Relationships Come First
ShepCo Commercial Finishes makes customer, employee satisfaction top priorities
Nearly 20 years ago, Brian Gatewood set out with a plan—and a van. With two employees and a vehicle, ShepCo Commercial Finishes (ShepCo) was born. The company was founded primarily as a commercial painting company, working on small projects with general contractors. As it grew, ShepCo began to take on some of the prep work required before painting, such as minor repairs, vinyl wall coverings and epoxy coatings.
Today, the Indiana-based company has completed more than 5,000 projects, operates a full-service facility and provides jobs to as many as 60 people. With ShepCo, Gatewood created a commercial painting company dedicated to providing quality workmanship in a safe environment at a fair price. The team has made thousands of spaces look and feel like new.
Each project is unique, with its own set of challenges. “There simply is no typical project,” Gatewood says. “We are diverse in what we can do and the services we provide.”
The Indianapolis firm serves a variety of clients, including hospitality, retail, education, health care, government, commercial and industrial customers.
“No job is too big or too small—our crews’ experience ranges from large, multiroom hospitality remodel projects to single wall mural hangings,” Gatewood says.
While the bulk of the company’s work is industrial and commercial painting, wall covering, drywall finishing and epoxy flooring, the company also offers specialty remodeling services, such as interior and exterior signage, flooring, ceiling tile replacement/cleaning, pressure washing and more.
“We’ve grown into one of the larger contractors in Central Indiana, and we are able to perform any project of any size,” Gatewood says. “Our ability to meet safety standards means we can work at job sites and places that other contractors simply can’t.”
Positive Working Environment For Gatewood and his 60 employees, developing positive working relationships and working with integrity and excellence are always top of mind. Each and every ShepCo team member is dedicated to providing quality workmanship in a safe environment at a fair price, he says.
And while the employees are committed to ShepCo’s customers, Gatewood is committed to his workforce. The family owned and operated business is constantly looking for ways to show its appreciation to employees.
“ShepCo takes care of its employees,” says Field Supervisor Gil Dobbins.
Gatewood has adopted an open-door policy and is always ready to listen. “He really wants to know his employees and their families,” Dobbins says of Gatewood. “He’s created an environment where we all have each others’ backs and look out for one another.”
Beyond attendance and performance rewards, ShepCo offers annual events that include picnics and baseball outings for its employees and their families to foster that sense of community.
“It’s good for all of us to spend time together and get an understanding and better perspective about the people we work with,” Gatewood says.
The camaraderie extends beyond the workday. “We’re a big family—and not just at work,” says Dobbins, noting after-hours favors and fellowship the team enjoys.
Always Learning
That commitment to employees has translated into increased training and education at ShepCo. Earlier this year, Gatewood’s team rolled out in-house training programs. He said the move was necessary for the continued growth of the firm. Today, biweekly sessions are offered to help boost technical, software and management skills.
Like much of the construction and contractor industry, ShepCo has had to find ways to combat a shortage of qualified labor. The training is part of that, as is the firm’s merit-based pay structure: Employees are paid based upon their skill set, and when they are consistent and productive, they are rewarded not only with bonuses, but also promotions.
Gatewood is looking forward to expanding the training and incentive efforts. “We will continue to grow our training program so that we can continue to provide great products,” he says. “You’re only as a good as your last project.”
Scope of Work
Those projects include new construction work, maintenance programs (in which problems are corrected and spaces refreshed on a yearly schedule) and retail rollouts. When it completes a retail rollout, ShepCo works with a brand to maximize layout and brand awareness inside a store to influence customers’ buying behaviors. Gatewood’s team of professionals prides itself on working quickly and quietly to ensure a rollout is completed on schedule, with little disruption to the stores’ daily operations.
In addition to its retail customers, ShepCo has built relationships with customers in industrial, hospitality, civil and educational sectors across the nation. It excels on large-scale projects, and those jobs have helped the company stand out from its competitors. Recent projects include the installation of epoxy flooring for the CNH Industrial parts depot in Lebanon, Indiana, and wall coverings and re-paint work for more than 400 hotel rooms and spaces at a premier downtown Indianapolis hotel.
Overcoming Challenges
Scheduling and delays can make ShepCo’s work challenging. “We’re finishers, which means we come at the very end,” says Dobbins, noting that the timeline is often compressed because of weather issues that slow work for other contractors earlier in the process. “We may start out having a month to paint a building, but because of delays, in reality, we only get two weeks. But we do whatever it takes to get the job done on time.” That usually means adding manpower, Dobbins says.
“We will keep our customer happy because we want them to come back,” he says.
That’s a sentiment that’s coming from the top down. “We want to be doing business over and over again with the same people,” Gatewood says. “Providing a professional, consistent product in the painting industry is not always the easiest thing to do, but ShepCo’s mission is to keep doing business over and over again with the same satisfied clients because ShepCo is committed to overcoming any challenge in the industry.”