To serve our customers with the high-quality, individualized attention that meets Freeland Painting’s standards, we’ve recently added Bryan Smith, Director of Construction, to our growing team. (You can meet other team members on our blog, including Amanda Fulks, Office Manager and Amy Stanitzke, Relationship Liaison.)
Bryan joined us at a busy and productive time in Freeland Painting’s journey. Every day, we build relationships that matter more than the brush or the ladder and provide each customer with outstanding service so that they want to keep coming back for life.
We asked Bryan a few questions to get to know him better. Here’s what he shared:
What is your role at Freeland Painting?
“As Director of Construction, I’m responsible for day-to-day operations, coordination and oversight of projects, and working with clients to ensure we’re providing them with the services that they both want and need. I’m in the role of clarifying details around client expectations and executing on projects to make their vision a reality.”
“I work closely with large commercial clients, vendors, and subcontractors to make sure everyone is communicating and executing to the highest standard. My goal is to keep customers happy and keep our various projects moving forward on time and on budget. I do a lot of managing and motivating!”
What prior experience makes you so effective in your role?
“I grew up in the construction industry—from a very early age. My father was a builder and developer. His mentality was that if I wasn’t in school, I was at work with him. My earliest work memory is when I was around age 6; I was in charge of cleaning up debris at a job site. Every summer and every holiday, I went to work—and I got paid for it.”
“After I got my engineering degree, I came to Atlanta and worked as a consulting engineer for 12 years. That experience helped me realize that I didn’t want to sit in an office all day. I wanted more freedom. Sitting behind a desk all day is not me.”
“After a short stint in sales for Transcom, which sold cell phone systems, I started my own company, doing tower work for a couple of radio companies. Then I got into residential remodeling services and started working for homeowners associations (HOAs) and property management companies. I worked for Heritage, the city’s second-largest property management company, and ran it for five years.”
“I got recruited by Access, the largest private management company in Georgia, and that’s where I met Doug Ireland, Freeland Painting’s founder, six or seven years ago. And in the spring of 2022, I joined Freeland Painting.”
“I have decades of generalized construction knowledge to help me in this role. I’ve built many buildings and participated in every part of that process, from clearing the land to putting the roof on. I’ve done every aspect of residential building. In fact, I built my own house, and even did the wiring, plumbing, and HVAC. So I’ve got a unique set of skills that goes well with supporting Freeland Painting’s clients and projects.”
What’s the best piece of advice you ever got?
“I don’t know if it’s a single piece of advice, but it’s a way of life. As a teenager, I didn’t think my parents knew a thing. But then an incredible thing happened: My father got significantly smarter after I turned 21. His philosophy was that you should always know how to do something right, so when you’re hiring someone to do it, you can tell whether they’re trying to pull the wool over your eyes. That’s why he showed me how to do all of the plumbing and electrical on building sites—so we would both know if the subcontractors were doing it right or not. His method didn’t make sense to me when I was younger, but now it makes great sense to me.”
What’s your work philosophy?
“When I mess up—and we’re all human, so we’re all going to make mistakes–I fix it. I do the right thing. That’s been my mentality throughout my career and life. I treat subcontractors the same way. The way I determine if I will work with someone in the future is by what they do when they mess up: Do they “own it” and admit to the mistake, then come up with a good plan to fix it and resolve it? O, do they run from it and deny it? If they deny it, they’re not going to work for me anymore. I don’t need that.”
“The way I think of the relationship between clients, subcontractors, and myself is that we’re all partners with a common goal. Our job is to provide a quality project that everybody is happy with, that pays us fairly, and that we can proudly stand behind for years to come. We’re partners. It’s a mutually respectful relationship because we’re all working to achieve the same goal—get projects completed in a timely manner with added value for the customer.”
Call Freeland Painting
Freeland Painting adds value to the homes and buildings we work on. Our six Freeland Finishing Touch services that we provide for free with every residential home exterior painting service are a great example. We always leave a project better than we found it, and we always give you the best value for your dollar. Always!
When you need interior painting, exterior painting, roofing, gutters, gutter guards, pressure washing, or fence and deck staining, call Freeland Painting today at 678.679.3126 to schedule your free, in-person estimate.
