We recently connected with Pride Painting: Barry McWilliams & Marsden Dvorak and have shared our conversation below.

Pride Painting:, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

We came up with the idea for Pride Painting upon noticing several things in our community — the first being the need for queer owned and operated trade businesses. While there are folks in the LGBTQ+ community that do indeed work in the trades, we felt that putting our values and identities on the forefront was very important to us. This kind of authenticity would allow customers to feel safer allowing contractors into their home and not having to worry that their lifestyle might be questioned or threatened. Being authentic has also proven effective for our safety and comfort as well. Additionally, we’ve made lasting relationships and connections during our first year in business!

Our second motivator was about reframing the culture of house painting companies. Pride Painting’s work ethic revolves around professionalism and a high quality execution with every job. After starting as apprentices and securing a combined total of 9 years of painting under our belts, we decided it was time to start something new for ourselves. It was definitely a scary leap to take at first, but we have absolutely no regrets!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We both experienced career changes in our lives after Barry left the printing industry in 2015 and in 2019 Marsden sought out learning a new trade in lieu of juggling several side jobs. As apprentices during our respective starting years, we both picked up painting quickly and found that it offered a fun creative process as well as problem solving. We met in 2019, developed a strong relationship and a desire to be able to express ourselves freely, and by 2021 we knew how important it was for us to start Pride Painting. Since starting in October 2021, we have completed interior and exterior jobs, some of which have included murals, faux finishes and marbling, accent walls, as well as wood and plaster repair. As a future goal, we would love to help add some exterior mural work to Lancaster City!

Perhaps most importantly, we want our clients to feel respected and safe while we are working in their homes. It can be a pretty big disruption having painters rearrange everything in your house or room(s), so we do our best to communicate with our customers what they should expect, and create a work plan that responds to their needs and schedules. If a kitchen cabinet project calls for covering the whole room in plastic and using a sprayer, we need to let the homeowner know that they will have limited use of their kitchen and give them an expected timeline. For exterior projects, if we come across rotted wood, instead of simply painting over it or fixing it without the customer’s consent for additional charges, we will point out the problem and discuss how they would like to resolve it. It sounds like the bare minimum but sadly, there are painters who don’t provide the same level of care, respect, and honesty. In return, we have found that we have had some of the very best clients and supporters, some who have become good friends! Additionally, the response we have received from social media has been wonderful! Through Instagram and Facebook, we have been able to develop lasting relationships with fellow house painters, product manufactures, and other queer owned businesses.

One of the jobs that we are most proud of is at The LGBTQ+ Coalition’s community hub, “The Loop”. They are a fantastic local organization that provides assistance, resources, and support to the queer community. We had the opportunity to decorate their hallways with colorful painted rainbow designs and geometric patterning throughout the building. While they are still working on some renovations, their ultimate goal at The Loop is to offer local events, shows, donation opportunities, healthcare, and a safe space for people to connect with one another.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Throughout their time as an employed painter, Barry made a habit of acquiring new tools and ideas in order to make projects go smoother and faster. By 2021, they had enough personal equipment and a financial boost after selling their house to confidently start Pride Painting. Soon enough we had our own van and ladders and began to start offering larger jobs.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Trial and error can be a huge part of any learning process. There are always new products coming out on the market, and we do like to try new things and assess if they are more effective than our previous methods or products. Especially in the painting world, everyone has their own way of doing things, teaching others, and materials they prefer to use. A lesson we have had to unlearn is not settling on one brand or product to achieve the best results. Being versatile and open to change is an important tool for success. That means, not using a certain paint brush just because all of the other painters are using it, but using what truly delivers the best results, even if it means spending a bit more on a higher quality product.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @pride_painting
• Facebook: @pridepaintingoflancaster

Image Credits
Brian Nguyen Marsden Dvorak