A brush with business

While many college students were hitting the beach, making a road trip or just kicking back during their spring break, Chris Cordoza was lining up clients and preparing for another busy summer of work.

Cordoza, 20, will begin his second year as a manager with College Works Painting an internship-type program that is helping him work his way through school at Oregon State University.

“I basically run a painting business during the summer. It’s great business experience and I’m able to earn a lot of money to help with school,” Cordoza said.

The sophomore engineering major interviewed with College Works a year ago and secured a job to manage a team of painters for the summer. Working throughout Linn County, Cordoza’s team members painted 30 houses and earned their manager an award for customer service from College Works.

“I felt honored, but I think I was more impressed with the money I made and what I learned,” Cordoza said.

Cordoza led about 14 painters, handling all the managerial work including hiring and firing personnel,establishing leads, estimating, buying supplies and scheduling.

Cordoza spent his spring break preparing for the summer work ahead.

“I made a lot of phone calls lining up clients for this summer,” he said. “Spring break gave me a chance to do a lot. Usually I make calls during the week and then market on the weekend and meet the client directly.”

His first-year experience was helpful, but he says it was also stressful and time consuming. He said he was told it would be the hardest thing he had ever done.

“They were right. It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever experienced before, especially the first month,” Cordoza said.

Nonetheless he is enjoying the challenges. Training helped him prepare, and he just finished classes to help him with estimating and sales. He said estimates usually take one to two hours and jobs vary depending on the size of a house, but a typical single-story ranch-style home takes two or three days to complete.

As manager he oversees each project he selects. And he says each job is different.

“I’m always on the phone or at the site. I visit each site two or three times a day and then walk through the work with the client when it’s done,” he said.

No papers are signed until the customer is satisfied with the finished work.

“We stress customer service because we can’t offer the experience other paint crews can,” Cordoza said.

His crews are mostly college students. but he does hire one or two experienced people to help make things run more efficiently onsite. He said he plans to run two or three crews this summer, employing about 12 painters.

Cordoza says he’ll be interviewing for painters in May. Each member of his team will get the same training that Cordoza received.

Although he thinks he will continue his work with College Works for another summer, Cordoza isn’t sure if he’ll be able to put in the time after that.

“Classes are getting harder and harder. I want to commit to my degree,” he said.

He appreciates the opportunities the program has given him. He said last summer paid for a year’s tuition and living expenses at OSU.

“I’m hoping I can get through college without having a big loan to repay at the end,” he said.

Cordoza runs his business from his home in Albany. He can be reached at (541) 409-1900.