Business Profile
PAINTING & GENERAL CONTRACTING by Craig Whitney
Rafferty Painting and General Contracting has been working in the Newtown Square community for the past 24 years. Starting as a power washing company, Rafferty has grown, evolved and adapted to the needs of the community to the point where they now do painting, remodeling and general contracting. Through all of the change, Tom Rafferty has worked hand in hand with the office manager, Natalie Barilotti. The deep professional trust between Tom and Natalie has been the bind that has led the company through many evolutions while still preserving a code of excellent work and commitment to the Newtown Square residents. The company began in 1995, when Tom decided he wanted to start a power washing company. He saw the opportunity and the demand around him for this service, and began teaching himself the skill right away. He received proper certification through self-training and quickly began to find the clients around town. “One job led to five, five led to ten. Eventually, it was a fullblown business,” Tom explained. The business expanded and grew all based on one simple philosophy, something that is still true today. The work that is done, whatever it may be, is done to the highest possible quality and the customer is always left satisfied. Natalie was browsing for office jobs one year out of high school, and in 1998 she answered an ad for Rafferty Power Washing. The company was young and growing very rapidly, despite Tom Tom Rafferty, with daughters Casey and Chelsea.
g Leadership Team. Rafferty Painting & General Contractin lie Barilotti and owner, Tom Rafferty From Left to Right: Paul Bowell, Nata
being the only full-time employee. Natalie would take on the very challenging task of organizing and strengthening a young business on the rise, first and foremost making the company’s customer service consistently impressive. “When it comes to customer service, Natalie goes above and beyond,” Tom raved. “She makes constant contact and communication, follows through with everyone, and has built such a great level of trust with the customers. She knows the business so well, more than a lot of people in this industry, and our customer service is unmatched because of it.” Natalie smiled and continued the sentiment. “People want to feel important and taken care of, their questions responded to quickly. That’s the heart of any successful business.” Power washing would not be the sole service of the company much longer; the more that Tom would work with people in the community, the more he noticed different needs and opportunities. It became clear that painting would be the more lucrative option, and in the early 2000’s Tom quickly became educated and certified in the business. “Interior and exterior painting became our main business, especially with homeowner associations and residential work,” Natalie explained. Several years after focusing on painting, the customer demand for contracting work became clear too. “In the last seven years, Tom has flipped houses using a number of different skills in general contracting,” Natalie continued. “The flipping of houses led to customers asking ‘do you know how to redo a kitchen or a bathroom?’ which led us into the contracting phase of the company.” Painting has remained a core element of the business, but with every client Rafferty makes it a point to analyze the state of the room or the home as a whole and recommend additional work when appropriate. As always, customer service is at the core of the work that is done, and additional work is recommended only when the need seems clear. Even then, the recommendation is part of a conversation with the client.
Tom Rafferty, coach of his son’s football team, with son, Thomas. 14
Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors
February 2019
