Vol. 84, No. 2 • March 2007www.paintmag.com

OUR 84th YEAR

2006 was another impressive year forAmerican Painting Contractor’s TOPJOBAwards. Once again, the degree of crafts-manship among all of the projects createdan enormous challenge for the judges.While this year’s grand prize has increasedto $10,000 for one very fortunate winner, itis also noteworthy news that the contesthas attracted some new talent to the mix.All three of the TOPJOB winners are first-time participants in the awards programand well deserving of the recognition thattheir masterpieces have brought them.

This year's contest presented some mag-nificent pieces of work that are not only theresult of artistic skill but also unmatchedcreativity. The amount of submissions hasremained strong, and the quality of workcommendable. Mario Guertin, president ofPainting In Partnership Inc., in Palatine,Ill., secured the grand prize with first-ratecraftsmanship. Guertin and his crew metic-ulously took on the challenge of beautify-ing a deteriorating Victorian treasure.

Two first place prizes have also beenawarded to some well-deserving contractorswhose creative talents lie in the realm of dec-orative painting and paperhanging. Aftermuch deliberation, the first place awardswent to Eunice and Frank Bokstrom, DesignWallcovering, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,and Debra Campbell, owner of Wallartistryin Miamisburg, Ohio.

The Bokstroms have won recognition for

their outstanding display of creative crafts-manship in hanging grasscloth on point tonear perfection. The fruit of their labor ismagnificent!

Campbell’s TOPJOB involved fulfillingher client’s dream of turning his new spa-cious ranch home into an Italian master-piece complete with colorful Italian plas-ters — a truly awesome accomplishment!

All three of our TOPJOB award winnersare profiled in the pages that follow. Besure to take the time to read their stories.They represent the best in the industry,and we know you will appreciate theiraccomplishments. The winners share someunique and creative techniques, and theirproduct choices are bound to provide youwith insight and tips for your own futuremasterpieces. All honorable mentions willbe featured in future issues of APCthroughout the year.

Congratulations to the winners, ourseven honorable mentions and to all of youwho entered. Each of the projects submit-ted displayed superb talent and creativityand an intense passion for the craft. Thankyou for your tremendous response to theTOPJOB Awards and for once again mak-ing it a huge success.

The April issue of APC will include the2007 TOPJOBAwards call for entries. This isyour year to shine! APC

Susan Helmer is editor of AmericanPainting Contractor.

TOPJOB

Awards2006By Susan Helmer

Grand Prize WinnerMario Guertin,

Painting In Partnership Inc.,Palatine, Ill

First Place WinnersEunice and Frank Bokstrom,

Design Wallcovering,Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Debra Campbell, Wallartistry,Miamisburg, Ohio

Honorable MentionsAbby J. Altshuler,

Abbyarts Decorative Painting,Norwood, Colo.

Brian and Tammy Burleigh,House of Faux Inc.,Greeley, Colo.

Virgil A. Byrd Jr.,V. A. Byrd Pantingand Wallpaper, Kinston, N.C.

John K. Dewey,John Dewey Paper Hanger,Littleton, Mass.

Mario Guertin, Painting In Partnership Inc., Palatine, Ill.

Henri Menendez,DeHuelbes Designs Inc.,Suwanee, Ga.

Patricia D. Rosso,PDR Contracting LLC,Bowie, Md.

518 N. Brockway • Palatine, IL 60067www. paintpartner.com • info@paintpartner.com

Mario Guertin, owner of Painting InPartnership Inc. in Palatine, Ill., says thatone of his greatest honors as a paintingcontractor is being part of the ongoingpreservation of a very special house inChicago. He explains that it is one of ahandful of frame homes that survived theGreat Chicago Fire in 1871 and, he adds, ithas a long and colorful history.

The Duchossois family purchased thehome more than 20 years ago. However,

before they took own-ership, the building hadbeen used as a boardinghouse for many yearswith motorcycles oftenbeing parked in thefoyer.

Once purchased, theDuchossois embarkedon a massive restora-tion and beatification

AwardsGrand Prize Winner

Beautifying aVictorian TreasurePainting In Partnership Inc. preserves the past with meticulous skill.

A Victorian Treasure

The “piece de resistance” of this historical home is the nine-arch, double deck porch.

of this historical home and transformed itinto a Victorian treasure. The front of thehouse shows off an elaborate bay windowand front entrance that include carvings,pillars and detailed dental moldings. Thefront porch boasts four-color spindlesand fluted posts. The front portion of theleft side of the house also has an ornate

porch with the same features as the frontentrance. However, says Guertin, “thepiece de resistance can be found on theleft side of the house towards the rear: thenine-arch, double deck porch!”

Since its restoration in the mid-1980s,the exterior of the house was repaintedonly once — about 10 years ago. It was

beginning to show serious signs of deterio-ration when Duchossois contactedGuertin. “The time for a complete repaintof this grande dame had arrived again,”says Guertin. “We have been the owners’‘inside painters’ for seven years now.Because of their trusting relationship withus, Painting In Partnership was awardedthis truly unique project.”

The work involved the replacement ofnumerous rotted wood surfaces, epoxyrestoration of other less damaged areasand the cleaning, prepping and painting ofall wood surfaces. The owners askedGuertin to match the five existing colorsthat were presently on the house. Theentire project required the use of about 20gallons of paint, including Zinsser’sCover-Stain for spot priming, Sherwin-Williams Duration on all painted surfacesand Benjamin Moore Gloss Oil Porch &Floor Enamel on the decks of the porches.In all, the project took more than 700hours to complete.

Guertin pointed out that there were several challenges that needed to be over-come with the project, beginning with thesafe access to several of the dormers on the

Awards

Signs of deterioration before repainting began

To ensure safe access to some of the dormers,a Safe-T-Strap was screwed to the side of thedormer and a retractable lanyard was attachedto it.

house. There were four dormers in thefront portion, two on the north side andtwo on the south side. On the north side ofthe house, the property line was only a fewinches away from the neighbor’s house,which made access difficult. Guertin used asmall chicken ladder, roof steel boots toanchor the ladder and a retractable safetylanyard combined with a Safe-T-Strapscrewed into a rafter to ensure the crew’ssafe access. This procedure was followedfor all four dormers.

The rear north side dormer presented aneven more daunting task because the

Awards

One of seven four-color screen doors in the project, along with one of the two-paneled doors

The painting of the front bay window took about40 hours, which included a three-color cornice,three-color crown and five-color floral carvings.

Finished front bay window

The front entrance had a similar level of detailas the bay area, although a little simpler indesign.

neighbor would not allow access to hisproperty. The roof below the dormer wasjust large enough to set up a plank.However, before the plank was installed,pivots were mounted onto the roof andsecured to the roof and the dormer. Theplank was also tied to the pivots to preventany accidental slippage. Finally, a Safe-T-Strap was screwed to the side of the dormerand a retractable lanyard was attached to itto ensure safe access while standing on theplank.

Also, because of the number of colorsinvolved, the sequencing of the work was ofcritical importance to the efficiency of thework and overall financial performance ofthe project. Guertin explained: The projectentailed the painting of 170 four-colorspindles and 90 three-color spindles.Rapidly determining the right size brushesfor every surface to be painted and theproper sequence of the painting were keysto the profitability of the project.

“Our estimating/project managementsystem enabled us to keep our finger on thepulse of the project,” says Guertin. “Thesystem enabled us to keep track of the dif-ferent surfaces for each side of the houseindividually.” Guertin reports that theentire project was completed 15 hoursunder budget, “thanks to the dedication of our people and the soundness of oursystems.”

Congratulations to Mario Guertin andthe crew of Painting In Partnership Inc.for preserving the past by meticulouslybeautifying a once-deterioratingVictorian treasure! APC

Reproduced with permission from American Painting Contractor. Douglas Publications, LLC. Copyright.

The front porch boasts four-color spindles and four-color fluted posts, which gave the crew a chanceto fine-tune their methodology for painting the remaining 230 spindles on the project.