ABOUT

A funny thing happened to Sam Hager when he received his associate’s degree in social work from Columbus State Community College in 2016 and was on his way to landing his dream job. He didn’t get it.

“I had applied for this one job in my professional field and I was certain I was going to get hired, and it didn’t happen,” Sam says now. “I was like, ‘OK, what do I do now?’”

What he did next was what he knew best: Throw his paint brushes, ladder and buckets of paint into his 2001 Hyundai Elantra and get to work as a one-man residential and commercial painting contractor. His big disappointment had become a new-found career path. It wasn’t long before he registered the business name Sam the Painter as a LLC and one job led to another, one client led to another. Today, his residential painting company has a crew, four trucks, and works from Grove City to the northwest suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, painting beautiful homes inside and out. They also offer carpentry services, and flooring and drywall installation.

“I’m a painter, I really love to paint,” says Sam the Painter, with 20 years of experience working with local painting companies. “I started painting when I was 20 and I was trained to do prep work my first year; I never touched a paint brush. Eighty percent of painting is prep work, so I learned the right way from the start.

“I could paint all day, every day. I wish I could do more, but I get too busy with the day-to-day operations of the business.”

Like managing a large crew and running a thriving business that is growing at a rapid pace. Sam the Painter completed 73 projects and used 6,436 gallons of paint in 2021. Sam the Painter prides themselves on high-quality work at a reasonable price, where the customer always comes first. Sam also owns a separate commercial painting company.

“It’s great to see how our crew takes pride in their work, when they finish a job and say ‘look at how great this house looks,’” Sam says. “I love walking with the homeowner and looking at their face when the job is finished. You can see their eyes light up. That really keeps you going.”

He says what sets Sam the Painter apart from the competition is that the owner is regularly at every job site, monitoring his crew and job progress, insuring quality control. No job is complete without Sam doing a walk-through with the client and them approving the work. And then there is Sam the Painter’s five-year painting warranty, three years above industry standards and three years above what most competitors offer.

What does the future hold for Sam the Painter?

“I see us sometime cornering the Columbus market,” says Sam the Owner. “I can see us being the No. 1-rated residential painting company, with continued growth in clients and staffing. We haven’t stopped growing since we started out in 2016 and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”