# Certa pro sub contracting



## Painterpaintspaint (Mar 2, 2018)

Has anyone ever subbed for the National chain called Certa Pro before? If so I’m curious as to what your experience was like? What percentage of the job were you paid or were you paid an hourly rate? Was it worth it and would you do it again or would you stay far far away from them?


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## Rbriggs82 (Jul 9, 2012)

Painterpaintspaint said:


> Has anyone ever subbed for the National chain called Certa Pro before? If so I’m curious as to what your experience was like? What percentage of the job were you paid or were you paid an hourly rate? Was it worth it and would you do it again or would you stay far far away from them?


I'd never do it. From what I've heard they pay 40% of the job and you're also responsible for buying the material. 

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## AngieM (Apr 13, 2016)

I've sub for a similar franchise and get paid 40% and have to supply material. It's only worth it for commercial work.


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

Yes, please don't sub from Certa Pro. They don't have any painter employees just subs. When I sub, I give 75% of the contract. The sub provides the material. Some people would say I'm crazy for giving that amount but it needs to be worth it for the sub to do a great job. I feel my 25% cut is more than enough to cover my expenses and time.


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## Painterpaintspaint (Mar 2, 2018)

I advanced searched certa pro in the forum search bar and the majority of the posts are from 2013 and they are mostly negative lol. I’m curious if anyone’s opinion has changed In 5 years. I’ve bid a few jobs after cert pro has put in their bid ( got everyone one btw) the HO would tell me certa pro bid the job for 1 coat which is just stupid in my opinion. Anyways, I stay busy the majority of the year but there are times when I’ll have a few days free or during the slow months January and February a couple weeks free. I figure if I can fill those open days in my schedule with sub work then that’s better than no work.


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## Painterpaintspaint (Mar 2, 2018)

You get 25% of the contract and you DO think that’s fair?


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## Painterpaintspaint (Mar 2, 2018)

Does that 40% you get include materials? For example say the job is $1,000. They pay you $400 then material comes out of that $400 you recieve?


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## Holdenholden (Feb 6, 2018)

In Alberta Canada here and have done work for them. They pay you an hourly flat rate of $25hr and tell you how long they budgeted the job for. So 20hr job would pay $500 but if you can get it done quicker that’s your bonus. They pay for the paint. As long as you do good work they are easy to work with. 


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

Holdenholden said:


> In Alberta Canada here and have done work for them. They pay you an hourly flat rate of $25hr and tell you how long they budgeted the job for. So 20hr job would pay $500 but if you can get it done quicker that’s your bonus. They pay for the paint. As long as you do good work they are easy to work with.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


So you're saying that $25 an hour is great, especially if you can cut corners and do it FASTER? To me, this looks like a race to the bottom.

But, who I'm I to say if that's what you want, go for it!


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Sorta Pro painters? Never heard of them. I hear they just throw loaded paint brushes at houses.


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## Holdenholden (Feb 6, 2018)

It’s not the greatest pay. Most ive made is $50 an hour with them. Some jobs are gravy some aren’t. But they fill my schedule and work around my schedule. I use them just to fill in days I’m not doing my own jobs. Keeps money coming in and my worker busy 


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## Roamer (Jul 5, 2010)

I think you have it backwards with the breakdown. The sub typically gets 60% and the Certa Pro franchisee takes 40%. We've never worked as a sub for Certa Pro, we don't need to. 

Certa Pro seems a good fit for any new company trying to fill their calendar. However, they do not seem like a good fit for the long term due to the fact that you are doing the work for 60% of what the market will bear.

We had a Certa Pro franchisee as president of our local PDCA. She was committed to her business and to providing a quality paint job. Each Certa Pro franchise is different but hers seems to be on the up and up.


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## rosespainting (Mar 16, 2014)

The way I look at it is, you are better off just being an employee. You are giving certa pro almost half of the money to take care of all the back office work and advertising. If you are depending on them to keep you busy, why bother managing your own office and spending money on advertising and insurance. You could just be an employee for some one, and take home the same or maybe more money at the end of the day with less hassel. 

If you want to run your own business, and make a name for your self, You should build a brand that is better than certa pro.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

you could just go work at McDonald's if you are that desperate.


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## Painterpaintspaint (Mar 2, 2018)

rosespainting said:


> The way I look at it is, you are better off just being an employee. You are giving certa pro almost half of the money to take care of all the back office work and advertising. If you are depending on them to keep you busy, why bother managing your own office and spending money on advertising and insurance. You could just be an employee for some one, and take home the same or maybe more money at the end of the day with less hassel.
> 
> If you want to run your own business, and make a name for your self, You should build a brand that is better than certa pro.



Well obviously. I would use certa pro to fill in for days between jobs. Sometimes people reschedule a job last minute throwing off your whole work schedule. Instead of sitting at home not getting paid or working on my website or cleaning tools why not get paid keep the steady workflow?


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## Painterpaintspaint (Mar 2, 2018)

PACman said:


> you could just go work at McDonald's if you are that desperate.


Not desperate at all just simply asking a question


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Painterpaintspaint said:


> Not desperate at all just simply asking a question


I guess i would rather work at McDonald's myself. That's why i asked.


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## PaPainter724 (Apr 22, 2016)

Painterpaintspaint said:


> rosespainting said:
> 
> 
> > The way I look at it is, you are better off just being an employee. You are giving certa pro almost half of the money to take care of all the back office work and advertising. If you are depending on them to keep you busy, why bother managing your own office and spending money on advertising and insurance. You could just be an employee for some one, and take home the same or maybe more money at the end of the day with less hassel.
> ...


I'm 100 percent behind this. It's not ideal working for other people, but we've all done it. Most importantly though, no one on this forum is going to pay your bills, so their opinion means about as much as their money to you: zero. 

A lot of painters will eat like kings for 6 months and then play the pauper the other 6 months while throwing stones at people willing to hustle. 25 an hour or whatever they're paying may not be a kingly sum, but it sure will buy a lot more than nothing an hour.


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## rosespainting (Mar 16, 2014)

Painterpaintspaint said:


> Well obviously. I would use certa pro to fill in for days between jobs. Sometimes people reschedule a job last minute throwing off your whole work schedule. Instead of sitting at home not getting paid or working on my website or cleaning tools why not get paid keep the steady workflow?


 
I would rather spend my down time working on my website, marketing, and hustling my business. That's why I tend to stay busy. I also enjoy having some time off. I try to take a few weeks to a month around the holidays, and I try to take a week or 2 each fall to go away with the family, even if I am busy. 

Please don't take offense, I in no way mean it as an attack on your abilities... But part of being able to run a successful business, is being able to stay busy and make enough money to survive year-round. If you need to depend on certa-pro, you are missing something as a business. That being said, we all know it can be tough starting out. There's nothing wrong with doing what you need to do to get going, but it should be a temporary stop gap while you build your brand.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

do you like using Promar 400?


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## PaPainter724 (Apr 22, 2016)

PACman said:


> do you like using Promar 400?


No one likes using ProMar 400. That's like asking if people really like Super 8 motels. Of course, everyone would rather stay at the Hilton or something similar, but the problem is sometimes all you have available is a Super 8. 

I'm lucky enough that I won't have days off (other than vacation and ones I choose) for probably a couple years thanks to commercial work absolutely booming where I am. But if I had to pick between paying my bills and going hungry, then I'll roll as much ProMar 400 as I have to.


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## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

rosespainting said:


> But part of being able to run a successful business, is being able to stay busy and make enough money to survive year-round.


....I would say this is a very big part of running a successful business. If I had to quantify it I would say it's 80 % of the game. There are a lot more people out there capable of being a good painter than there are people capable of running a successful business.


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

Painterpaintspaint said:


> Well obviously. I would use certa pro to fill in for days between jobs. Sometimes people reschedule a job last minute throwing off your whole work schedule. Instead of sitting at home not getting paid or working on my website or cleaning tools why not get paid keep the steady workflow?


The problem with this logic is Certa Pro probably will not have work when you need to fill days. They will want you to always be on call for when they get a job and need it done. They would expect their subs to drop all of their own work and take care of theirs. In a sense you are a slave to their work.


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## AngieM (Apr 13, 2016)

MikeCalifornia said:


> The problem with this logic is Certa Pro probably will not have work when you need to fill days. They will want you to always be on call for when they get a job and need it done. They would expect their subs to drop all of their own work and take care of theirs. In a sense you are a slave to their work.


That depends on the relationship you establish with them. You get what you tolerate. If I set the precedent of being "on call" then I'll get walked all over. I know this from experience. I had to grow a pair and make it clear, your jobs are second to my jobs (unless yours pay more). Until I'm booked solid with my own work I have to play the game.


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## PaPainter724 (Apr 22, 2016)

Places like Certa Pro are a lot like a non-union union. They will always need guys to step in and do work because they're always going through painters, either because they have their own business or because they can't hire real painters for full time work and so constantly need a pool of workers to draw from. I've seen it with another local painting franchise. They'd call local painters and ask if they could work so many days here or there, or owners would sub their guys out for a few days.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

after having dealt with sorta-pro painters in three different major cities in two states, i can honestly say that i have never talked to a painter that was happy with working for them other than apartment painters who needed work during the winter. And even then it was very scarce. If you need to rely on them to put food on your table, i would humbly suggest finding something else to do to make up for your slow periods. Maybe something like shoveling 5hit at a hog farm.


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