Transforming An Existing Painting Business Through the Power of Franchising

For Mike Routon, owning a business was never the challenge. Learning how to scale it was the part he could not solve on his own.

After six years of running his independent painting company, he had reached a plateau. The work was steady, but growth had stalled, and he knew something had to change.

Over the course of several years, the local Five Star Painting^® owner in Spokane encouraged Mike to consider franchising. He explained how the model worked, how the systems supported growth, and how the brand could help him reach the next level. When Mike finally took a closer look, he realized it was exactly what he needed.

“Purchasing the franchise allowed me to learn the systems and balances that I needed from my business to be able to grow,” Mike says.

In 2022, Mike officially opened Five Star Painting of Spokane, and everything changed.

Before franchising, Mike relied almost entirely on word of mouth. It worked, but it limited how far he could take the business. Five Star Painting pushed him to embrace modern marketing and diversify the way he reached customers.

“Franchising has allowed me to grow my business by making me advertise,” Mike explains. “Now we are diversified in what we use, and it has allowed us to grow leaps and bounds from what we were before.”

From marketing guidance to operational support to structured systems, Mike found exactly what he had been missing as an independent contractor. By following the model, he began seeing results that were difficult to achieve on his own.

One of the biggest surprises for Mike was the strength of the Neighborly^® network. Five Star Painting is part of a family of home service brands, and that network creates opportunities far beyond painting.

“Neighborly has several concepts, and we work in conjunction with them to drive leads,” Mike says. “It is just building our family. It is more than just painting.”

He also found tremendous value in the peer community. At Neighborly meetings and events, he often meets owners who have been in the system for years, yet they still come to him with questions about what he is doing differently. “We are all a big family. That is what I like the most about it.”

Another early benefit came from Neighborly’s vendor programs, which give franchise owners access to advantageous vendor programs. Programs like Pro Trade Net^® helped him negotiate smarter and protect his margins from day one.

Mike credits his wife with helping him make the leap. “Having my wife’s support was key. If she told me not to do it, I could not consciously do it.”

Together, they recognized that their independent business had reached a stalemate, and Five Star Painting offered a path forward.

“What made Five Star Painting intriguing was the systems and the family. The family life is priceless to me.”

Mike’s journey shows what is possible when a hardworking owner partners with a franchise system designed to help businesses grow with confidence and clarity.