Go Painting

Painting the Route to Success

Redefining Commercial Repainting Through Focused Franchise Growth

For nearly two decades, Go Painting has built a reputation as a specialist in commercial repainting. In an industry crowded with residential contractors, the company has carved out a focused, business-to-business niche that is now fueling a successful national franchise expansion.

“We don’t work on new construction or residential painting projects. It’s all repaint work, and it’s all commercial buildings. We specialize in servicing any existing commercial property ranging from HOAs, apartment complexes, office buildings, warehouses, strip malls, hotels, etc.,” explains CEO and Founder Shaun McMurry. “Our customers are commercial building owners and property and community managers.”

A Commercial Focus from Day One

The company began almost twenty years ago, originally focused on homeowners’ associations in Las Vegas.  McMurry recounts, “We first expanded into Salt Lake, then into Phoenix, and then Boise. As we became established and developed our processes, team, and systems, we expanded into apartments and other commercial properties.”

Along the way, Go Painting aligned with industry associations such as the Building Owners and Managers Association, as well as the Institute of Real Estate Management and the Community Associations Institute.  Supplier relationships also play a key role in the Go Painting model, and the company maintains strong partnerships with Sherwin-Williams and PPG Paints, ensuring access to high-quality products and support.

From Regional Operator to Franchise System

While Go Painting was not originally planned as a franchise, its expansion naturally led to the adoption of this growth model.  “When we saw our success and market domination, we became very aware there aren’t many painting companies that are focused on our niche. That’s where we really started thinking about franchising,” McMurry says.

As an owner-led organization, the next logical step was expanded ownership opportunities.

He continues, “That’s where franchising became really attractive—being able to expand beyond our home markets and have real, local ownership in all of the areas that we serve. Franchising allows us to take what we’ve built—the unique experience that we’re able to give our customers—and grow that across the country.”

Today, Go Painting is the only painting franchise in the United States built exclusively around commercial repainting — allowing franchise owners to focus on professional property owners and managers, larger portfolios, and long-term service relationships.  Most competing painting franchises are built around residential services, with commercial work treated as an add-on. Go Painting has taken the opposite approach, building the entire model around the needs of commercial property owners and managers.

“We’re the only ones that are focused exclusively on commercial,” McMurry notes. “I think that’s a key point in the discovery process for someone who’s looking to buy a franchise. The owners that have come into our system are attracted to the B2B nature of this business with larger job sizes and ultimately fewer projects to manage. Go Painting’s customers are business owners and professionals, not homeowners. This fundamentally changes the entire sales process, the customer relationships, and how the business operates.”

With franchise owners coming from a variety of backgrounds spanning healthcare to real estate, the appeal lies in the focused, relationship-driven approach.  “We have a saying, ‘Painting is what we do, creating unforgettable experiences is who we are.’ Painting is simply the service we provide — the real business is building long-term partnerships with commercial property owners and managers,” he conveys.  “I don’t know that any of our owners are particularly excited about painting. But they like the B2B opportunity where your customer relationships are long-term in nature.”

Structured Coaching for Successful Operations

Go Painting’s franchise training program reflects its two decades of experience in the industry and the years of lessons learned across markets, teams, and job sizes.  “I think training is key,” McMurry says. “Over our nearly 20 years in this business, we’ve trained and supported dozens of salespeople and project managers and hundreds of painters. We’ve partnered with all types of customers and all job sizes, ranging from very small to millions of dollars. All that’s to say we really know what makes this business work very, very well.”

New franchisees begin with a two-month virtual training program focused on business setup and operations. This is followed by a week-long in-person kickoff session. From there, training becomes continuous, with ongoing learning opportunities that include technical, sales, and operations education. “Our first owner came into the system about 18 months ago. He’s still participating every week in two or three different training sessions,” McMurry shares.  In addition to these important group programs, each franchise owner receives one-on-one coaching every week.

At Go Painting, the goal is to be a partner to each customer, not just another vendor.  “One of the keys that we really focus on is to alleviate the stress of our customers,” expands McMurry. “You give a property manager a construction project and now their life just got a lot crazier. We train our owners on the little things like the communication, logistics, and processes.”  Many contractors can put paint on the walls. What we’ve learned over the past 20 years is how to deliver a very different customer experience — and that’s exactly what we’re teaching our owners.

Nick Schneider, Franchise Success Coach, reinforces the importance of mindset during those early months.  “They meet people for the first time, and they’re thinking, ‘I have to try to make a sale right now,’” he explains. “One of the things that I try to coach them to do is to make a relationship first. Start making the relationship, and the sales will come, but if you try to make the sale, you may lose the potential for the relationship.”

Leveraging Technology to Work Smarter

Behind the relationship-driven approach is technology designed to support franchise owners.  “Having the right tech stack to support the new franchisee is a one-stop shop. At the beginning, they wear all the hats. So, we leverage that technology to support them,” stresses McMurry.

The company made a deliberate decision years ago not to build proprietary software from scratch.  “There’s no reason for us to try to build a better CRM than HubSpot — that’s their entire focus,” he acknowledges.  “So we use HubSpot, but it’s been completely customized to Go Painting and the way we do business, and integrated with all the other applications we use.”

The real value comes from our experience — knowing what technology this business requires, how to configure it for commercial repainting, and how to integrate everything into a system that supports our owners.  Artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role in operations, helping owners to be more efficient.

“Ultimately, where our owners are the most valuable is managing projects and servicing customers,” emphasizes McMurry.  Schneider adds, “Growing is the goal. So AI and these other tools do an amazing job of either simplifying processes or automating many of the small tasks that can bog down an owner wearing multiple hats.”

A Measured Growth Strategy

McMurry points out that Go Painting has intentionally resisted rapid franchise expansion in favor of planned, steady growth.

“I’ve seen other franchise systems that started around a similar time as us, and they have three to four times the number of franchisees that we have,” he says. “We have not wanted that kind of growth. We’ve been very methodical and very selective in the people that we bring into the system.”

Currently, there are 20 owners, and the goal is to double that number in 2026.  “We want to continue that trajectory of slow and methodical growth, finding the right people, and then giving them the right training and support so that they can be successful,” McMurry asserts.

At the same time, Go Painting continues to strengthen the national partnerships that have long been part of its growth strategy. The company works with large ownership groups and property management companies that operate across multiple markets, giving franchise owners opportunities to service portfolios that extend beyond a single local relationship.

“Our national accounts relationships are an important part of how we support franchise owners,” McMurry explains. “Many of the companies we work with manage properties across multiple states. Because we focus exclusively on commercial repainting, we’re able to deliver a consistent experience for those customers across markets while also creating opportunities for our local owners.”

Behind that effort is a leadership team with deep operational and franchise experience. McMurry works alongside co-founders and partners, including franchise industry leaders Scott Abbott and Brandon Haire, as well as a growing support team dedicated to franchise success, sales development, and national partnerships.

In addition to its franchise network, Go Painting supports owners through a centralized leadership and support team that provides operational guidance, technology infrastructure, and national partnership development. This structure allows franchise owners to remain locally focused while benefiting from the systems, relationships, and support typically associated with much larger organizations.  “Our goal is to continue expanding those relationships and creating opportunities for our owners,” he adds. “When you combine strong national partnerships with great local ownership, it creates a powerful growth model.”

Continuing to support existing owners is another area of focus.  “In the B2B world, relationships take time to develop,” McMurry says. “Our more established owners continue to expand their businesses, while newer owners are now reaching the point where those relationships begin turning into significant opportunities.”

With a clear niche and a strong emphasis on relationships, Go Painting is positioning itself not as a typical painting franchise but as a long-term partner to commercial property owners and managers across the country.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Go Painting

What: A commercial painting franchise focused on partnering and building relationships.

Where: Franchise locations across the United States

Website: www.gopaintingfranchise.com