together franchise packages that target four differ-ent types of territories,” says Duchnij. We plan to go into every province and into the United States. This is a superior franchise opportunity because it is a recession-resistant business. There is no question our services are in high demand.”

“We respect the business. The painting industry is huge. Think about it. Drive around and you will note that every facility and prop-erty requires painting, either interior, exterior or both,” Duchnij ex-

claims. “Our biggest challenge is that the barrier to entry is so low. Anybody can call themselves a painter. We turned this challenge into an opportunity. We hire painters and provide them with steady work and in return, we put them through our CLIP school. CLIP stands for Certified Learning in Painting. Every one of our painters must go through CLIP – no exceptions. Additionally, we only hire painters that have a real passion for the profession and have the right attitude. I’m very blessed. I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have individuals that are all team players. Keep it up, team!”

Duchnij points out that they are an equal opportunity employ-er and that a great number of their painters are women. SuperPro aims to raise the bar when it comes to respect for painters and

SUPERPRO Painting Systems | 5 Years | Page 2

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

The four franchise packages being offered are segregated by market size as follows:

• Small: 1,000 – 3000 businesses & 3,000 – 20,000 single family homes

• Medium: 3,000 – 10,000 businesses & 20,000 – 60,000 single family homes

• Large: 10,000 – 30,000 businesses & 60,000 – 200,000 single family homes

• Major: 30,000+ businesses, 200,000+ single family homes

BEFORE

AFTER

they do so by making sure their staff do their jobs beyond expec-tation. “The respect is what we are shooting for. Every one of our painters should be respected by every one of our clients.”

SuperPro is known around Edmonton for providing value; great service at fair prices. They work hard to accommodate client’s needs, such as painting on weekends or at night. For example, one job had them set up at 5:oo p.m. on a Friday, paint an entire automotive showroom from the floor to the ceiling deck and be done in time for the cars to be put back Monday afternoon. By the way, this was on a long weekend!

Their success has been recognized in the industry. SuperPro is the proud recipient of three 2014 BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) awards: Certification of Customer Service Excellence, Pinnacle Award for Customer Service and Pinnacle Awarded for Above and Beyond the Call of Duty. It was the first time that one organization won three awards at one BOMA gala. “We felt like rock stars!” laughs Duchnij.

In the midst of their runaway success, SuperPro takes time to give back. The company’s Edmonton Global Paint for Charity initiative offers free services to over 100 registered charities and non-profit organizations in the Edmonton area.

Duchnij explains, “In Canada no one has stepped to the plate and provided painting services to repaint, refresh, and rejuve-nate the facilities of registered charities and non-profit organi-zations. Our goal is to process over $1,000,000 in painting ser-vices for registered charitable businesses. Through our efforts, we hope to change lives and transform their facilities through-out Edmonton and Area.”

It’s clear that the SuperPro management team, painters and ad-ministrators love what they do. From their beautiful new head-quarters to their CLIP school, their expansion program to their charitable work, this is a company that is going places – fast.

“Our success is due to our employees. They are obsessive and creative about what we do,” Duchnij concludes. “They are in-strumental. They give us an opportunity to do a great job. It’s all about teamwork and meeting and exceeding customer’s expec-tations. Our employees are doers, not dreamers.”

SUPERPRO Painting Systems | 5 Years | Page 3

4409 94 Street NW Edmonton, Alberta T6E 6T71.780.395.4580 or 1.866.61.SUPER (78737)

www.superpropainters.com

Owners Michael Duchnij and Kelly Caldwell with franchisee Randy Fatt.

“We had a tight budget and even tighter schedule nailed both with the help of our painting contractor. I would certainly use them again and do recommend them!”

~ Louis Barron, Facility Director, Citadel Theatre

“SuperPro met all my expectations and was on budget. All staff that I had communication with was knowledge and professional. In the

future I would have no hesistation recommending your services.” ~ Kent Asselstine, Legend Automotive Repair, Legend Automotive Repair

SUPERPRO Painting Systems | 5 Years | Page 4

RECIPIENTS OF 3 BOMA AWARDS:

Certification of Customer Service Excellence, Pinnacle Award for Customer Service andPinnacle Award for Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

ECA “Giving Back” into the Edmonton Community - www.edmca.com/giving-back

Thank you for your support!

JT Moland Insurance Consulting Ltd provides individual & group benefits for SuperPro Painting Systems.

9712-153rd Avenue Edmonton, AB T5X 5V2 780-457-4646Unit 10, 308 Westgrove Drive Spruce Grove, AB T7X 4P9 780-962-8133#180 – 2181 Premier Way Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2V1 780-410-06629735 – 28th Ave Edmonton, AB T6N 1N4 780-450-844416411 – 118 Ave Edmonton, AB T5V 1H2 780-453-570015844 – 111 Ave Edmonton, AB T5M 2R8 780-451-38336907 – 39 Street Leduc, AB T9E 0W1 780-986-1512

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