Get paid faster using your phone with Houzz

> A new mobile payment option from Houzz makes it easier than ever to collect payments from customers. Tap to Pay is part of the Houzz Pro suite of tools, which lets you schedule and accept payments using your iPhone. Given that 90% of homeowners say online payments is their preferred payment method for remodeling projects, Tap to Pay works to keep customers happy and eliminates the need to wait for checks to clear. Plus, it’s fully integrated with QuickBooks Online, meaning you never have to reenter an estimate, proposal, invoice or purchase order. Tap to Pay is designed for iPhone XS or later running iOS 16. Houzz.com/for-pros/feature-online-payment

> Thanks to a rapidly expanding membership base, the CPIA (Commercial Painting Industry Association) has expanded its Peer Group program and added The Vault Call to its member benefits roster. A total of 6 Peer Groups, which includes the newest group for next generation/future leaders as well as others for owners and executives, convene online every 6 weeks and meet in person once or twice a year. Each Peer Group session brings together 8–10 owners of regional noncompeting commercial painting companies to provide a space for mentorship, shared resources, and the connections needed to support individual development and company growth. The recently launched Vault Call, facilitated by the CPIA cofounder Aaron Moore, is a live, 1-hour, monthly roundtable phone call in which all members are invited to share their experience related to different topics. Calls often include short presentations by guest speakers on emerging issues and challenges facing commercial painters. TheCPIA.com

Elevating and celebrating women painters

> While women comprise only 10% of the building trades workforce nationally, their presence and impact are growing. In an effort to elevate professional women painters’ voices, celebrate their achievements, and inspire the next generation in the skilled trade, BEHR recently developed the Women in Paint (WIP) program.

Open to any woman in the trade, WIP aims to elevate the presence of women in a male-dominated industry and support their growth through customized training and networking. An initial training event will be held at the BEHR corporate office and will cover safety, surface prep, hands-on application methods, a deep dive into primers, and a state-of-the-industry overview. Additional trainings will be held regularly across the country.

WIP also offers in-person and virtual networking opportunities including a private Women in Paint Facebook Group developed in partnership with the Painting Contractors Association. Facebook Group > search ‘women in paint’ Behr.com/womeninpaint

Paint without pigment

Master jobsite Spanish in 6 weeks—no problema

> If communicating with Spanish-speaking team members is a challenge, Paint Spanish can help. Focused specifically on the most common and useful Spanish terms used on a painting jobsite, Paint Spanish delivers relevant and impactful lessons in just 15 minutes per day over 6 weeks. Using a combination of a workbook, videos, drive-time audio content, and a flashcard app makes it easy to master the terms, phrases and even conversations essential to you and your team’s success on the job.

BradleyHartmannAndCo.com/paint-spanish

> Two of the biggest drawbacks of traditional paint are that they get their color from synthetic pigments, which not only fade over time and but also are not very ecofriendly. Thanks to researchers at the University of Central Florida, a better coating alternative is on the horizon. Developed at the university’s NanoScience Technology Center, the new plasmonic paint relies on nanoscale structural arrangements of aluminum and aluminum oxide to produce an array of hues. These structural arrangements are readily apparent in nature—think flowers, butterflies and bird feathers. These examples, and many more, use light diffraction in colorless materials, rather than pigments, to create colors that range from subdued to vibrant.

Courtesy of the University of Central Florida

The coating developed by the team is more natural, environmentally friendly and lighter in weight that traditional paints. In fact, it would take just 3 pounds of plasmonic paint to cover a Boeing 747, which normally requires more than 1,000 pounds of conventional paint.

A bonus of plasmonic paint is that it reflects the entire infrared spectrum, meaning it absorbs less heat. Early testing reveals that surfaces coated with the paint stays 25–30° F cooler than those covered with standard commercial paint.