Winning a multi-year program and making the most of it
A program is the most valuable job a painting business can win: years of booked work from one site visit, with a client who already trusts you by the time each year comes round. This guide covers how to win one and how to keep it.
Who to offer it to
- Retirement villages and lifestyle communities. Many similar buildings, an operator with a yearly capital budget, and residents who don't want the whole site disrupted at once.
- Unit complexes, strata, body corporate and owners' corporations, HOAs and condo boards. A committee that must approve spending each year and wants to see a plan before it does.
- Schools, churches and community groups. Work fitted around terms and budgets.
- Any client who says "we can't afford it all this year". A program turns a no into a yes over five years.
Measure once, properly
A program is priced from your measurements, building by building, so measure the whole site on your first visit, and record the prep level of each surface honestly. The prep levels decide which buildings come first, and they are your evidence when a committee asks why their building is in year 4.
Let the proposal do the selling
Send the program as a proposal, not just a quote. Its Your Program section does work a price list can't:
- The year-by-year table answers the board's first question: what will this cost us each year?
- Why this order explains that the buildings in worst condition come first, so nothing deteriorates while it waits.
- Touch-up days show the property will never look neglected, and that the client pays only for days used.
- The yearly price adjustment names an official index and promises no guesswork.
- Ending the program states plainly that the client can end it with 30 days' written notice before the program anniversary, and that completed work is paid in full. Flexibility is a selling point: a committee commits far more easily when it knows it isn't locked in.
The whole section is written as an agreed multi-year project, never a string of separate quotes. Each year is confirmed as the next step of a program already agreed, not a fresh sale. Add photos of the worst buildings to the proposal gallery so the order speaks for itself.
Deposits and payment: stay ahead of the spend
Each year is its own phase. When the client accepts, the deposit is worked out on the first year of the program, never on the whole site, so a committee is never asked for a deposit on six years of work. Each later year takes its own deposit when it starts, and the rest of each year is invoiced as the work is done. It's pay as you go, with no financing.
Choosing the numbers
- Term. Five years suits most sites. Seven gives large sites a comfortable number of buildings a year. Longer terms push the last buildings a long way out.
- Touch-up days. Start from the suggestion, then think about the site. Exposed coastal sites and high-traffic areas need more. A newer complex may need fewer. Committees prefer a realistic allowance to a low one that runs out.
- Washes. Every 3 years keeps paint looking fresh and protects it. Offer it on sites near the coast, trees or busy roads.
- Price index. CPI is the easiest sell to a board. Offer a fixed % when the client values certainty over everything else, and price it knowing you carry the risk.
Running each year
Every year of a program is an ordinary job, so scheduling, the crew brief, invoices and the completion debrief all work exactly as they do now. Before each anniversary:
- Walk the buildings already painted and note what needs touching up.
- Look up the published index figure for the period your proposal named.
- Confirm the year's dates and adjusted price with the client, as the next step of their program.
- Price that year's buildings, touch-ups and any wash, and take the year's deposit.
Open the program's page from the client or the job to see the timeline at a glance.
Renewing
A program that ends with every building painted, touch-ups done and a client who never had to chase you is the easiest renewal you will ever win. Start the conversation in the final year, with the next cycle priced from the same measurements.