Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Featherstone.
Hi Andrew, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It all started with my Father’s roofing business. He would take me to work at a very young age and would bring me up on the roofs. His main clientele were in the Minneapolis and the surrounding area. We worked on many interesting houses during my youth. We worked on the Mary Tyler Moore house that was used for the opening credits and the Pillsbury Mansion in Minneapolis. My Father wasnt afraid of taking on big projects including painting the church. He was a problem solver and enjoyed meeting new people and getting to know the familys. He was very good at making connections. Sometimes I would think he knew more about the clients family then they knew theyre own family. When I was young one of the first painting jobs I worked on was for the Vasa Church. Weve been members my whole life and my father brought me up on the steeple to paint at a young age. One of the photos shows him sitting on the plank as I walked out to the end with a paint brush to paint the gazebo for the Church. After the most recent time painting the interior of the Church my mother found the photos and put them in a frame and brought it to Vasa for the congregation to see. Once I graduate high school my Father had a client who needed there house painted. My younger brother John and my Best Friend Landon took on the job. We brushed out the whole house. I didn’t realize that I would become a painter until after college when I bought a cheap paint sprayer with Landon and started painting houses that my father was giving us to do. Once people found out we had a sprayer people were reaching out to get on the schedule. After a few years Landon and I realized that friendship was better for both of us if we start our own seperate LLCs. We remain best friends to this day and continue to paint. We’ll work on a hand full of jobs together a year. I would consider him a mentor and friend. Im also very lucky to have my dad around to run ideas and ask questions. We continue to paint around Red Wing and the surrounding area. We tackle about 3 or 4 church’s a year and paint interesting projects.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been smooth roads. When you own a business your going to have bumpy roads. One of my Father’s lines when people ask for references is “Do you want the good ones or the bad ones”. Your not going to connect or be a good fit for everyone. One of the challenges is understanding if you can meet the person’s needs or expectations. With a busy schedule you can become overwhelmed with projects and deadlines. When my friend was thinking of starting his own LLC we had a project that we were going to work on together. The day before the project he bailed on me. I had to work on the project by myself to start out the project. The client was a very nice lady but very particular. When I was spraying out the doors I was having issues with the sprayer and couldn’t get the paint to lay down right. I remember coming home nervous thinking to myself what do I need to do to survive this project. It was a mental drain. One of the hardest projects I worked on was because we tried do a job with a very tight time frame. The client wanted it finished before family would show up for Christmas. Many things went wrong on the project. My Wife and I were in their house on a Saturday at 10 o’clock at night trying to get the doors and shelves done. It was an absolute nightmare. I felt so bad how the project went that I gave money back. I was so embarrassed and had to regroup myself after the project. I took the job on to keep workers busy. I learned a lot from the mistakes and experiences.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Featherstone Painting?
We paint Residential and Commercial. We specialize in old buildings and houses that need painting. We also are in the local Church market for painting.
One of my favorite things to paint is old wood barns.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Older relatives or family members work very well for a mentor. They dont necessary need to be in the same field of work. Alot of people are good with the trade they are in but not very good with the book work side of things. Also having friends in the same industry is nice to have. People you can trust to bounce ideas off.
Contact Info:
- Other: Andrew Featherstone Construction LLC
