Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Cooper City
Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
EP #328: Lime Painting with Javier Hernandez
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Your home’s paint is either protecting your biggest asset or quietly setting you up to pay for the same job twice. Jeremy Wolf sits down with Javier Hernandez from Lime Painting to unpack what actually makes a paint job last in South Florida, where UV, humidity, salt air and storms punish exteriors year round.
We talk about Lime Painting’s high end approach to residential painting and commercial painting, and why Javier treats many projects as surface restoration first. You’ll hear how stucco cracks, drywall repairs, specialty coatings and product selection can make or break durability, plus where upgrades like cabinet refinishing and epoxy flooring fit into a smart refresh. Javier also shares a simple truth most homeowners miss: the majority of quality comes from preparation, not the final coat.
We also get real about pricing, trust and the “DIY warrior” mindset. Javier explains how offering good better best options helps customers choose based on outcomes, not just the lowest bid, and why the cheapest quote can become the most expensive path once corners get cut. If you’re in North Miami, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Cooper City or nearby, he also shares how to find Lime Painting online and request a free estimate and consultation.
If you got value from this conversation, subscribe to the show, share it with a neighbor, and leave us a review so more local homeowners can find trusted pros.
For more information call (305) 928- 2120 or visit https://limepainting.com/north-miami-fl/.
Welcome To Good Neighbor Podcast
SPEAKER_00This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
SPEAKER_02Well, hello, hello, friends, family, wonderful community, great universe. We are back for another installment of the Good Neighbor Podcast. So our guest today, I met recently at a local networking group in Cooper City. And we went out and had a cup of coffee, sat down, and I must say, I was very impressed with how he's running his business, the vision he has for his business. And anytime I encounter a local business owner that I feel would be a valuable resource to folks in and around the community, well, you know me, I always like to extend the olive branch, have him on the show uh to learn a little bit more about their story. So without further ado, I bring to you Javier Hernandez with Lime Painting. Javier, pleasure having you on the show, brother. Thanks for joining us.
What Lime Painting Actually Does
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Thank you, Jeremy, for the opportunity. I'm uh thrilled to be here. So uh thanks again for inviting me uh to uh join the show. Of course, of course.
SPEAKER_02So let's get into this. Tell me a little bit about the business, Lime Painting. I know it's uh we've talked briefly about it before. Uh is a franchise model, you just recently got into it, but tell us a little bit about what you do and um and we'll go from there.
SPEAKER_01Um a little bit about us uh here at Lime Painting. Um so for us is uh Lime is um is a high-end uh residential and commercial painting and surface restoration company. Um we specialized in in you know uh in special coatings, in surface restoration, in projects where uh homeowners and property managers uh you know typically uh want things done correctly and the right way from the beginning, uh, with a lot of attention to uh detailed um preparation, uh, craftsmanship. Um so in you know, looking for long-term durability. Uh for us here in South Florida, um, homeowners, um homes usually go through a lot of uh sun, humidity, uh, salt air, you know, with all the storms that we get here. So painting for us here um is is just more than cosmetics, uh, right? So it's uh actually about just protecting the surfaces, maintaining uh the properties well, um, to help things, you know, we we could we could help with things like uh exterior and interior painting, uh stucco uh and drywall repairs. Uh we do epoxy floorings, uh, we can also help out with uh cabinet refinishings. Uh we we can also do um specialty coatings as we call them. So me is uh you know, it's uh like things like lime wash, um, something that we could uh we could also help out with. So and a big part of the uh process for us here is also educating you know homeowners, right? Uh and business owners. So um usually uh they don't uh realize the level of preparation that's really uh recommended and needed uh to get a good paint job to last us, you know, a good seven uh to ten years, you know, so that you don't have to repainting all the time, right? So uh, you know, it's our goal is is to work on that, to provide that for customers, especially for our climate here. So uh and at the same time, you know, trying to deliver a good uh luxury level of experience for customers, where you know, communication is clear, uh, the job sites are clean at the end of the day, we tie things up. So uh and the uh final result is something that they can you know feel really good about and it's elevates the whole experience for them.
Why DIY Paint Fails Faster
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man, absolutely. As you're talking there, I'm thinking about how like nowadays, with the abundance of resources available out there, when it comes to these types of projects, and like any project for that matter, everybody's like a DIY warrior, right? Everybody could do things themselves. But I could see such a scenario where somebody, especially like for the external painting in Florida, like you mentioned with the weather and everything, I could see a scenario where you look at the project, I'll just do this myself, and you don't pay the attention to detail, right? You don't take the proper steps and measures, or you just you just miss a couple of things here and there. Uh, and that can cause you to ultimately, like you said, maybe need to repaint the house sooner than you would otherwise if you just did it right in the first place. And I know for me, uh I always like to just defer to professionals. I'm not really a DIY person myself. I try to be with like little projects and things like that. But anytime there's a a bigger type project, like I want to have somebody like yourself, right? Not just in painting, but like everything, like a contractor, uh financial advisor, all these different areas of life. I want to have a go-to expert that I know, like, and trust that I feel comfortable with, that I could just say, hey, like what do you think we should do? Like I don't want to get into all that's not my area of specialty. Um, I think a lot of people are like that. And then you have a lot of people that that think they're DIY warriors and then just do a half-assed job and then need to redo it in the end anyway.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Absolutely. So yeah, I couldn't agree more. So 100%.
Franchise Support And Service Standards
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And so I want to talk a little bit about the the model of line painting. Because I know you, if I'm not mistaken, you just got involved with the franchise recently, maybe sometime last year. Is that right?
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, so we uh we actually just um uh initiated the business uh at the middle of last year. So yeah, and we've been active uh with the uh with the business ever since. So part of uh actually Lyme is you know it's a national national uh brand. So it's a national company.
SPEAKER_02How many locations do they have and where do they operate ultimately? Like are they mostly down here in South Florida or is it is it a scattered over place?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So they're all you know, we're all over the country. So uh our corporate office, actually, our home office, uh as we call it, is uh located in uh Denver, uh Colorado. So and but you know, we we have presence everywhere.
SPEAKER_02So um and how long how long has Lyme been around for? When did they start the brand?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the brand initiated back in uh I believe 2014, and they've been active since then. That's just as a franchise company, right? So before you know, or um, but the business itself and the experience that they uh before they created the actual franchise, it's been way longer than that.
SPEAKER_02So beautiful. All right. So they had it, they had the model down, and then they really started getting into trying to expand it through the franchise model back in 2014. So about 12 years, and you're getting into it. And one of the things that impressed me a lot about you when we spoke is that even having just started the business about a year ago, the way you were thinking about the business, the way you were thinking about the marketing, thinking about the level of service, it just struck me as being very, very professional, being very organized, and really trying to um, like you said, that luxury experience that you're trying to give customers. I got that from the way you spoke about the business. So I was really uh really taken back because you don't see that in a lot of like like new business owners. I think that's one of the uh benefits of getting involved with a franchise because a lot of the bones and the structure are already in place. You don't have to build it all again from the ground up.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Those are great points. Yeah, totally. Uh we agree 100%. So yeah, that's uh, you know, we feel the same way. So um and that's uh the good thing about just getting together with a franchise, right? So they, you know, they they go on, they've gone through all of the different uh hurdles and and um and setbacks uh and they learn from it and then they just you know kind of provide you with a roadmap that you can follow with the uh different you know uh rails for you to stay within the road type of thing and just follow that process uh to to achieve uh success as quickly as possible, right?
Javier’s Entrepreneur Story And Community
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, man. So before you got like I want to talk now about how you made the decision to get into this particular business, what does your background look like leading up to this? Was this your first uh foray into the world of entrepreneurism or is that a word, entrepreneurship? Or was this is this uh just another in a series of business ventures that you had? What does your professional journey look like that led you up to this point that you decided that you wanted to get involved with Lyme?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Jeremy. So yeah, I mean, um a little bit about you know, basically my journey and why I, you know, I uh got this business started. Um so my background has always been very entrepreneurial, I would say. So uh I'm coming in from a um, you know, I always been drawn to businesses where you know you can solve real issues for for people in the community like this, right? So I mean, homes that's very close to us or properties, you know, you would really want to make sure that that's really well taken care of and that actually impacts you very, very closely. So um, you know, we um so that's kind of what we try to achieve, you know, based on my background. Just I I always had that itch that you know, I kind of wanted to get into something like that where I can build a real impact for for our local community. So that's why we decided to build something meaningful uh for our communities here. So uh and I came across Lyme uh painting. So uh that really stood out to me, the way that they approach their business um in the focus that they have on you know on attention to detail and craftsmanship and professionalism in an industry that sometimes, you know, in services, services industries, you know, it's kind of tough to to come across that sometimes.
SPEAKER_02Um really hit or miss out there with a lot of the a lot of service industry, service professionals are very fly by night, right?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So, yeah, and painting, you know, it's one of the most visible parts of a property too. It creates that impact right away, such a dramatic change that you can have on your property at such a low entry or level, you know, very uh entry, therefore when you consider that, you know, um expenses and costs and how much it could be to just make that happen, so much of an impact for so low uh investment. So um it's the most you know kind of visible part of the home as well. So um, so yeah, so that's why we kind of decided to just kind of, you know, we like the idea to go into this um and and help out our community, our community, uh our communities that way, right? So um I saw an opportunity to bring a more structured professional approach basically to the industry um uh here in South Florida. So that's why we uh basically decided to um to launch the uh line painting for us uh here in Miami. Um so when I was uh building the company, um, you know, the the idea was just something that we could provide uh an elevated trustworthy experience for for customers um and a good final product that you know customers could feel proud about.
SPEAKER_02You mentioned the word community multiple times. I think that's so incredibly important. One of the things um that I think a lot of people are missing in their lives is a sense of community nowadays. I say this all the time with uh social media and electronic devices, everybody's so detached. Um like everybody has a longing for home, right? For a sense of community. And and I think that uh local businesses that are really plugged in and integrated in local communities and really are present and do a lot to give back really help the lifeblood of these local communities. So I just wanted to touch on that. I think community is is essential nowadays.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, everything that we do is just for our community, really. So, you know, getting involved with the community is super important here. So is you know, just making sure that we we understand better what their community, the local community um needs are, and then just making sure that we can just you know create a level of service that's and can satisfy all of that for them, right?
Pricing Pushback And Educating Homeowners
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. So I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that are that are thinking about going into business and maybe they're looking into potentially the franchise model. I want you to speak to somebody like that for a moment and and let them know what the biggest challenge that you faced was in launching this business. And then on the other side of that, what's been one of the biggest rewards now that you have launched the business and you got things going?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, absolutely. So, I mean, in my particular scenario, uh, this is actually my first business that I opened up uh and as a franchise and in painting, right? So maybe, you know, some of the things that I um you know that I could say I wish um maybe more I don't know if other business owners owners would know, or just maybe uh customers in general, but yeah, and then again in in my particular scenario, which is painting, right? So I wish maybe that more homeowners uh you know could realize you know the potential for painting to dramatically increase their values uh for their properties and increase the actual longevity uh of their homes too, right? Because I mean, when it's done correctly, um you know, uh high quality exterior coating doesn't just make you know the house look beautiful, but it also uh could protect it, right? From from you know, from the elements, uh especially for us here with so much moisture in the air and uh UV uh damages and the sun and all of that. So it could protect it for the uh from deterioration long term. So um, and that's kind of what we concentrate on a lot here in Lyme. So just uh making sure that we approach approach projects uh uh more like a surface restoration in a in a in a way. So uh in so that we can just you know from the ground up, we can protect uh all of the different uh surfaces uh properly, right? So uh we focus heavily on preparation, using the right materials, the right systems to achieve you know the greatest uh result in the end. So uh in that final curve appeal that you know a lot of homeowners are looking for.
SPEAKER_02So um Philip, I got you right there. The the the biggest challenge that you're facing right now is just the awareness, the education with with homeowners to understand that how important it is to have you know this done and have it done properly, uh for again, like you said, for home value and just for longevity of of the property. That's been that you found that's been that's been challenging for you, and uh you get a lot of resistance from people in that regard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, for the most part, you know, and I get it, right? I mean, uh usually customers are looking for like the most, you know, what's what's it gonna cost, right? So the what's the least gonna cost?
SPEAKER_02What's the how's it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it happens. So you you you'll see that a lot. So I mean, and we could always do, you know, we try to come up with different alternatives for them because we get it as well. So we provide, you know, the good, the better, and the best type of situation package for them so that they have options too, because it's a matter of having options too, depending on every situation, right? So, but uh, you know, uh what we try to concentrate the most on is just you know trying to go after the uh uh for those type of projects where they don't really mind just going from maybe the good package to the uh uh better packages because it's in the end you're gonna get you know a return on your investment, right? So yeah there's there's some cost savings in one of the different levels there, but you know, but you know, if uh if you are actually willing to just kind of put more on the front end, more than likely you're gonna be able to take advantage of the differences there.
Prep Work Materials And Surface Restoration
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, you mentioned cost, and like this is what I alluded to earlier about trying to make sure you could find a trusted network of referral sources for businesses that you can trust that when they give you a quote for a job, you do not need to negotiate. Like, I don't I don't want to be in a position with a contractor or somebody performing a service where they quote me a specific uh a quote for a job, and then I try to massage the price down from there to the point where you get it down so low that now they're thinking about, oh, well, I got to control costs a little bit more. Maybe I need to cut a little corner here or there, like subconsciously, things like that. Like I want to work with somebody that I trust enough to give me a price, like, all right, that's reasonable. I trust you, I think this is fair, and just do your thing. And I think the work will shine better that way. Unfortunately, so many people are trying to constantly negotiate. And I think the reason for that is because they don't trust the service providers and they don't know them. And then they come out and they get like three or whatever it is, right? I've done that. Comment below if you've done this before. You need like a plumber, and then you call three or four different service providers to come out, and then like you have all these quotes and they tell you different things, and now you're like doing research to try to figure out what the best option is. You don't know what you're doing, and you end up going with somebody because you maybe like them a little bit better or they were a little bit less expensive. It's just such an unnecessary use of time, right? It's so much easier to just go to somebody you you trust. That's one of the reasons why we do this show. I think that by having these owners on the show and talk a little bit about what they do behind the scenes and have these open and honest conversations, we can kind of hopefully deliver something to the consumer where they also feel comfortable. And that way, when you show up at the house to do a job, they maybe they feel like they already know you.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And that's a great point, actually, uh Jeremy. So it's it's exactly like that too. So, you know, and and I'm a consumer myself, right? So, and sometimes we assume a lot of different things before we actually get to to meet, you know, uh with the actual subcontractor or the provider of the service. So uh, and that's some of the misconceptions that maybe we find in the in the different industries and services out there, like even myself when I'm a I'm actually an actual customer, right? So looking for some services, like in in painting in particular, you know, maybe one of the biggest misconceptions is that all painting jobs are kind of basically the same, right? So a lot of people they just you know they just think, well, it's you know, it's just about maybe putting you know a coat of paint on the walls and maybe smash it up against the wall, won't be just throw it up there, you're good, won't be a problem. Yeah, just changing the colors or something, but you know, it's uh and that's part of it, right? So, but it's the reality is you know, it's I would say even 70 to 80 percent of the good quality paint job is all about the preparation, what goes into it, you know, the things that um like making sure that if you let if you are let's say dealing with an exterior painting work, right? So more than likely here in South Florida, we're dealing with stuck and stuck cracks, and you know, so you don't really want to just be painting crack stucco, right? So you may want to be sure since you're gonna we we're gonna be doing that, so maybe we wanna take care of that and repair the uh um this the surface properly. So uh that we're you know, if we're gonna do that, then we've got to make sure that we're also protecting all of the nearby areas that we're not really gonna be working on, like you know, to protect them from overspray. So uh using the correct products now that we're gonna be working in that particular area. So we want to make sure that we're not just using any kind of paints, like you know, that's something else that I find across a lot of people. They just say, I already got the paint. So what kind of paint do you guys get? So it's you know, we make sure that we're using the correct paint based on the surfaces that we're gonna be working on. So, you know, those are the little things that could make a huge difference, right? So uh choosing a contractor based on purely on price and you know, just on the lowest cost, uh, sometimes that's just gonna sacrifice and it's gonna give somewhere, right? So uh at the end, it's probably gonna be more expensive uh in the long run, uh, just because you know corners are being cut, so cheaper materials might be used, or sort of rush preparations before applying the codes might be happening, so or improper applications, and then you know, homeowners are gonna have bigger issues to deal with uh down the road. Uh our philosophy is just basically just you know try to do it well once and and to make it last, right?
Free Consultations How To Reach Lime
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep. Cheaper is not always better. In fact, I would say that in many cases, cheaper is is not better at all. Like you don't want the cheapest option, especially when it comes to this type of stuff, because you're typically gonna get what you pay for. That's how it works. So, Javier, let our listeners know for anybody out there that's that's listening to this, that is has been staring at their walls for the last three years, telling themselves every day, I should really get that done, and just kicking the can down the road, like people often do. How can they reach you? What's the best way to find out more information? Uh, let us know how we could connect.
SPEAKER_01Uh, yeah, absolutely. So uh we are all over social media and we are uh we are online, obviously. So the best uh you know way for listeners to to get into contact with us and in touch with us is um to visit us on on our website, maybe uh line painting um forward slash north miami uh dash uh Florida. Maybe we can add that in the uh description for for our customers and and and listeners too. But um, or you you can Google us uh line painting north miami and you'll see us right away. Uh you can see examples of all the different projects we've worked on and uh as a as a group as well. So learn about all of the different services that we offer. Uh could also request uh free estimate and consultations from us. We provide that to our community. That's basically our uh activities on a daily basis, it's just you know going out into the field, meeting customers, and providing uh what we call free consultations. Uh we also love connecting with uh you know homeowners uh locally. So if you are in North Miami, Pembroke Pines, Meromar, Cooper City, obviously. uh is our background, right? So uh or any of the surrounding areas, we're happy to come out um and evaluate the projects, meet you guys, uh, give our professional you know recommendations um what might be needed, uh, and provide you know an estimate for um for the project itself.
SPEAKER_00So um and or you know if even if they just might have some questions here and there of a current project they might be working on or looking into uh and looking into codings and and options and restorations and maintenance and color selections uh and things of the sort so we're uh we're always available so happy to uh to help educate you know homeowners and make our recommendations um so that they can make the uh the best uh most informed decision for the uh for their projects and their properties beautiful you hear that everyone Javier Hernandez with line painting has got you covered we will of course link in the description to all of your contact information my friends so anybody out there that's listening that would like to learn more can it get in touch with you um let us know for anyone that joined us today for the show let us know what your biggest takeaway was we're always interested to hear your feedback your comments don't forget to like subscribe you know the drill all that fun stuff thank you so much everyone for joining us and we will catch everyone next time on the good neighbor pod the next episode of the good neighbor podcast Javier it was a pleasure having you on brother um appreciate everything you're doing for the community um keep at it keep growing the business keep working hard and keep adding value to our residents my friend appreciate it thank you Jeremy all right take care everyone thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Cooper City to nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show go to gnp coopercity.com that's gnpcoopercity.com or call nine five four two three one three one seven zero