Profitable Painter Podcast
Profitable Painter Podcast is a rich resource for anyone interested in starting, running, and scaling a professional painting business, offering valuable insights, strategies, and interviews with industry leaders. Through case studies and in-depth discussions, we deliver a vivid picture of the painting industry, with a disclaimer that any financial or tax information is general and not a substitute for professional advice.
Profitable Painter Podcast
Stone On The Walls, Health In The Home
In this episode of The Profitable Painter Podcast, Daniel sits down with Amy Stewart, a third-generation painter from Oregon who transformed her lifelong craft into a boutique, high-end finishing business specializing in Venetian plaster, faux finishes, murals, and tadelakt showers.
Amy shares her remarkable journey, from learning meticulous craftsmanship as a child, to discovering Venetian plaster in the early 2000s, to traveling to Italy for nearly a month to study authentic lime plasters and old-world techniques.
If you’ve ever wanted to niche down, elevate your craftsmanship, or build a business purely around what you love doing, this episode is packed with wisdom, experience, and practical inspiration.
Tune in to learn:
- How Amy shifted from general painting to a high-end artistic niche.
- The health and longevity benefits of true Venetian and lime plasters, and why mold can’t grow on them.
- Lessons from training in Italy and working with authentic materials.
- What homeowners, designers, and builders don’t know about plaster quality and contractor selection.
- How word-of-mouth helped Amy build a business that’s booked for years.
- Why following your passion and continuing education truly pays off.
If you're a painting contractor looking to stand out, raise your craftsmanship, or explore the world of decorative finishes, this conversation is a must-listen.
Subscribe and get inspired — one episode at a time
For being a loyal listener, I want to send you a copy of my new book Profitable Painter. Inside, I’ll show you the exact frameworks that have helped painting businesses save big on taxes, increase profits, and scale with confidence
Head over to profitablepaintercpa.com/book and grab your copy today. Don’t wait — this is my gift to you for being part of the Profitable Painter community.
Welcome to the Profitable Painter Podcast. The mission of this podcast is simple: to help you navigate the financial and tax aspects of starting, running, and scaling a professional painting business. From the brushes and ladders to the spreadsheets and balance sheets, we've got you covered. But before we dive in, a quick word of caution. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date financial and tax information, nothing you hear on this podcast should be considered as financial advice, specifically for you or your business. We're here to share general knowledge and experiences, not to replace the tailored advice you get from a professional financial advisor or tax consultant. We strongly recommend you seeking individualized advice before making any significant financial decision.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to the Profitable Painter Podcast, the show where painting contractors learn how to boost profits, cut taxes, and build a business that works for them. I'm your host, Daniel Honan, CPA, former painting business owner, and your guide to mastering the numbers that drive success. So let's dive in and make your business more profitable one episode at a time. So today I'm super excited to speak with Amy Stewart out of Oregon. Welcome to the podcast, Amy.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_02:I'm super excited to get into it. I've uh really you I think you have a really interesting background, and um I'm I'm excited to get in the conversation. Could you and to give folks more of an idea of where you're coming from, could you let folks know how did you get started in the painting business? Uh how did you get started in the painting industry and what have been in some major milestones along the way?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. So I got started in the industry. Um, I'm a third painter, third generation painter. Um, my father was a carpenter and painter, and he hired us when we were young children, um, how to paint. And um he was very specific, it had to be done meticulously. So we learned early on. Um, by the time I graduated high school, I had a pretty significant savings just from working for my father. Um fast forward to being in my early 20s, uh, it really took um, well, even in my teens, it took more of an artistic approach. Um and I started, you know, painting furniture, painting murals in kids' bedrooms, um, painting cabinets. And in 2003, I started working with Venetian plaster. Back then it was um just a synthetic plaster that I got at Home Depot. Um, just honestly garbage. It was um, it doesn't produce um the look of an authentic line plaster at all. But that's how I got started. Um and I was doing those finishes in my home. And my brother was over and said, you know, Amy, you could you could really make money with with your skill set. And I kind of chuckled at it and I was like, no, really, I don't think so. And he said, Yeah, he's and so he's a painter as well. And he said, the next time we get a call for um someone wanting Venetian plaster, I'd like you to go out and, you know, give them a bid and do it. So that's how I got started. Um, and then other home builders, designers, you know, would see my work. And so um it it just kind of grew from there. Um, I will say I did a lot of painting, you know, whole house painting, exteriors. I did everything um in my 20s, 30s, even into my 40s. And um, it's just been probably the last five years that I've decided I'm really going to focus on doing what gives me the most joy and what I really enjoy doing, which is um allowing me to to express my creative outlet. So we focus mostly doing faux finishes, high-end um finishes like uh primarily Venetian plaster. We still do cabinet painting because that is um it's definitely an artistic um skill to get it done right and to look very high-end. Um we do custom trim finishes, we do a lot of um hoods above ranges, and that could be anywhere from a patinaed finish. It's really popular to have them plaster nowadays. Um, murals is a small part of my business. Um, and then we do a lot of tadillac plaster showers. Uh, I would say in the last three years, that's become really popular. It's always been popular in our Europe, and now the US is recognizing the value in it. So you don't have uh tile that's you know constantly needing to be regrouted, you don't have the risk and danger of mold. It's a very organic finish and it will not allow mold to grow. So it's um to me, that's you know, you you you can't put a value on that. I've had health problems due to mold. And so for me, both of my showers are tadillac plaster and might not.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we just had uh a mold inspector come in our house and the shower, right behind the shower, they found some mold. So it's like super common. I mean, in especially United States with all of the drywall, from my understanding. Mold just it's like mold food, basically. We've built all our houses out of mold food, and so a lot of homes uh suffer from mold. And so this this product it basically is mold resistant or just does not get anything, any kind of mold on it, and it's and it sounds like it's that'd be perfect for bathrooms as it's always wet in there.
SPEAKER_00:It is perfect, it just cannot grow on it because of the composition of it.
SPEAKER_02:So that's that's pretty cool. So I I know you you you know you got started in 2020 or 2003, so over 20 years experience, and you you started playing around with like a synthetic plaster and and then from there kind of build built from there. I know you spent some time in Italy uh actually training. What did you learn going overseas to train? Well, it well, one, I guess, what made you actually make that jump? Because that's pretty that's a huge, you know, most people haven't left the country, uh let alone going overseas um and training for an extensive period of time on you know your your craft. So what made you make that jump?
SPEAKER_00:Um, research. So uh research is something I enjoy doing, whether it's health-related, decorative finishes, plasters. And so I was researching, you know, the I'd heard of the authentic lime plasters, which back then were not available to me. Um and so I started doing research and I learned of a training there. And so I went. That was in 2007. 2007 business was really, really good for me. Um, so going um wasn't an issue. It was crazy expensive, but um, I was able to swing it and um just fell in love with the authentic limes because basically, you know, when you have a true Venetian plaster, you're essentially getting a layer of stone on your wall. It's slaked marble and lime, this emulsion that trowels on so much better than a synthetic. Um, you're able to burnish it and just play with it in a lot of ways that you definitely could not with a synthetic Venetian plaster. And so um, just the beauty of it and the feel, like when you rub your hand over it, I mean, it just feels like marble. So it's very, very beautiful. You're a lot, you're it allows me to create a depth. Um I just met with uh a builder last Friday, and what she was referring to as texture is really more the depth. So we met, she saw samples and she was like, Oh no, this is what I'm looking for. I thought she wanted texture because that was the word she used, but um it's a depth that you're able to achieve, but have a very smooth, soft, luxurious finish. So it could be texture. There, there are plasters that uh, for example, Piatto, which has a a um thicker aggregate that you know could be more and it can be burnished smooth as well. But there's so many different plasters that I work with now, and there's different techniques. So primarily what we're doing for most designers is um a smooth finish on the walls, but there's there's just a wide variety of what's available, you know, it could be stucco, for example, which absolutely has a texture, and those, you know, are lime-based as well.
SPEAKER_02:So it's and so you're you're training in Italy. How long was that? And it was basically focused on learning about working with the lime plasters. Um, so how long were you there?
SPEAKER_00:Um, so it was lime plasters and murals. There was a pretty good focus on murals. Um, I was there for a month. So just short of a month, 27 days.
SPEAKER_02:No, that's that's awesome. I mean, that's a long time to be overseas training. Um, and so what are in the the key takeaways? I know you're you're obviously still doing lime uh plastering and murals, so it's still part of your business, you know, even almost 20 years later. Um is there anything that you're you learned in Italy that is like not even considered or a part of what the way we do things in the US?
SPEAKER_00:I would just say not so much with the murals as much as, although mine are more like um old-world Italian style. I also love to play around with abstract art um and have sold art pieces. Um but as far as what I learned in Italy, I would say how the plasters are made and um you know what you're able to do with them and also the focus on having a healthy home. So a lot of homes in Italy are built with stone and brick and they last centuries and centuries. And Venetian plaster is very, very common there and it ages beautifully, and you just don't see that here in the US and in the US. Probably I don't know if I would dare say nine out of ten homes, but it's a very high percentage of homes that suffer from mold. So, like I said, also with the health issues, um, it was very important to me to start having um finishes that are going to you know be organic and ensure a healthy environment.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that's I mean, the beauty, those things look amazing, but uh I I don't think a lot of people know that it's also a huge health benefit, too.
SPEAKER_00:Huge.
SPEAKER_02:So and that is I think it's starting to become more of a thing, like where people are starting to realize that they're living in a death trap.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:There's just mold uh everywhere. I I just was l yesterday. Um Chris Williamson, he he has a uh uh a really big podcast, and he just released this whole thing where he for like a year he was struggling with mold in his home, and he had all these physical issues like fatigue and he couldn't focus for long periods of time. It just ruined it. I think a lot of people are probably f suffering from those type of symptoms, and they don't have they don't have any idea that it's from mold. You just kind of feel tired and you just don't feel yourself and brain fog, that sort of thing. Yeah, but I think people are starting to realize that this is something they should be paying attention to. I know it's for me, it was just over the last couple of years. But uh is that something that you're seeing that like you the cons the folks that you're working with, are they are they just I want it to look really cool and pretty, or are they also kind of coming at it from a health perspective too?
SPEAKER_00:Um there's a designer that I would say is she's uh my bread and butter, so to speak. Um she's very um health conscious and you know likes organic finishes in the home. And she loves all the walls, ceilings to be Venetian plaster, the showers to be tadillac plaster or um marble slabs. So just materials that are not going to fail us in any way. Um and you know, there's others that are catching on now.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm I'm guessing the the reason why, well, one, we probably didn't quite know about the dangers of having drywalls everywhere. But I would also guess that drywalls probably just a lot cheaper to to build and and to to install. Are there any uh I'm and I'm obviously Venetian plaster, I would assume, is you know significantly more expensive, but are there any other types that are more um price conscious but still have the benefit of not you know being holding on to mold or creating mold in your home?
SPEAKER_00:Like for a wall finish? Yeah, not that I'm aware of. And um, I want to touch on something you just said. So I recently had uh someone reach out to me. Um they're building, and she just got her sheetrock done and everything, and she wants Venetian plaster, but she said, you know, she just knows it's so much more expensive. There are plasters out there that are equivalent to the same cost as a gallon of paint. Uh, for example, Sherwin Williams um gallery paint, you know, that's well over$100 a gallon. It's a great paint. I love it for cabinets. Um, but you can get Venetian plaster in that same price range. Now it's the labor, of course, that is going to cost more than paint. But your finish is going to last for centuries. So paint your walls, and they need to be repainted perhaps every few years, every 10 years, depending, you know, if there's kids, dogs in the home, how well it's taken care of. There's a lot of variable there, but Venetian plaster will last for centuries. And it's very easy to repair. That's another um beautiful thing I love about it. You know, um one of the designers I work for, I did her whole house and she, you know, had some nicks that happened from someone carrying furniture in. We were able to go and repair it. You could never even tell it's there. So um I will um specify that it's really important to vet your contractor and make sure they really know what they're doing. Um, I went to the Tour of Homes show in July and I was in a multi-million dollar home viewing someone else's work that did Venetian plaster. And um, it was honestly a shame. I felt like it gave Venetian plaster a bad name. So, you know, it's it's you want someone that's artistic, you want someone that knows um what they're doing, someone that's not going to just slap it on. You want someone that's actually going to layer it on your wall to give you that beautiful um dimensional look.
SPEAKER_02:What are the common mistakes that folks that you see with Venetian plaster that folks are doing?
SPEAKER_00:Uh well, in that case, um, I think they probably did like one, maybe two passes. So it looked really flat. Um, and then also they did have a spot where they patched and it was very, very visible. So I think it was just lack of training, knowledge. Um, I did speak with the builder and he said, you know, it was some drywall guys that are like, oh yeah, I can do that for you. It's to me, it's night and day difference what you get, you know, from person to person.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So it sounds like they were basically not putting not layering it enough and then not knowing how to patch correctly.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Cool. Um, so what who are your, you know, the the folks that you're working for? You mentioned you work with builders and designers a lot. Is that pretty much who your customer base is? Is working directly with those folks, or do you also target uh homeowners as well?
SPEAKER_00:Uh absolutely all three um are my target. Uh the majority of our my business and has been for years, is strictly word of mouth. Um, in all honesty, I would say we get very few jobs from someone doing a website search, very few every year. Um it's always nine times out of ten word of mouth. Um back, I don't know, I would say up until maybe eight years ago, the majority was residential and occasional commercial jobs. Um today I would say the majority is builders, designers, and then residential would be after that. I have clients that I've done work for, you know, 15, even 20 years ago, and they still reach out to me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. That's definitely a testament to your quality for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:For you know, working with the do you prefer working directly with the builders and designers, or do you do you like working directly with the homeowner?
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, I love it all. Um, it's it's a very service-oriented uh job. And I love serving. I love seeing the smile on the builder's face, the designer's face, the homeowner. Like all of it is very rewarding. Um so I can't say I prefer one over the other. Um because at the end of the day, it's it's just very rewarding. Um I know I do, the thanks I get, you know, it feels good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. That's awesome. Um I know for for some of the folks that I work with, working directly with builders and designers, uh one of the challenges is cash flow where the payment schedules are not as favorable. Not for all of folks that work directly with them, but a lot where they'll the payment schedules are just not as favorable, where they'll get paid, you know, 30 days after they're completed with the work or something like that, where it just kind of more difficult from a cash flow perspective. Um, is that something that you've seen working directly with builders or and designers, or um have you just been able to build because your reputation kind of negotiate?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there are some builders that you know I won't get paid for 30 days. Um, but I've worked with them and I trust them and it doesn't bother me at all. Uh people I've worked with um in the past, I never require a deposit up front. I cover everything and they can give me a check at the end. Um, except if it's a project that's ongoing for months, and I'll require, you know, maybe a quarter here, and then maybe um actually I did 25% down and then payment upon completion because it took us three months. But we were doing, you know, a massive house, 22-foot ceilings. We did Venetian plaster everywhere. So it was a really big project. Um, I also have a savings built in, so I'm a you know, I'm able to do that. What we do is um, you know, it's a very niche boutique style service. Um, so I I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:So it sounds like your your historical profits, you have you have a savings built up, and so you're able to you're not as concerned with the cash flow because you just over the years you've been able to kind of take those profits and kind of have a um a cushion exactly float those those bigger projects, and and it's not a big a concern for you, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, well that's awesome. I have you um I know you mentioned you've done pretty much all types of painting, whole house painting. And um do you find like working in Venetian plaster and doing these mural murals like the profit margins are a lot higher than the kind of run-of-the-mill painting?
SPEAKER_00:They are. Um murals, um I wouldn't say the profit margins are as high, and I would say that's like the the least amount of um jobs I get is murals. And oftentimes it's because people don't want to pay for that. They're like, oh well, I can get wallpaper, you know, and just slap it on the walls. Um so finding the value in someone hand painting your walls, something that if you're tired of it in five or ten years, you can just paint over it. Um, and paying for that because it's you know, it is time and it's time consuming. Um I feel like we just live in a fast-paced America, like, oh, I want a burger right now, go to the drive-thru. I want a mural right now. They go online and they get wallpaper.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so murals are we seldom do them. And when we do, it's someone that really appreciates the artistic time that goes into it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So murals, not so much, or at least most people, it's they don't value it as much. But Venetian plaster, I would I would guess that the margins are pretty, pretty good on those compared to like just doing typical interior painting.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. A hundred percent.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um what are some things that you've learned over the last couple decades with running a boutique painting business that that it took you a while to kind of figure out? Like maybe there was a certain issue that you kept running into for months or years. And then once you kind of addressed it, it really made things a lot easier running your business.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's a tough one because I'm still learning.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I, you know, I believe we always learn, and I think I'll be learning until hopefully the day I die. Um, there's always room for growth, in my opinion. There's always room to learn, and I'm continually learning. Um, my daughter and I went to a training in California uh early this summer. We've attended trainings, you know, all over the US, and we've worked all over the US. Um, our next job will be in the spring in Florida. We've gone to Mexico, we've gone to the Carolinas, um, we've I shouldn't say worked in every state because that's not true, but we've we've worked all over the US and then outside of the US, we worked in Mexico. Um but learning, um I would say the hardest thing for me as an artist is marketing. I know it's not my strength, and um it's not even something I enjoy, to be honest. I just want the phone to ring and be like, you know, that the customer go out and meet them and and get the job. Um, so there's there's room for growth for me, for learning always.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it sounds like a part of a part of marketing is being great at what you do, and that's something that seems seems like you do that well. And as a testament, you all the customers that you've had historically call you back 10 years later. Uh and so I think sounds like you you're saying you're not good at marketing, but in a way you kind of are because of the high quality of your of your service that you stick in people's minds for years afterwards, and they're telling other people about you and also coming back to get more services done from you.
SPEAKER_00:So that is that is true.
SPEAKER_02:That's definitely uh an awesome thing. Probably something you could also just lean into. I would say if you know if you have that customer list, like just reminding folks, giving them an update of what you're doing or you know on a monthly or quarterly basis, uh, to keep top of mind, because they probably, you know, uh they might remember that someone was amazing who came and did the Venetian plaster five, 10 years ago, but they don't remember exactly who it was. And if you just had like some sort of monthly or quarterly outreach to them via direct mail, email, or text message that would like kind of uh remind them and like, oh yeah, that's right, and we do need this uh other area done. Um, that could be like a really simple uh marketing thing that you could do is just lean into what you has already worked for you in the past, which is get more repeat and referral folks just by kind of uh not even being super salesly, just like I know some folks are doing doing like a newsletter, like a uh direct mail piece and maybe email too that just kind of says like here's kind of what's going on in the area, or if you know here's something, some cool things that have happened about my company or the neighborhood or whatever to kind of make it interesting, but also just a reminder like hey, I'm I'm here and I do this thing, you know. Again, especially if you're going to different places like Mexico and things, people might be just interested in the the cool things that you're doing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. Well, I I really appreciate your your time today, Amy. Are do you have any other thoughts or for the for the audience? Like maybe someone listening is is thinking about getting more into Venetian plaster or faux painting generally. Um, do you have any words of advice on how to deepen learning in that in that niche? Um, any resources or anything that you'd like to throw out there?
SPEAKER_00:Um I would say if it's your passion, follow your passion and um attend as many trainings as you can um and take what you can and learn from it. Um you know, everything in life is trial and error, and that's how we grow and that's how we learn. So don't be afraid to make mistakes and jump in with both feet.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, cool.
SPEAKER_02:I really appreciate your time, Amy. Uh this was uh really interesting. I really appreciate you sharing with us today.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. I'm glad you had me here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. And for the listeners, we will see you next week.
