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What Painting Businesses actually earn at each stage of growth?

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In this episode, I break down what painting companies really make at four stages of growth: startup (under $350K), build ($350K–$1M), the swamp ($1M–$3M), and sellable asset ($3M+).

I pulled the year-to-date numbers for 230 real painting businesses and measured three things — gross profit, discretionary earnings, and net profit — at every stage.

The shape of the data surprised me: every major profit number falls as companies grow, bottoms out in one specific stage, and then recovers.

By the end of this episode, you'll be able to compare your company to 230 real painting businesses and see exactly where you stand, and why your position inside your stage may matter more than the stage itself.

I'm Daniel Honan, CPA and former painting business owner. Since 2016, my firm, Profitable Painter CPA, has helped 529+ painting contractors with bookkeeping, taxes, payroll, automations, and financial strategy.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• What a painting business at your revenue level should actually be earning - benchmarked against 230 real companies
• Which stage of growth is the least profitable in the data, and why it isn't permanent
• Why gross profit falls as painting companies grow - and what that decline costs at $2M in revenue
• The reason growing revenue doesn't always make the owner feel richer
• What share of painting businesses were losing money this year, stage by stage
• Why two companies at the same revenue can differ by more than $100,000 in gross profit
• The first thing to fix if you're stuck between $1M and $3M
• How to tell whether your gross profit can carry the team you've built

🎯 Want to see exactly where your painting business sits against these benchmarks, and what it would take to move up? That's what we do.

Book a free call: https://profitablepaintercpa.com/vsl

WHO I AM
My name is Daniel Honan. I'm a CPA, a former painting business owner, and the founder of Profitable Painter CPA - an accounting firm that works exclusively with painting contractors. I make these podcasts to help painters keep more of what they earn and build more profitable businesses.

Subscribe for weekly podcasts on taxes, bookkeeping, accounting, and financial strategy for painting businesses.

Keywords: painting business, painting contractors, painting business profit margin, painting business benchmarks, how much do painting businesses make, painting company profit, gross profit margin painting, net profit painting business, discretionary earnings, owner earnings painting business, painting industry data, painting business stages, the swamp painting business, scale a painting business, painting business overhead, job costing painting, small business profitability benchmarks, Profitable Painter

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters