The father-son duo of Bob, 62, and Aaron, 31, at Novak Painting have been paving their own way over the past two decades as the painting business celebrates turning 25 this summer.
Bob started Novak Painting while working with his father-in-law who owned Kraus Painting Company of 80 to 100 people in Traverse City.
Over the years, Novak Painting has grown from a fairly small business looking for work to now barely being able to hold the amount of business out on the Leelanau Peninsula and far.
“There’s a lot of natural demand right now,” Aaron said.
Bob didn’t imagine being in the painting industry after working for Red Path Orchards in Leland for 20 years before going to work for his father-in-law at Kraus Painting in the 1990s. After six months of learning the skills it was time for Bob to learn estimation or cost of projects. He traveled down to Detroit every weekend for nearly half a year to take classes from industry professionals.
“That’s all I did almost all day for six years.”
Eventually, Bob decided to start Novak Painting with a handful of local Leelanau fellas at the turn of the century after his father-in-law was retiring.
Twenty-five years later, Novak Painting is still going stronger than ever.
His son, Aaron, has been on paint patrol with his dad for the past 12 years ever since he graduated from Glen Lake.
“Aaron has probably taken off at least 70% of my pressure because he pretty much runs the crew,” Bob said.
Bob admits that ever since COVID times have changed especially when finding employees. Bob remembers working for $2.25 an hour on the farm, and now people are pushing for $20 along with benefits.
“We got one of the best crews right now that we’ve had, but it takes a lot to find them,” he said.
Novak Painting does all things paint from walls and bathroom to cabinets and everything in between. The company used to do wall coverings and on some rare occasions they still do. But some wall covering products have been unreliable.
As Bob enters his final years in the profession, Aaron believes he’s ready to continue the family legacy of painting.
Aaron started working for his dad with three other guys that have since grown to 10 these days.
Growing business possesses a unique opportunity for a company with only eight to 10 people.
“I always try to tell people that something to keep in mind is to call this year to get on the schedule for next year,” Novak said. “It’s a tight schedule for everybody.”
Aaron says paint costs have surged eight to 10% every year for the past several years. Novak Painting buys at a wholesale which can range from $30 to $ 35. Non-wholesale gallons of paint can go for as much as $60 to $100. Even a roll of tape cost $7 in today’s hardware stores.
As spring arrives, Novak Painting is transitioning from interior projects to exterior.
Aaron says the biggest thing you can do to your house right now is give it a light power wash that will remove mold and mildew to see what the paint is truly looking like.
“If you have a stained house, the light wash is never a bad thing. Even if you have a vinyl house,” Novak said.
It’s essential to trim the trees and shrubs around the house as that will affect paint, according to Aaron.
“If you have shrubs that are tight to your house, rubbing on your house, that’ll hold moisture which will cause rot and cause paint to fail,” Novak said.
Novak Painting is currently doing its largest project in company history at the new K1 Speedway in Traverse City, former Sears building.
“We’re in there, we’re moving on it and we were supposed to have it done this winter,” Bob said.
Both Aaron and Bob are confident their team can get the job done.
“I don’t sleep much at night but if it wasn’t for Aaron, I wouldn’t sleep at all. It’s going well. He’s got the guys going good in there,” Bob said.
Bob will always help out with the business even as he slows down and focuses solely on estimation. His advice to anybody entering a skill trade and creating a business is, “you gotta put your heart in it,” he said. “When we get done, we want people to be proud .... You don’t want to have to come back.”
Over the years, Novak Painting has created a long list of customers.
“I would tell all my customers. I sure appreciate them ... 99% of my clients were very, very good clients to work for. They knew who we were,” Bob said. “I would like to thank all my contractors that I work for because it’s been really nice working for them ... Hopefully my son can keep up the generational business. The way things are going and he’s seen what I went through. It’s not like he’s just walking into it ... The biggest thing, show up on time and show up five days a week. That makes a big, big difference.”
