www.aussiepaintersnetwork.com.au Why Marketing Your Business Matters The key to a successful marketing program is ‘test and measure’! Subcontractor Insurance Requirements What insurance do you need as a subcontractor? A Guide to ProfilingYour Customers Building profiles that represent the typical types of customers How To Measure A Room The most popular ways to arrive at pricing particular substrates.
From the Editor Nigel 07nigel@aussiepaintersnetwork.com.auGorman35558010 J.GRAPHICNigelEDITOR•••••••••••CONTRIBUTORSCarolineMiallCorinneCorteseHelenKayJimBakerLeoBabautaMichaelMehmetMonaNikidehaghaniMonroePorterPaulHaskell-DowlandRobertBaumanSandraPriceGormanDESIGNERAnneDelgadoHey Everyone, Welcome to the 118th edition of the Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine. This month has been busy on all fronts with helping painters throughout the country find staff and many apprentices coming into the industry. It still looks as though painters are looking for any hands they can get onto the jobsite, this not always the best way of hiring someone, I would recommend that you interview prior to having them start in your business, the wrong person in the business can create many problems for the business owner. We are also hearing a large number of painters are being hired under an hourly rate ABN, this is called SHAM contracting, be careful if you are hiring this way and ensure you speak to an accountant or HR Consultant to make sure you have the correct contracts in place. This month I will be traveling through North Qld training more apprentices. If you want to catch up give me a shout out. Lastly, don’t forget to go and listen to the Painters Podcast with Glenn and myself. 'Til next month, Happy Painting!!
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Contents Opinions and viewpoints expressed in the Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine do not necessarily represent those of the editor, staff or publisher or any Aussie Painters Network’s staff or related parties. The publisher, Aussie Painters Network and Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine personnel are not liable for any mistake, misprint or omission. Information contained in the Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine is intended to inform and illustrate and should not be taken as financial, legal or accounting advice. You should seek professional advice before making business related decisions. We are not liable for any losses you September incur directly or indirectly as a result of reading Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine. Reproduction of any material or contents of the magazine without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. A Guide WhyPracticingtoTrustMarketing Your Business Matters How Can Your Lawyer Help When Merging Businesses? InsuranceSubcontractorRequirements Add Texture for a Terrific Room Transformation Business can no longer ignore extreme heat events –it’s becoming a danger to the bottom line A Guide to Profiling YOUR CUSTOMERS How To Measure A TooROOMMuch Work, Too Few People No, not again! A third straight La Niña is likely – here’s how you and your family can prepare Industry ImportantIdiotsContacts 1809061215 44363430262145
• What to focus on: We don’t trust our hearts to choose what we’d like to work on right now.
If we have a lack of trust, we might be tempted to blame ourselves or feel that there’s some wrongness to this lack. But what if we trusted that there are good reasons we don’t trust?
For example, what if we were often made wrong by others when we were growing up, and made to feel bad about it? It would make sense that we don’t trust ourselves, if other people taught us not to trust
Think about these common difficulties that most of us face:
At the core of a lot of our difficulties is a lack of trust — especially trust in ourselves.
If you don’t face any of these problems — congratu lations! You probably have a ton of trust. But most of us struggle with these on a daily basis. Which means there’s an incredible opportunity to practice trust. In this guide, I’ll share why we don’t have trust in our selves or others … and how we might practice.
Our lack of trust makes complete sense, if we could see all the reasons we were taught not to trust. We don’t have to analyze those reasons — just trust that we have good ones. So what can we do about it?
Why We Don’t Have Trust
• Fear or stress in uncertainty / chaos: When things are uncertain, we’ll often feel stress or fear. This is from (and understandable) lack of trust in our selves to navigate that uncertainty and deal with whatever comes up.
Every difficulty is an opportunity to practice trust. When you face any of the difficulties listed above — or any other struggle — these are amazing opportu nities to practice trust. At any moment, we can practice trust, or non-trust. We are constantly making this choice.
•
• Indecision: We get stuck on indecision because we don’t trust ourselves to choose what we re ally want, and we don’t trust ourselves to land on our feet if things turn out differently than we’d hoped.
• Finding focus: Often when we try to focus on something, we feel pulled away in a thousand directions by things we need to take care of … because we don’t trust ourselves to take care of those things later.
Whatourselves.ifother people hurt us, betrayed us, teased us, when we were growing up? It would make sense that we don’t trust others. What if we had experiences of failure and embarrass ment that felt really intense, and we learned to try to avoid those feelings? It would make sense that we wouldn’t trust ourselves to be able to handle those feelings — it felt like we couldn’t, in the past.
6 | Aussie Painting Contractor A Guide to Practicing TRUST
Procrastination / resistance: We feel resistance to a difficult (scary) task and then avoid it, result ing in procrastination … because we don’t trust ourselves to be with the discomfort, or trust our selves to handle whatever comes after doing the task (handle criticism, judgment, or any other po tential consequences).
Ways to Practice
So … how can we practice trust in the moment?
• Can you trust yourself to navigate whatever uncertainty that comes up?
Leo ZENBabautaHABITS
• Can you trust yourself to be with your emotions?
• Take a breath. Become present.
• Feel your heart — what does it want? Can you trust what it wants?
It’s a practice of letting go of needing things to go a certain way. Of needing to be in safety or comfort.
It’s trusting that our heart wants what it wants, and that it’s OK to listen to that.
What is the practice of trust?
It’s trusting that we can be with whatever emotions come up for us.
2022 September Issue | 7
It’s trusting that others can have their emotions, be how they be, and we can be with all of that as well.
• When you notice an opportunity to practice (any of the difficulties listed above, for example), pause and think, “Trust.”
• To be with the emotions of others?
You might answer “No” to some of these, which is perfectly OK! Allow yourself to be a No for now, if the No is very strong … but you might consider what it would be like if you did trust. What would you do if you trusted yourself? How would you view the situation differently? Could you give that a try?
It’s trusting that we can handle whatever comes up.
This takes practice. You will gain trust if you take ac tion despite a shaky trust, and learn that you’ll land on your feet, or deal with falling on your face. You’ll learn trust in yourself to be with whatever shows up, including difficult emotions in yourself or oth ers. You’ll start to trust more, if you act with trust. That means a small leap of faith, to start with. If you can start to trust, something powerful shifts. You start to make decisions more easily, and you can go through your day with more focus and feeling more relaxed. Things that happen aren’t such a big deal, not so stressful. You start to flow. Could you trust yourself to practice trust?
You’ll need to ask yourself a few questions including:
• Tesla Motors was giving away $1,000 as a referral reward.
Why Marketing Your Business Matters
Think of marketing as an investment I’m going to make a bold statement here: Marketing is an investment in your business, not an expense. This is an important shift in your thinking. When you approach marketing as an investment in your business, you’ll also need to think about Return on Investment (ROI). The key to a successful marketing program is ‘test and Oncemeasure’!you’vedecided on the marketing strategy you want to use, it is important to set marketing goals. For example, if you are implementing a referral pro gram, you’ll need to put a mechanism in place that will help you evaluate the outcomes, ie how many referrals have been made to your business by who, and did the referral become a client etc.
• The most successful advocate, wei70644, made 188 referrals, costing Tesla $376,000 in referral rewards.
2022 September Issue | 9
• How can I incentivise the making of referrals, ie how will you reward the people who refer business to you?
• How can I engage with business owners to let them know what’s in it for them when they make referrals to your business?
• How do I get the data to evaluate how good the program works? Whether it’s a referral program or any other marketing strategy you have decided on, it is important to calculate your ROI. In essence, you’ll need to think of it in terms of cost vs revenue.
• How do I administer the referral program?
Many of my clients shirk back when I use the term ‘marketing’. They may have had negative experiences with marketers they’ve engaged in the past and think of it as an expense that didn’t yield any increase in turnover, and therefore start to neglect this area.
Marketing is more than putting an ad in the local paper. It is rather a comprehensive business development strategy that includes many different facets, like referral programs, promotions, online visibility and giving away high value, free information to your prospective target market.
• Tesla made $15,980,000 in revenue from the referred sales. That’s a 40x return on investment, and in anyone’s book it’s an impressive result.
• Who in my business community is best placed to make referrals to my business?
Let’s stay with this example and consider what you’ll need to do, before you set up your referral program.
Consider the following example:
The importance of setting marketing goals
• Where you are going to promote (eg print advertising, online, business networks)?
• Creating a budget for your marketing strategies.
• Calculating ROI, including evaluation of program effectiveness through KPIs.
10 | Aussie Painting Contractor
Once you are clear on that and have kicked off your marketing strategy you’ll need to schedule regular reviews for each individual marketing strategy or promotion to see if it works. Above all, don’t be dis couraged if you’re not achieving the desired ROI at first. You have to test the market with your chosen marketing strategy to find out if it works. It’s a bit like the old saying ‘If you want to make an omelette, you’ll have to break some eggs.’
Look at what is working after each marketing strategy implementation or promotion. Examine why particular aspects of your marketing is not working and change your approach. Factors like timing, market trends and the perceived value of your offer all play a part in whether your marketing strategy is successful. Some times a different headline in an advertisement can completely change the results. Testing and measuring is absolutely critical to find out what works best for your business. You definitely need to put some numbers to each strategy to see if works. Remember, the only way to know for sure is to test and measure. Once you find an idea that works, continue to use it until you’re no longer getting the result. I hope this article has inspired you to get out there and grab the market share you are looking for.
•attract?What are you trying to sell. What is your offer?
So when you create your marketing program, you’ll need to get into the nitty gritty of costing the market ing strategy first, ie setting up a marketing budget. Then you can set off the costs against the increase in turnover. When your ROI is higher than the cost of your marketing program and meets your marketing goals, you know you’ve got it nailed. What does a good marketing program look like? In summary, the corner stones of any marketing program are:
• Your target market focus. Who are you trying to
• Documenting your program step-by-step.
If you have any questions on how to set up a simple and effective marketing strategy to increase your prof its, feel free to arrange a FREE No-Obligation Meeting with me. Call my office on 07 3399 8844, or just visit our website at www.straighttalkat.com.au a nd complete your details on our Home page to request an appointment.
12 | Aussie Painting
Business lawyers can advise on which regulatory bodies need to be consulted and informed, for ex ample, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Australian Competition and Con sumer Commission and the Australian Securities Ex change, to name a few.
A merger involves a company transition where one or more companies decide to join together and operate as a single legal entity. Often, when companies merge, they are of similar size and possess similarly valued as sets. Sometimes they form different parts of the same supply chain, so it makes sense to join forces.
When embarking on a merger or acquisition process, many other legal aspects need attending to. Your business lawyer is well-equipped to help you han dle all of these issues and safely guide you through the process, protecting your best interests along the way. Contractor
An acquisition is when one business buys out an other business entirely. Typically, the smaller busi ness ceases to exist in its original format, and all its ownership of all its assets is transferred to the larger business that has acquired it.
Deciding to merge your business with another can be an effective strategy in the current economic cli mate but it can also be daunting as it will affect your business structure, management within your busi ness and require company valuation. This is why it is essential to enlist the help of a professional legal team to make sure that everything runs smoothly.
What Else Can You Expect Your Lawyer To Do During Mergers And Acquisitions?
How Can Your Lawyer Help When Merging Businesses?
What Does Everyone Bring To The Table?
It is important to fully understand all impacts that the company you will be merging with will have on your business, good or bad. A comprehensive listing of the assets (including intellectual property) and interests of both parties will be required to conduct proper negotiations. The business structure will be analysed, and a company valuation will be established. Your legal team will bring their knowledge and expe rience of mergers and acquisitions to the table and offer advice around any legal issues related to the deal.
What Are Mergers And Acquisitions?
2022 September Issue | 13 Some of the areas where your lawyer can facilitate this company transition include: • Drawing up all the paperwork required for the merger or acquisition to proceed. • Offering advice and assistance on negotiations around the structure of the deal and the sales process. • Constructing confidentiality agreements and a memorandum of understanding (MOU). • Guidance on merger rules, due diligence and business succession planning. • Advice on how to proceed regarding issues such as intellectual property and business names, trademarks and warranties. • Negotiation and agreement on terms & payments. • Advice on the transfer of important contracts e.g supply agreements and commercial leases • As you can see, a full range of services can be expected from your lawyer during the merging of businesses. Contact Rise Legal today to discuss all your legal requirements to complete the merging of businesses or acquisition process successfully. We offer you professional support and excellent service to see you through your company transition. Heken Key P: 1300 064 707 E: helen.kay@riselegal.com.au
www.gorillaladders.com.au ® australia’s most trusted ladder australia’s most trusted ladder
• Do subcontractor insurance requirements vary by state?
It’s important to remember that you won’t always be covered by the main contractor’s insurance. If you are the one found to have been negligent, you are the one who will be held financially responsible. For this reason, many building companies/contractors will have strict requirements in place that all subcon tractors hold their own suitable public liability cover. Even if the company engaging your services does not require that you hold public liability insurance, it is still incredibly important for your own protection.
Depending on your business activities you may also require professional indemnity insurance, but this is less common for most typical building trades.
• How much does subcontractor’s insurance cost?
In the construction industry it’s very common for workers to operate as subcontractors, and it’s impor tant to know your insurance requirements.
There are two main forms of insurance required by subcontractors. These are public liability insurance and income protection insurance.
• How much public liability do subcontractors re quire?
The most commonly required form of subcontractor insurance is public liability. Public liability insurance will respond in the event that you cause property damage or personal injury to a third party. A third party could be your client or a member of the general public. Minor claims for public liability generally relate to property damage. For example you might be working in a roof and put your foot through the ceiling. As a subbie you’d be responsible for the cost of repairing and repainting the ceiling.
• Does it matter if I’m a sole trader or company?
In this guide we’ll be looking at a range of common questions relating to subcontractor insurance re quirements within the Australian building industry:
What insurance do you need as a subcontractor?
Larger claims typically relate to personal injury, and climb into the hundreds of thousands (or even mil lions) if you cause serious injury or death to another person as a result of your negligence.
Subcontractor Insurance Requirements
2022 September Issue | 15
• Are subcontractors covered by my insurance?
Public Liability Insurance
Do I need insurance as a subcontractor? As a subcontractor you are running your own busi ness, even if it’s just you as a sole trader. This means you are largely responsible for your own actions, and if something goes wrong, you could be financially exposed. For this reason there are a number of different insur ance types required by subcontractors in Australia.
• What insurance do you need as a subcontractor?
• Do I need insurance as a subcontractor?
is a common one, especially if you’re providing your own tools and equipment like most subbies do.
The cost of subcontractors insurance can vary widely depending on a number of different factors. For public liability insurance, the cost will vary depend ing on the size of the business in terms of revenue or staff numbers, as well as the business activities and whether or not those activities are undertaken in hazardous locations.
16 | Aussie Painting
Income protection is different again. The cost of income protection for a subcontractor will depend on your age, occupation, smoking status and the trade you’re undertaking. Contractor
Other insurance types
For example if you’re a one-person business undertak ing standard residential carpentry, the public liability cost for the minimum $5 million cover will start from around $400 a year. But if you’re a larger business with multiple staff under taking higher-risk activities at locations such as airports or mine sites, the cost will be well into the thousands or even tens of thousands per year.
Income Protection Insurance
How much subcontractor’s insurance cost?
As a subcontractor you are not covered by sick leave, and in many cases worker’s compensation won’t pro tect a subbie either.
For public liability insurance there will be no difference regardless of whether you operate as a sole trader or a Eithercompany.way, you will require public liability and there is no difference in the cover itself or the cost of the cover.
For a typical trade business there are no other insur ance types that are a mandatory requirement for subcontractors, but there are certainly others worth Toolconsidering.insurance
As mentioned in the previous section, if you operate as a Pty Ltd company in NSW you may be able to use workers compensation instead of income protection, but it is a very different type of cover.
A good income protection policy will cover you for both accident and illness regardless of whether it’s related to your work or not.
For this reason, income protection is not only impor tant, but also mandatory for subcontractors on many Incomeworksites.protection will cover a large percentage of your income for a period of time whilst you are un able to work due to injury or illness. As you won’t be receiving any sick leave, this is vitally important.
For public liability there is certainly no difference. Whichever state you operate in, you will need to have your own public liability insurance in place. There is one slight difference on the income protec tion side in NSW. It’s not that the income protection is different, but if you operate as a company in NSW you can access workers compensation, even if you’re a one-person company. This may mean that you can hold workers compensa tion instead of income protection and may still meet the requirements of the company you are subcon tracting to. But remember that workers compensation is very different to income protection. It will only cover you for incidents at work, so if you simply fall ill or suffer an injury on the weekend, there is no cover.
Note that the above only relates to a Pty Ltd compa ny in NSW. If you’re a sole trader you cannot access workers compensation. We’ll cover this more in the next section.
Does it matter if I’m a sole trader or company?
Income protection is no different. The insurer will class you as self-employed regardless of whether you operate as a sole trader or company, so the insurance will be the same either way.
If your business is a little larger and operates from its own premises you’ll need more of a business pack age, but you Do subcontractor insurance requirements vary by state? There is really no difference in the subcontractor insurance requirements from one state to another.
Some companies may have no minimum requirement, meaning that you’d simply need the lowest amount of cover available, which in Australia is $5 million. Other companies will require more, especially if they have you working in public places such as schools or shopping centres. In this case you’ll often find the requirement is $10m or $20m.
The amount of public liability insurance required by a subcontractor will largely depend on the companies they are contracting to.
If you are subcontracting to a company and they claim you will be covered under their insurance, it’s best to get written confirmation of this rather than risk being uninsured in the event of a
Whilst we cannot recommend a specific amount, we can show you what other trades in Australia choose:
Are subcontractors covered by my insurance?
www.traderisk.com.auclaim.
The answer is almost always no. Whilst there are a few exceptions, the main contractor’s public liability insurance will generally not cover the subbie where it is found the subbie was negligent.
Chart - How much public liability insurance do i need Not all of these figures will come from subcontractors, but a large percentage of them will be. This shows that most do go with the minimum $5 million cover, but a large percentage still choose the higher levels of $10m and $20m.
This is a very common question asked by those who are engaging subcontractors. They want to know if their public liability will cover their subbies.
How much public liability do subcontractors require?
Affinity Renovations is your perfect partner for terrific room transformations. Consult Toronto’s best home renovation company and get ideas of adding personality to a room. Get in touch for renovating a kitchen, living room or bathroom in and around GTA.
Source: Affinity Renovations, Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
18 | Aussie Painting Contractor
Add Texture for a Terrific Room Transformation
What are the different ways of adding Texture to a Room? Here are a few sure shot ways of adding zing to any room in your home: Wallpaper is an Option Usually, when it comes to adding texture to a room, homeowners consider wallpaper as the go-to option. One visit to the local home improvement store will help you to choose from a plethora of options. You can even visit the online stores to find the right tex tured wallpaper for the walls. But, remember install ing wallpaper is an art. Ask your home renovation contractor to do it for you. An experienced contrac tor can work beautifully with wallpapers and make sure that there are no unsightly wrinkles and tears.
A versatile gift of nature, wood can add texture to any room in more than one way. You can build a beautiful wooden shelf to showcase your collection of books. Alternatively, you can consider installing attractive furniture in the room. Find something unique at the thrift store or hire a handyman to assemble and paint furniture pieces according to your requirements. In stalling hardwood floors is another option with you. Texture has the power to make a dull sterile room look warm and cozy. If you feel that the bedroom or the living room of your home lacks personality, add texture to the space. It will do wonders for the room and provide you with a beautiful-looking home.
Exposed Bricks An exposed brick wall is the perfect way of adding old-world charm and rustic beauty to a room. It is an evergreen look that continues to fascinate home owners and guests. If you like a beautiful but under stated look, bricks should be your weapon of choice. It is easy to strip the plaster but it can get chaotic quickly. So, it is best to hire an expert to do the work for you. If you are living in a rented apartment and think that the landlord will have a problem with mak ing big changes in the building, ask the contractor to tell you about faux brick wallpapers, brick stencils and brick veneer walls. Green is In Organic texture is very trendy among homeowners. If you want to make a bold statement, you can think of installing indoor vertical garden adjacent to a wall. Instead of using pictures to create an accent wall, succulents can become the focal point of the room. For a minimalist look, create harmony between dif ferent pot sizes and shapes. It will definitely add zing to your home. Incorporate Wood in the Layout
Want to transform a dull looking room into a beauti ful living space? Incorporate wood, plants, bricks and several other things in the room and you are ready for a terrific room transformation. Do you want to offer fresh ideas to your clients? Or have you recently renovated a room? Do you still feel that something is missing? If you think that even af ter spending a lot of time in upgrading your home it does not look perfect to you, do not worry. You do not have to undertake another home renovation project. A terrific room transformation doesn’t re quire large-scale renovation. You can add texture to a room and transform it into a beautiful living space.
2022 September Issue | 19
When record-breaking heatwaves cause train tracks to bend, airport runways to buckle, and roads to melt, as happened in the United Kingdom last month, it is likely that business performance will suffer. The problem is not going away, either. Businesses will need to better manage extreme heat risk. But are investors sufficiently informed on the economic toll caused by the increasing frequency of extreme Itweather?isbecoming
While the frequency of these events is increasing, more worrisome is that heat intensity is also increas ing. Clearly, businesses are not immune to the need to adapt, though their silence might make you think Risingotherwise.temperatures
affect everything Keeping cool, transporting goods, and scheduling flights as runways melted were just some of the challenges people and businesses have faced during the current European summer.
As it became apparent that our workplaces and in frastructure might not be able to cope with extreme heat, we also saw unions call for workers to stay home. But could workers take the day off? The UK’s Health and Safety Executive stated: There is no maximum temperature for workplaces, but all workers are entitled to an environment where risks to their health and safety are properly controlled. Are these rules sufficient in this new normal? Some EU countries already have upper limits, but many do not. The Washington Post reported US federal action might be coming due to concerns over extreme heat for workers. Mitigation of these factors will no doubt be Whilecostly.media reports highlight the toll on workers and businesses, there is little empirical evidence on the financial hit to business. Here is where our research comes into play: how much of an impact does extreme heat have on business profitability?
Business can no longer ignore extreme heat events – it’s becoming a danger to the bottom line
2022 September Issue | 21
clearer that extreme heat can have devastating and costly effects. People are dying, en ergy grids are struggling to cope, transport is disrupt ed, and severe drought is straining agriculture and water reserves.
With detailed records on heat events at a local level, we connected weather data to a large sample of pri vate and public companies in the EU and the UK. We focused on two critical aspects of a firm’s financial performance around a heat spell (at least three con secutive days of excessive heat): the effect on profit margin and the impact on sales. We also examined firms’ stock performance.
We focused on the European Union and the UK be cause the region has a diversity of climate and weath er extremes. They are a major economic force, with strong policies on decarbonising their economies, but also rely on coal, gas, and oil for many sectors.
Sebastian Gollnow/Getty Images
Read more: Unnatural disasters: how we can spot climate's role in specific extreme events
22 | Aussie Painting Contractor
Heat hitting the bottom line
When it’s hot, these countries are forced to burn more fossil fuel to cool overheated populations, con trary to the need and desire to do the opposite.
Read more: How likely would Britain's 40°C heatwave have been without climate change? We found that businesses do suffer financially, and the effects are wide ranging. For the average business in our sample, these im pacts translate into an annualised loss of sales of about 0.63% and a profit margin decrease of approxi mately 0.16% for a one degree increase in tempera ture above a critical level of about 25C. Aggregated for all firms in our sample, UK and EU businesses lose almost US$614 million (NZ$975 mil lion) in annual sales for every additional degree of excessive temperature. Impact bigger than the data shows We also found the intensity of a heat wave is more important than its duration. This financial effect might sound small, but remem ber, this is an average effect across the EU and the UK. The localised effect is much larger for some firms, especially those in more southern latitudes.
The stock market response to extreme heat is also muted, perhaps for the same reason. We find stock prices on average dropped by about 22 basis points in response to a heat spell. These average annualised effects include businesses’ efforts to recoup lost sales during heat spells. They also include businesses in certain sectors and regions that appear to benefit from critically high heat spell temperatures, such as power companies and firms in northern European countries. High temperatures are not going away. Businesses are going to have to find a way to manage the risks to their staff and their bottom line.
24 | Aussie Painting Contractor
SafeWork Australia show us that even more needs to be done.
*Offer ends 30 June 2022. Excludes defibrillators.
For the best first aid for your workplace, visit survival.net.au
“We know that providing immediate, effective first aid to people injured on the job can reduce the severity of their injury or illness “And even more than that it can save your life, or that of a mate,” adds Mike SURVIVAL’s Director of Marketing & IT, Jordan Green, says the company is constantly looking at ways to make first aid more accessible for people in trades and other 'hands on' “professions.Inadditionto our line of first aid products, we’ve just released the latest update to our free iFirstAid app, which features step by step instructions and video resources to guide people, including trade professionals, through common emergencies,” says Jordan “Our SURVIVALSWAP audit compliance program also ensures worksites remain stocked and compliant without the headaches or hassle.”
As processes become faster, deadlines get tighter, and customers demand greater efficiency, the worksite has become a hectic hive of activity.
“And despite the latest advances in technology and an increased awareness of the associated risks, these sobering stats from
Organisations have become more accountable to their customers, shareholders, and employees. Increased safety improves the bottom line, and the links between a safe working environment and enhanced productivity are proven. Safer workplaces result in better processes, because it sets the standard for greater efficiency and increased ingenuity all ‘round. Above all, it saves lives. Workplace safety increases productivity, makes organisations accountable, and protects the entire team. Exclusive discount just for APN readers: get 13% off all SURVIVAL products sitewide!* Visit survival.net.au and use code 'APN13' at checkout.
But these increased expectations can make it all too easy to cut corners, and the safety of Aussie job sites is now more important than ever before SafeWork Australia recorded 194 worker fatalities in 2020 alone, with machinery operators and drivers representing the highest number of fatalities, and labourers, managers, and technicians and trades workers close behind. That’s why SURVIVAL a 33 year, Aussie family business is dedicated to ensuring every worksite has the right first aid equipment on hand “It’s clear that worksites need to ensure they’re never caught short, because when you’re in the trades industry, the chances of accident or injury are very real,” says SURVIVAL’s CEO, Mike Tyrrell.
W O R K P L A C E S A F E T Y : W H Y N O W ?
L-R: SURVIVAL's Director of Marketing & IT, Jordan Green, and CEO Mike Tyrrell
I T ' S A L L A B O U T S U R V I V A L S A F E T Y O N S I T E
Distinguished Professor of Management, University of California, Davis
David Lont Professor of Accounting and Finance, University of Otago Martien Lubberink Associate Professor of Economics, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Paul Griffin
For those businesses negatively affected, disclosing the number and cost of lost hours and the location of the damage would be helpful. However, it is not yet clear if climate disclosure standards effectively capture these risks, as companies have significant discretion about what to disclose. It is not necessarily all about cost – some sectors might even benefit. While power companies, for example, might report increased sales from increased energy consumption, they are also constrained by the grid and the increased cost of production.
Read more: Extreme heat is a threat to lives in Africa, but it's not being monitored
Without a doubt, better disclosure will help untangle these Ideally,effects.financial data needs to be segmented by cli mate risk and extreme heat dimensions so investors are better able to price the risk. Regulators need to pay attention here. Investors must be able to price material risk from extreme weather.
2022 September Issue | 25
And our evidence suggests there is little overall ben efit to the energy sector. This doesn’t rule out some windfall profits, so we need to understand more about both the positive and negative effects on each Finally,industry.this July saw temperatures in the United Kingdom soar to 20C above normal. Can businesses cope? Next time you feel the heat, pause to ask if this is also hitting the bottom line of your workplace or investment portfolio.
While we show a systematic and robust result, our evidence probably further underestimates the total effects of heat waves. That’s because businesses dis close very little about those effects due to lax disclo sure rules and stock exchange regulations relating to extreme weather.
Sign showing temperature of 41.5C Businesses lose money during heatwaves but exact losses are, in all likelihood, underreported. Alain Pit ton/Getty Images Financial data part of climate change
A good example is New Zealand, which is about to mandate climate risk disclosures with reporting pe riods starting in 2023. Such mandates recognise that poor disclosure of climate risk is endemic, and we don’t have the luxury of time.
A Guide to Profiling YOUR CUSTOMERS
Easily the most important first step in establishing any type of business is to define your customers so that you have the information you need to attract the right audience and generate valuable traffic to your website. Understanding your customers and what makes them tick is the key to any successful business, particularly if you are paying out large amounts of money to drive relevant traffic. One of the most practical ways of defining your customers is by building customer profiles that represent the typical types of customers that you are aiming for. As a result, you'll be able to home in on a more specific target audience, communicate with your audience in a more relevant and personalised manner, and ultimately, generate more revenue.
26 | Aussie Painting Contractor
Every business caters to a specific demographic, and while some audiences might be extremely broad, it is still essential from a marketing perspective that you know your customers and how to reach out to them. You'll need to understand your own product or service, seek out feedback, learn about your custom ers' habits and interests and maintain a consistent and targeted marketing campaign.
Knowing Your Brand
There's no shortage of novice Internet entrepreneurs out there who are attracted by the empty promis es of making a quick profit by selling a product or service that is in high demand, even if they aren't at all familiar with what they're selling. The reality of a successful online business venture is quite a different thing, however: you need to be completely familiar with what you are trying to sell, and you need to be lieve in Whetherit.you're a lone entrepreneur or you're plan ning to start a small business with multiple employees or partners, you'll need to define your mission and come to fully understand your products and ser vices. You simply cannot hope to accurately profile your customers if you do not have the utmost familiarity with what you are trying to sell to them. You'll need to pay attention to every detail before putting yourself in the shoes of your customers. When you know your brand, and it has a clearly defined mission, you'll be ready to start profiling your customers and tweaking your approach to marketing as necessary.
• How often have they purchased from you?
• What do they need or want?
• What other, related businesses would they likely choose to work with?
Seek Feedback Seeking feedback is a critical ongoing process, but you should also start by doing plenty of research be fore you can even hope to get your marketing strat egy off the ground. Your business will inevitably need to adapt over time to the needs and desires of its customers, not least because the customer has far more control these days than ever before by way of things like social media and online reviews. Seek out feedback from your customers at every opportunity, but make sure that you don't end up being intrusive, and don't bombard people with too much information or too many questions. Many customers simply won't have the time or the patience to leave feedback, and you'll have to learn to accept that. For tunately, there are some effective ways of encouraging your customers to leave feedback, such as by offering incentives like promotional codes and other discounts for completing a short survey or answering a few ques tions about their own preferences and habits.
www.tradiebookkeepingsolutions.com.au
• What do your customers do to entertain
Every day, millions of people turn to Google to find answers to their questions, solutions to their prob lems or simply something to entertain them. What sort of queries does your business offer solutions for?
•themselves?Whatistheir income level?
By knowing your customers' problems, curiosities and interests, you'll be able to tailor your content, your marketing strategy and your product itself to better suit those criteria.
Avoid basing your customer personas on a real customer, since no single individual can completely represent your target audience. Instead, a customer persona should be reasonably broad, and it should characterise your perfect customer.
• What are their priorities and goals in life?
Create Your Customer Personas Create a profile of your perfect customer. If your business has a particularly broad reach, then you'll want to segment your target audience and create personas for each customer category. Map out the behaviours and interests of your customers based on important factors such as demographics, buying habits, geographical location and more. You can even name these imaginary customers if you like, since this may help you to imagine them in a more practical light.
Feedback doesn't always need to come from customers themselves either. You can gain invaluable insights, albeit not quite as accurate, by reviewing reports on your industry. There are many companies, such as eMarketer and Forrester, which provide insights into specific markets by analysing trends in online behaviour to help your business better define its target audience.
• How do they approach change?
• What are their demographical attributes?
• How much would they be willing to spend?
Conclusion With your customer profiles in place, you'll be able to match each area of your marketing strategy to the individual characteristics of your customers. By target ing smaller and more specific audiences, you should be able to increase the percentage of paying customers and valuable leads instead of wasting time and money on targeting the wrong people.
When defining your customer profiles, be sure to seek answers to the following questions:
• Where are they located?
• What are their past purchases?
Sandra Price
• What sort of subject matter is most likely to interest them?
Ceiling (Standard gyprock/plaster board)
2. The Time it will take to paint.
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1. The Area of the item to be painted.
3. The cost and spread rate of the Paint.
The material used will depend on the product, being a cheap budget paint to a premium line as the spread rate and cost will differ. Look at the back of the paint can and find how much it can cover per litre. I like to use the premium line so I will work on $11/litre and the spread rate of 15sqm/litre.
This is calculated by multiplying the length by width to give you the square metre area. 5m x 4m = 20sqm. The time taken will depend on each individual painter as some are faster than others, but the standard area suggested a person can paint is around 14sqm/hour.
There are a few ways to arrive at pricing particular substrates. One of the most popular is by measuring the surface area; be it ceilings, walls, doors, frames, concrete floors, etc. Many painters do not know how to do this, but it is a simple calculation where you need to know four basic things to work it out:
How To Measure A ROOM
There is 40sqm in total to paint (two coats, 20sqm x 2), divided by the suggested rate of 14sm/hr (again, this depends on your speed) which gives you a time of 2.86 hours. Multiply this by the $60 hourly rate and it comes to $171.60. The paint is calculated by dividing the spread rate, 15sqm/lt, into the ceiling area of 40sqm. This totals to 2.67 litres of paint required. The cost of the paint is 2.67 litres multiplied by $11/ lt which comes to $29.37. Now add the labour and paint together ($171.60 and $29.37) and the total is $200.97 to paint the ceiling.
4. The Hourly Rate you charge. I will use an example of a room that is 5 metres long by 4 metres wide and 2.4 metres high. It has one window frame measuring 1.8 metres by 1.2 metres, a standard door of 2.04 metres high and 0.820 me tres wide, the surrounding door frame and a skirting. It has no furniture or carpet and requires standard preparation and two coats of paint.
I will calculate the square metre area, the time it will take and how much paint you need for each sub strate separately. The hourly rate will depend on the individual person as every business has different ex penses. To make it simple, I will use $60 as an hourly rate. GST is not included in any of these figures.
32 | Aussie Painting Contractor Interested in becoming a Painter & Decorator? Is Painting & Decorating for you? paintingapprenticeships.com.au Painting Apprenticeships brings Apprentices together with Painting Business owners.
Window Frame (1.8 + 1.2 x 0.14) As with the walls, you add the four sides together. 1.8m + 1.2m + 1.8m + 1.2m which equals 6 lineal metres. I will use the standard width of 0.14m. This in square metres works out to be 0.84sqm (6m x 0.14m) or 1.68sqm for 2 coats. 1.68sqm divided by a suggested rate of 3.5sqm/hr will give you a time of 0.48hrs, multiplied by $60/hr is $28.80. The material is 1.68sqm divided by 15sqm/lt multiplied by $13/lt giving a cost of $1.46. The total to paint the window frame is $30.26 ($28.80 + $1.46).
Skirting (Standard height 0.10cm) The length of the skirting is the same as the perim eter of the walls minus the door opening of approxi mately 1 metre, so the length will be 17metres in to tal. The suggested amount of skirting (at the width of 10cm) that can be painted in one hour for one coat is 38 lineal metres. The labour cost will then be 34/ lm (2 coats) divided by 38/lm (lineal metres) x $60/hr which equals $53.40. The square metre area is 17m x 0.10m multiply by 2 coats which equals 3.4sqm. At a spread rate of 15sqm/lt, the paint required will be 0.23 litres at a cost $2.99 (3.4sqm divided by 15sqm/ lt x $13/lt). The cost of painting the skirting will then total to $56.39 ($53.40 + $2.99).
Door (Standard 4 panel, one side only, two coats). 2.04m high x 0.82m wide (1.67sqm) x 2 coats = 3.35sqm. I will allow 6.7sqm that can be painted in one hour which includes time for removing and re placing the hardware. The labour to paint the door is 3.35sqm divided by 6.7sqm/hr multiplied by $60/hr which equals $30.00 for labour. The material for the undercoat and premium topcoat can be averaged at $13/lt (I calculate this from a 10 litre purchase. If you have to buy a 1 litre can specifically for the job, then the cost will be more). If the spread rate is 15sqm/lt, your calculation for the cost of the paint will be; 3.35sqm divided by 15sqm/lt x $13/lt which equals $2.86. This gives you a total of $32.86 ($30.00 plus $2.86).
A standard door frame is 5.1m in length (2 sides and top) with a width of about 25cm but as we are only pricing for one side, it will be around 12.5cm. This will be a total of 5.1/lm x 0.125m x 2 (2 coats) which equals 1.275sqm. 1.275sqm divided by a suggested rate of 4.9sqm/hr will give you a time of 0.26hrs, mul tiplied by $60/hr is $15.61. The material is 1.27sqm divided by 15sqm/lt multiplied by $13/lt giving a cost of $1.10. The total to paint the door frame is $16.71 ($15.61 + $1.10). You may have to add more to this price depending on which side of the door frame you are painting.
Walls (Standard gyprock/plaster board) This is achieved by adding the four walls together (called the perimeter) multiplied by the height. The formula can be either; length plus width, plus length plus width, multiplied by the height (5m + 4m + 5m + 4m x 2.4m = 43.2sqm) or, length multiplied by 2, plus width multiplied by 2, multiplied by height ((5m x 2) + (4m x 2)) x 2.4m = 43.2sqm). As we are painting two coats, the total to paint is 86.4sqm. You can take out an amount for the window and door openings but for this example I will leave it in.
Summary
The suggested rate for the time taken to paint a wall surface is the same as the ceiling surface (14sqm/h) and the spread rate, being a premium line, is also the same (15sqm/lt) but the cost of the paint will be slightly more expensive, so I’ll allow a slightly higher amount of $13/lt. We can now work out the cost of painting the walls the same way as the ceilings. 86.4sqm divided by 14sqm/h, multiplied by $60/hr which gives you $370.20 for the labour. The cost of the paint is; 86.4sqm divided by 15sqm/lt multiplied by $13/lt which equals $74.88. The total to paint the walls is again by adding the labour and paint togeth er ($370.20 and $74.88) which totals to $445.08.
Door Frame
Jim Baker MyTools4Business.com
2022 September Issue | 33
The total to paint this room will be a cost of $782.27 plus GST. The price could vary if there is furniture in the room or down-time if you need to wait for the paint to dry and need to make an extra trip. You may need to add your ‘smoko break’ too. If you would like to know more of the suggested rates for painting particular surfaces, you can find it in the membership area of the APN website. You can also purchase ‘My Paint Costing Guide’ on my website which is a fully automated program where you just enter the measurements. If you would like to learn more about estimating, you can enrol in the online ‘Advanced Estimating Course’ through www.paint ers.edu.au which I will be your trainer.
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First, calculate how much work you can get done per day or week with your current crew and work back wards. Determine how much a crew can bill per day, multiply it by the number of crews and then see how much income you can produce. There is an old joke about the two butcher shops on the same street. One butcher shop has hamburger for $1.99 a pound but it is out of hamburger. Needing hamburger, a buyer walks into the other butcher shop to buy hamburger but notes it is $2.99 a lb. The buyer complains about it being more. The butcher replies, “Well, my hamburger is also $1.99 when I don’t have any.” Supply and demand drives capitalism. If you can’t get the work done because there is a shortage of good craftsman, it is time to rethink prices. This brings up the whole concept of when should a contractor reevaluate prices and pricing strategy. The honest truth is that too many contractors are so busy working they don’t take the time to reevaluate pricing. Prices tend to be low in the spring when many contractors are starving from a slow winter. As the cheap springers fill their belly with work, you should begin to get work and adjust prices accord ingly. Prices should also be adjusted to reflect the complexity of work, the overall risk, proximity to your shop, experience in this type of work and other production factors. Prices should never be a factor of simple broad square footage average. If I had one foot on a hot stove and one foot in a bucket of ice water, on average I would feel ok. When your backlog reaches a certain point, you should raise prices. Re member, production will drop as you add more and more people who are less qualified as your current workforce. You will probably find it necessary to have gross profit in the job to offset production decreases. Next, rethink your concept of training and developing people. Contractors want to hire readymade employ ees that are plug and play but that is unrealistic in today’s economy. Most good employees are employed by someone else and are not looking for a job, if they are, they will probably not be loyal employees and will leave when offered more money.
Too Much Work, Too Few People
Having a lot of work but not having enough people to get it done creates mixed emotions. It is a little like watching your ex-wife or ex-husband total your favorite car you had to give up during the divorce. To succeed, you have to rethink your strategy and adapt to the market place.
Monroe Porter is president of PROOF Management a firm that teaches seminars and runs networking groups for painting con tractors. Several Aussie painting contractors travel to the US each year to participate in his programs.
www.proofman.com
Understand that much of contracting is repetitive. Yes, to be a master craftsperson or foreman, you have to know lots of complex skills and be good at them. However, if you can’t teach someone in a few hours how to nail a row of shingles or paint a wall with a roller, they are never going to learn how. Hire people who can learn such skills and train them on how to fit into your crew. See a guy working hard behind a fast food restaurant counter; hire and put them to work. Change your employment culture and outlook to wards recruiting. Do you have an application on line on your webpage? Do you constantly advertise with online services? Is your culture one of hiring people who will work hard and teach them a trade? Doing the same old, same old is likely to get the same re sults. Always look for potential employees the same way you are always looking for jobs. Put your production hat on. If you have more work than you can do, maybe it is time for you, as owner, salesperson or project manager to help production. It doesn’t do any good to sell it if you can’t get it done. Work harder at getting jobs set up, minimiz ing shop, drive time and anything else that will allow you to get more done. Rained this week and with only one day of production? Maybe you can have one large crew. But unless you are willing to help manage the job and coordinate the effort, it is doubt ful the job will be productive. Think and be creative. However, remember that some humans can run a 4 minute mile but you can’t ask them to do it over and over or back to back. There is a limit to how much production you can micro manage and squeeze out of your Contractingcrews.can be a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. Without work, you don’t need employees. Without employees, you can’t do the work. Finding balance can be tough. Work harder at solutions rather than just complaining about the problem.
2022 September Issue | 35
Over the past 18 months, many communities have been hit by floods – some more than once. For these residents, the prospect of a third La Niña will be ex tremely concerning. And some people who’ve never experienced floods may now be at risk. Our current research project is examining the experi ences of flood-hit communities in New South Wales and Queensland – and our interviews have already yielded useful insights. So let’s take a look at what we should be thinking about now as another wet summer looms.
36 | Aussie Painting Contractor No, not again! A third straight La Niña is likely – here’s how you and your family can prepare
Hearts sank along the Australian east coast this week when the Bureau of Meteorology announced a third consecutive La Niña was likely this year. La Niña weather events typically deliver above-average rain fall in spring and summer. But the last two La Niñas mean our catchments are already full. Dams are at capacity, soils are saturated and rivers are high. In some cases, there’s nowhere for the rains to go except over land.
So during floods we often see risky behaviours such as driving and playing in dangerous water.
The report contained troubling statistics, including:
• nine people tragically died • 7,700 people sought emergency accommodation • 14,600 homes were damaged • 5,300 homes were left uninhabitable.
Water isn’t always fun Floods are among the deadliest natural hazards in Australia. Yet in Australian culture, water often equates to fun. From a young age we’re taught to swim, enjoy and “master” the dangers that water poses.
The NSW government on Wednesday released an independent report into this year’s floods. It exam ined flooding from February to April and again in July – mostly around the Northern Rivers, Sydney’s Hawkesbury-Nepean and the central to north coasts.
Recent floods, however, brought home the reality of the threat. Few could forget images of frightened families being winched off roofs by helicopter, water rushing from spilling dams and everyday people res cuing their neighbours.
Releasing the report, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said up to 40,000 Western Sydney residents risked flood evacuation by 2040, if flood conditions similar to those in July were repeated and no mitigation action was taken.
The inquiry revealed a central theme: the need for a renewed and stronger emphasis on sustained dis aster preparedness. Otherwise, as the report noted, the emergency response becomes harder:
Read more: 'I simply haven’t got it in me to do it again': imagin ing a new heart for flood-stricken Lismore
2022 September Issue | 39
The authors hope their work will influence policy and practice on flood preparation. Tracey Nearmy/AAP Be prepared
‘Don’t worry. Your house won’t get wet’ Our current research is examining the experiences of those affected by this year’s floods to gather insights on preparedness and response. Participants can take part in an interview, a survey or both. Our interviews are already providing useful insights. They include the possibility that prior experience of flood, and the well-meaning reassurances of others, can hinder preparations. As one respondent said: the house, having been built on a mound, has nev er been flooded and that’s why my neighbour said, ‘Don’t worry. Your house won’t get wet. It’s never got wet in 70 years’. But this was unprecedented. With another wet summer likely, interviewees are starting to see major flooding as a “new normal” rather than a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is causing them to question the future of their commu nities. As another respondent told us: that’s the part that I’m struggling with now is that it feels like it’s unviable to live here because there’s no security, and when you take away people’s security, your life tends to unravel.
So what should you do if flooding is forecast and you need to evacuate? Here’s what experts recommend:
• move vehicles, valuables, outdoor equipment, garbage and poisons to higher locations
• keep your mobile phone charged and have at least half a tank of fuel in your vehicle
Preparedness is discussed in relation to emergency management and our natural and built environment. But an important component of preparedness is at a personal or family level. Failure to prepare at this level makes preparations at other levels more diffi cult and expensive.
Failing to prepare for floods can make the emergency response harder. Jason O'Brien/AAP
We hope our research will influence policy and practice on flood preparation, community engagement and risk messaging, and shed light on more permanent changes required.
• tell friends, family and neighbours of your plans
• enact safety plans for pets and other animals
• identify the safest route to your nearest safe lo cation and leave well before roads flood
Read more: What's causing Sydney's monster flood crisis – and 3 ways to stop it from happening again
• take medications and identification with you
• know where to go for information. Monitor alerts and stay aware of changing situations
• turn off electricity, gas, and water at the mains before you leave.
•
Mel Taylor Associate Professor, Macquarie University Katharine Haynes Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Wollongong
Of course, flood preparation should not be left until the last minute. Now is a good time to think about what might happen in the months ahead. Things you can do now include: clean up outside and inside, move or secure items that could float or create a hazard move valued possession to higher places in your home pack an emergency bag and keep it at the ready consider which friends or family you might stay with if needed. For further advice, head to the website of your state’s emergency service agencies.
•
•
Our approach to disaster readiness will continue to change. Already, experts are providing advice on mat ters such as emotional preparedness and recovery in the Oneaftermath.thingisclear: in the face of the increasing disas ter threat, temporary and seasonal preparations are no longer enough.
•
Thinking long-term Climate change will exacerbate floods and other natural hazards. Communities must be supported to prepare as best they can. More permanent measures are also needed, such as land buybacks to move people out of flood-prone ar eas. And importantly, planning systems must ensure we don’t keep building on floodplains.
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IMPORTANT Contacts 2022 September Issue | 43 Aussie Painters Network aussiepaintersnetwork.com.au National Institute for Painting and Decorating painters.edu.au Australian Tax Office ato.gov.au Award Rates fairwork.gov.au Australian Building & Construction Commission www.mates.org.auMateswww.abcc.gov.auInConstruction Workplace Health and Safety Contacts Cancer Council Australia Ph. 0430 399 800 Ph. 1300 319 790 Ph. 13 72 26 / Ph. 13 28 65 Ph. 13 13 94 Ph. 1800 003 338 Ph. 1300 642 111 Comcare WorkSafe WorkplaceACTHealth and Safety QLD WorkSafe Victoria SafeWork NSW SafeWork SA WorkSafe WA NT WorkSafeWorkSafeTasmania worksafe.tas.gov.auworksafe.nt.gov.aucommerce.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/www.safework.sa.gov.auwww.safework.nsw.gov.auwww.worksafe.vic.gov.auworksafe.qld.gov.auworksafe.act.gov.aucomcare.gov.au 1300 366 979 02 6207 3000 1300 362 128 1800 136 089 13 10 50 1300 365 255 1300 307 877 1800 019 115 1300 366 322 NSWACT NT WAVICSAQLD cancerwa.asn.aucancervic.org.aucancersa.org.aucancerqld.org.aucancercouncilnt.com.aucancercouncil.com.auactcancer.org (02) 6257 9999 (02) 9334 1900 (08) 8927 4888 (07) 3634 5100 (08) 8291 4111 (03) 9635 5000 (08) 9212 4333
