By Eric Woods
Photo by Terry Farmer
Dan Deweese Painting and Wood Finishing began in November 2014 with only two employees.
Within three months the business had five people on staff, and today the company employs 20 people including Deweese’s father, three siblings and a nephew. The employees are excited to work for such a positive company that cares about its customers and employees.
“We have been able to grow our company in the past few years from a crew of 10 to a crew of 20,” said owner Dan Deweese. “We strive to make this a great place to work and feel we have the best painters on staff in the city of Springfield.” Even though the business is relatively new, Deweese said five employees will be celebrating five years with the company this year.
Deweese’s father, Rich, has worked in the industry for over 40 years, but working for this company is at a positive level which he has never experienced before. “Dan realizes that the biggest asset in the company is his employees,” he said. “He is always there for them and this positive attitude permeates throughout the organization. It is a pleasure and honor to work for this company.”
Office manager Amy Peterson, who is Deweese's sister, is a fan of the company’s employee of the month program. “Every month we award one employee $100 at our monthly company meeting,” she said. “We like to reward this person financially but also love to promote them on social media. This lets us highlight them publicly, and we hope it makes them feel special. Dan and I always struggle to pick just one each month.”
“No other painting business that I personally have worked for has encouraged and taught me to hone in on skills that I never realized I had,” said employee Brad Young. “I love our company meetings. It is an opportunity for the whole company to gather, laugh and learn. Whether the previous months were good or not, Dan and Amy are always diplomatic in solving any issues with the entire group while successfully maintaining a high level of company morale.”
Deweese is proud to have been involved in some exciting historical restoration projects over the years. “One of our favorites was the repainting of the Abraham Lincoln hearse wheels that were used in the 2015 Lincoln funeral reenactment,” he said. “Last year we had a team of employees who repainted the chapel at St. Joseph’s Home.”
The company is proud to be able to support the local community through a number of projects. Deweese started a Hoodies for the Holidays program in 2017 in which they collected hooded sweatshirts for the homeless at Contact Ministries. “After our first year we decided to partner with six other businesses in our community. This past year we were able to donate over 150 sweatshirts to Contact Ministries,” said Deweese.
In 2017, the company began a friendly “bragging rights” softball game with the employees at Michael von Behren Builder, Inc. After the first year, it was decided to make it a charity event, and last year, the company donated the funds raised to Habitat for Humanity.
“The game is also a fun way for our employees to interact with each other. They invite their families, and we have a lot of fun,” said Deweese. “We also participated in donating our time to help paint a house for Sparc. Buraski Builders is very supportive of Sparc and is one of the contractors we work for, so we thought we would help them out. We feel all of these activities create a healthy environment in our company.”
Looking ahead, Deweese hopes to continue providing an excellent work environment as he strives to not only keep it fun but also focus on safety. “We work with a safety company that helps keep us educated on all of the current safety requirements. This year we are working on bringing in new equipment to our shop that will help create a healthier environment for our shop employees and better quality for our customers,” he said.
