Retail Projects

Raleigh Metro Area- Fastest-Growing City in America

Raleigh

According to a Forbes article, “Raleigh, North Carolina has grown 2.2% since 2011 and 47.8% since 2000” and according to census data, the Raleigh metro area is the fastest-growing city in the U.S. since 2000.  These statistics aren’t surprising to those that have lived there since the late 1990s, since they experienced the growth first-hand.  As a commercial painting contractor, A&K Painting serves the entire Raleigh metro area.

Despite this amazing growth, Raleigh still has a relatively low population density in its urban core. The city has also retained its housing affordability, with housing costs that are half or less than in “cool”, slow-growth cities, such as Boston, San Francisco or New York.  Raleigh also has the advantage of being located in the Sunbelt, so people are choosing to take advantage of the mild winters and extended summers.  Also, the cities’ population will most likely continue to grow in the future, because its child population alone has expanded 45% since 2000, compared to 2% nationally, while cities such as New York and Los Angeles had a decline in their children population.

This could be an opportune time for CRE investors to take a hard look at Raleigh, since they are experiencing exponential growth which doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon; especially since the outlook for commercial real estate growth is on the upswing.

What’s in a Paint Color Name?

A&K Painting and Sherwin-Williams Paint Colors

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Sanette Tanaka explains the importance of paint names, by sharing some interesting statistics from The Sherwin-Williams Co.  According to Sherwin-Williams, two word paint names, such as Wall Street and Stolen Kiss, make up approximately 61 percent of paint colors and 71 percent of gallon sales, while one word paint names only make up approximately 35 percent of paint colors and 26 percent of gallon sales.  Paint names with three words or more make up the smallest percentage with only roughly 3 percent of paint colors and 2.5 percent of gallon sales.

Jackie Jordan, the director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams, creates the paint names and believes that people like to have an association with a particular color.  This is also why Sherwin-Williams chooses creative names, so that an emotional bond is formed between consumers and the paint hues.

At A&K Painting Company, we use multiple paint vendors, including Sherwin-Williams. We understand the importance of paint colors and the positive impact they provide.  Our team of employees and our vendors continually focus on providing superior customer service to assure satisfaction.

Workplace Design Helps Improve Bottom Line

A&K Painting Color Design Pros

Companies are beginning to forego the traditional cubicle style offices, and instead choosing to create open and shared spaces, since they will require much less real estate needed per worker, therefore increasing their overall profits.  Many employees that work in these types of offices believe it’s the combination of flexibility and functionality that make them work so well.  Even employees that work remotely prefer the openness of these offices to their own home and according to a Business Insider article, “72 percent of workers said that an office is the best place to interact with colleagues and access tools and technology”.  So these collaboration-driven offices are not only great for improving a company’s bottom line, but also for the well-being of the employees.

Companies do however, need someone to develop and create ideas, so that these open, airy offices can come to life.  This is where design professionals and A&K Painting Company come in; design professionals will provide ideas and sketches of how an office can potentially look and feel, and A&K Painting Company will make those ideas happen.  We have many years of repaint experience, transforming spaces from tired and old into fresh and new, and we can provide vitality and energy through custom finishes and office layouts.  A&K Painting Company can bring new life into a business environment by recreating an office space to meet a company’s particular needs.  In doing so, national award winning A&K Painting Company can positively affect the company’s bottom line and potentially improve the well-being of their employees in the process.

A&K Painting Company Wins Two National Awards

A&K Wins Two National Awards

A&K Painting Company has won both the Industrial Interior Painting award category and the Commercial Wallcovering award category, in the 2013 Picture it Painted Professionally awards program of PDCA, the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America, a national painting contractors trade association.  The PIPP Awards, the national awards to honor the very best of the painting Industry, pays tribute to the work of professional painting and decorating contractors from across the United States.

Andy Robbins, CEO of A&K Painting Company, after receiving the awards today at PDCA’s national convention in St. Louis, stated.  “We’re honored to receive these two national awards. I’m very proud of our team. These awards attest to our team of skilled, highly trained people, our systems and the excellence we provide our clients.”

The Industrial Interior Painting award showcased A&K’s completion of over one million square feet of surfaces at the new Caterpillar Heavy Mining Equipment manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  The complex project required enhanced safety management, extensive pre-project planning and reliance on field operations management of several crews and night work. View the project portfolio.

The Commercial Wallcovering award featured the Stone Theaters Sun Valley project, a 14 Screen Multiplex in Indian Trail, NC.  A&K’s expertise with vinyl and fabric wallcovering was utilized with installation of over a dozen different wallcoverings.  The project also included multiple paint and wood finishes. View the project portfolio.

Press Release

North Carolina’s Global Investors and the World

North Carolina’s Global Investors and the World

North Carolina is focused on having global investors and foreign companies bring their operations facilities to the state. Beside its business friendly atmosphere, according to D. Lawrence Bivins, in a North Carolina Economic Development Guide article, this is possible because its “climate, port access and convenient reach to millions of American consumers attract global investment. It’s geographic and demographic diversity allows foreign companies to operate in any corner of the state”.

North Carolina cares about culture and business, and tries to recruit foreign business leaders, by forging an alliance between private and public partners, which results in a much stronger effort. But international recruitment is only half of their two-pronged global economic strategy; North Carolina also focuses on giving its educational programs an international edge. North Carolina has highly competitive graduate school programs that bring the most talented people from across the globe to the state, and they hope to provide them with the tools to succeed in an international market. In doing so, they hope to retain these highly intelligent individuals and continue to attract more to the state in the future.

By attracting these global investors and retaining internationally educated graduates, “North Carolina collected more than $1 billion in foreign direct investment across 86 projects in 2010”, according to Site Selection magazine. North Carolina is already home to approximately 850 international companies and continues to recruit more. This is extremely good news for the construction industries and overall growth for the state’s economy. More direct investment from international companies means more business for construction companies, since they will need new facilities built. This influx of foreign investment also creates overall growth for the economy since more money will be invested directly into the state, and more people will be attracted to live here since there will be more opportunities for success.