Men In White Painting Service

Painting Roofs White

2011-12-22T23:49:00.000-08:00

IN 2009 I wrote about the value of painting roofs *white*, which would cool the interior of the house, by reflecting light and not absorbing the light as thermal energy (heat). I also mentioned that the colour didn't have to be white, as long as a heat reflective coating was used.
Well, it has been two years, and we finally found a client who wanted their roof painted in a heat reflective roof paint. We choose to go with the Dulux Infracool Roof Paint, and the colour chosen by the client is Colourbond Monument (a dark colour). It will be a real test to see how effective the Infracool Paint is... The client told us that the attic was not habitable in summer because the space got so hot. We are confident that with the cool roof paint, the attic will be up to five degrees cooler.
The picture at left shows the cleaning process in December 2011: the cement render tiles were cleaned with a high pressure wash, and mould was treated with bleach.
December turned out to be the wettest and coldest "december" since 1060, so we haven't had a chance to apply the new Infracool. We plan to do this in January 2012, when we resume after the Christmas break. This is a work in progress...

Painting Problems

2011-08-07T02:19:00.000-07:00

Cracks, Peeling Paint and Water Damage

We are very pleased to finally get some frequently asked questions information up on the website...

For more information, go to www.meninwhite.com.au

Cracks are caused by movement in the material that is painted. Commonly, the crack occurrs in the weakest part of the object, eg between pieces of timber in windows and doors, and between the ceiling and the wall. We can make cracks dissappear by 'caulking' with a flexible sealant like no-more-gaps, and in some cases a flexible cement based filler. We can't guarantee that the crack will not reappear sometime in the future.

PeelingPaint: oftern occurs in old houses that are painted in Kalsomine, which was commonly used on ceilings and walls up to the 1950's. Kalsomine is an organic material derived from milk, and with age, its adhesion can fail, especially under a coating of quality acrylic paint. The loose material and Kalsomine needs to be removed, sealed and filled.

Water Damage: this is the hardest problem, as the source of the leak needs to be fixed before repainting. Water usually enters a house from the bottom up (rising damp in old masonry buildings) and from the top down (from blocked gutters, and holes around the roof). Once the source of water has been fixed, we can remove the water damaged paint and materials, seal and make good!

Idea Paint Sydney

2011-06-20T03:13:00.000-07:00

Men in White has been the Approved Installer of Idea Paint since April 2011. This means that Men in White is guaranteed by the Australian supplier of Idea Paint - Baresque.

Rohan Calvert spoke at the recent Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) 2011 International Congress Conference held in Sydney in June. Rohan spoke about Idea Paint and the value in being able to draw directly on Idea Paint walls.

A recent successful project was a three level fit out for the NSW Department of Education and Training offices in Redfern. It involved 900 square metres of Idea Paint, of which half were curved walls and would not have supported conventional flat white boards. The specifying architect was KannFinch.

Linked In

2010-07-24T03:37:00.000-07:00

Men in White is a member of the Thought leaders group, and attends the monthly sessions by the Futurist and all round good guy Craig Rispin.

Craig has mentioned to me a few times about the importance of having a professional presence on Linked in. As a small business owner, updating a profile on the internet always seems to gt a low priority ranking in the list of things to do.

At the July 2010 session Craig talked about a blogger called Guy Kawasaki that got an extreme makeover on his Linkedin profile.

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/linkedin_profil.html#axzz0uavyTHSN

It's an inspiration to me, as I am starting a virtual makeover on my linked in profile. The first step is to get a professional photo of myself! I will report back in a week on this task.

Practical Solutions for a Tough New Planet

2010-05-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Men in White often talks about "what" we do (give people the best customer service and quality painting solutions) and also a bit about "how" we do it (with good management we reduce waste and produce long lasting paint jobs), however we seldom talk about the "why". That's interesting, as the motivation behind Men in White is the 'fire in the belly' that get's us out of bed in the morning. WE don't do it purely for the money (that's a result, not a motivation).
Nope. The reason "why' we run Men in White is because we know we can make the world a better place than we found it. We work in a in industry where there is lots of waste and simple incremental changes can make huge reduction in waste very quickly. For example:
Men in White has been using an all acrylic system since 2005, and all 'wash up' water is treated with flocculent, so that the acrylic paint is separated from the water. This means that the paint can be disposed of as solid waste and the water can be re-introduced into the water cycle or recycled for more wash up (we favour the second option). With practice this extra step can be achieved easily.
Men in White accepts as fact that water is a limited resource and in the future (www.billmckibben.com) we will have a lot less water to play with here in Australia.
Men in White offers practical solutions for a tough new planet.
We think that is a pretty good answer to the 'why" question.

Men in White is a Finalist in MPA Awards 2009

2009-07-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

Men in White is proud to announce that the company was a finalist in two categories in the the 2009 Master Painter of Australia (NSW) Awards for Excellence. Men in White was a finalist is the category of Best Commercial Repaint and also a finalist in the category of Multi Unit Residential. The MPA awards for Excellence were held at the Sangri La Hotel in Sydney on Saturday 27 June 2009. This is a great recognition of the work that Men in White does, and helps remind us of our goal to focus on quality and quality relationships with clients.

Paint it White

2009-02-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

Paint it White

The Federal and State governments are poised for action with their energy saving announcements for home owners last week, and not a minute too soon with the temperature tipping the 40s in Sydney and Melbourne in early February.
The intention to do good is evident, but the actions proposed are treating the symptom of the problem rather than the cause. The government will provide home owners with a grant of $ 1,600 to insulate the ceiling. The two types of insulation are ‘bulk insulation’ - which uses trapped pockets of still air within the product as a physical barrier to reduce the flow of heat - or reflective foil insulation – a shiny surface which is placed inside the ceiling adjacent to the exterior roof and which reflects back the heat. In short the insulation is slowing the transmission of heat from the roof into the house or reversing the flow of heat back out through the roof. In both cases it is treating the heat once it has been absorbed by the roof.
I propose that the government recognises the value in not letting the heat into the roof. This can be done by painting the roof white and reflecting the sun’s light, and not absorbing the light as heat. This idea is as old as the white-washed villages of Southern Europe and North Africa.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported last March 31, 2007 that Associate Professor Eric Hu, a thermodynamics expert from Deakin University who is working at the University of Adelaide now, said that while red house roofs absorbed heat from the sun, white ones would bounce at least some unneeded solar energy back into space and "it will never come back". Professor Hashem Akbari, a scientist at the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, is an advocate for painting roofs white. Dr Akbari works in the Heat Island Group, which recently completed a study of homes in Sacramento that found buildings with lightly coloured, more reflective roofs used up to 40% less energy for cooling than buildings with darker roofs. Dr Akbari was profiled by the environmental reporter David Adam for the Guardian on January 16 this year.
The State of California has required warehouses and other commercial premises with flat roofs to be white since 2005. Groups in several US cities including Houston, Chicago and Salt Lake City are investigating similar strategies.
Dr Akbari says that roofs don’t necessarily need to be white, as super-reflective pigments can reflect increased infrared light by 40% on dark coloured roofs. In Japan the Public Works Research Institute has experimented with paint coatings on asphalt surfaces that reflect 86% of infrared light yet reflect just 23% of visible light, to keep down glare. This would be good news for a factory or warehouse owner in Mascot who wants to save money on cooling without the glare interfering with aircraft landing at the airport. It is also good news for a home owner in Double Bay who wants to paint their terracotta tiled roof to lower the temperature in their attic, without incurring the wrath of Woollahra Council.

Dr Akbari says that a roof does not need to be coated white, as existing dark coloured tiles may be replaced with white or light coloured tiles or other building materials.
It is such a simple idea, as simple as wearing a white shirt on a hot sunny day. It is – I hope – simple enough to be added to the public conversation on reducing energy costs.
Rohan Calvert. 8 February 2009. Director Men In White Painting Service

Customer Service - Best in Show

2008-07-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Men in White was delighted to accept the Master Painters Award for Excellence in Customer Service at its annual awards night in June this year...and we're still tickled.

The award recognises the enormous value Men in White places on our customers' experience of working with us. Equal to a quality result is the manner in which it is achieved. That's why we place a high priority on the process, as well as the outcome, in each project. Respect for the client and their property is paramount; as is empathy, open communication, flexibility and willingness to negotiate.

Our deepest thanks to a very special client whose generous praise found its way into the hands of the judges. A copy of his letter to the MPA was forwarded to Men in White, and appears in part below:

"Throughout the whole job, Rohan has been the most courteous and polite tradesman I have ever worked with, through three major renovations over a 10 year period. I was present during many of the discussions between the various trades and, despite the obvious tensions that the delays caused, everyone was flexible enought to allow the project as a whole to progress at the best possible pace. Significantly, Rohan and the project manager had the consideration to recognise that these projects are also stressful for the clients and managed to maintain a positive and constructive interaction with us throughout.

"Rohan's attitude clearly rubbed off on his staff...Rohan's team was always cheerful and, most importantly, always professional in their work and their attitude. In living through the job, we were very appreciative of the vaccuuming and cleaning that the painters did each afternoon before they went home..."

Our sincere thanks also to Master Painters Australia for their recognition. Men in White is now the grateful recipient of four MPA awards for excellence.

New Operations Manager for dream team

2008-03-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Easter was the begining of a new era for the Men in White team. In response to off-the-charts growth over the past year, the company created a new leadership role to provide management and operations support to Rohan and the team.

After an extensive search, we are pleased to welcome Michael Abicht to the role of Operations Manager. Michael comes to Men in White with more than 30 years experience in the building industry including roles in project management, business, construction and painting.

As Operations Manager, Michael is the eyes, ears and right hand of the Director. Overseeing all aspects of projects, the Operations Manager is responsible for ensuring jobs are delivered on schedule and within budget.

A very hearty welcome to the team Michael.

2008-01-14T01:25:00.000-08:00

Men in White has a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for 2008. By year's end, we aim to have the business totally streamlined and systemised. The idea is to create the kind of systems that guaruntee as much consistency in our work as is humanly possible.

We are extremely proud of the Men in White way of quoting, job planning, scheduling, customer relationship management, brand development, training, sustainability, people development, job tracking, supplier management, and project management and execution. We have proprietary methods for executing the highest quality workmanship and for minimising our impact on the environment. Up until now, this has been the fruit of the hard work of the director supported by a small team.

What we haven't had is a system for documenting all these processes that comprise the guts (and the heart) of the business. This blog is a way of transparently sharing the story of Men in White's journey towards creating that system; a plan for becoming what the E-Myth's Michael Gerber calles a turn-key business. We'll be documenting the unfolding of this process here and we invite your comments along the way.

Sydney's Number 1 Painting Service

2008-01-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the blog of Sydney's Number 1 Painting Service, Men in White.

Men in White is an award winning painting company operating in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, inner city and inner west.

We specialise in high quality commercial and domestic painting and decorating for Sydney home owners and businesses.

This blog will keep you up-to-date with the latest developments at Men in White. You can find out about our services at www.meninwhite.com.au or contact us on 02 9326 4242.