 Aloha, and thank you for joining us for another edition, a weekly edition of Condo Insider that is put on by the White Council of Community Associations. It's so nice to have you joining us. And I really want to say a big aloha to Bido on Terry. He is with PPG Paints, one of our biggest supplier of paints on the islands. He covers all the western part of the United States and he comes out here pretty much every quarter and works with all the PPG PPG paint stores here on the islands. So we're going to, what really interested me in bringing on PPG paint is because there's been changes in the paint industry itself. So aloha and welcome on board. Bido, it's so nice to see you again. Well, thank you and aloha and thank you for having me, Raylene. I appreciate Bido see you again. So tell us, tell me a little bit about the history or tell our audience a little bit of the history of PPG paints because it's kind of changed a little bit because wasn't used to be Pittsburgh paints now it's PPG. That is correct. That is correct. And so we were founded 1883, if you can believe that. So we are about 140 something years old. We're based our headquarters is in Pennsylvania. If you Google it, it's in Cranberry Township. Building looks like a castle. So I don't know if anybody's ever seen it. It's one of the largest size scraper that looks over Pine Stadium in Pittsburgh. So you should check it out if you get a chance. Absolutely. Wow. It's probably a historic landmark as well. I would think so. Yeah, it's a pretty, pretty very large building, but it's a very gorgeous building. So recently, when I was doing some painting around my property, I noticed that there's a movement away from oil based paints. And Hawaii has such a diverse climate. You have the wet side of the island and then you have the dry side of the island. And I was really trying to get move more toward oil based because if it's a little bit more sturdy, you know, and durable, but I'm like disappointed we're like, we don't sell those anymore. We're moving away. So tell us how, why the due to EPA, the government is moving away from some of those oil based and what are they replacing it with that would have some kind of equal, you know, equal quality as an oil based. Sure. So you're right on and PPG just so you know, several years now, we're going more towards a water based paint now. People automatically assume a water based paint, but we're doing that. And we've been probably the leader of all painting manufacturers moving that way for the environment. And our goal is just to be, you know, really everything's going to be water based. But what's interesting about that is is our technology and our chemists have developed to make it to where you won't know the difference that far as the look, the colors, the gloss, everything will stay the same. So the technology, obviously I can't get into the specifics of the technology, but it's for it's been PPG has been leading the way on that. And I think it's by 2030 or 2023, we will be completely water based products. And that includes our traffic division, our motive. So once we get into the slide, they'll go through it and you could see exactly where we're headed. And it's for the better. Okay, that's good. So let's bring up, if we can bring up slide number four. So it talks about the different coatings that is used depending on your application that's being used for, right? Because I think you guys do airplane paint too. That's correct. Yes. So yeah, we do. And I'll give you a little brief history about that. So we're in the aerospace cars, military, but the one that really I think people associate us with is, you know, architectural coatings, which is what falls into the condos, but a neat story about our airplane. So we supply about 90% of all the paint for all the cars manufactured in the world is us, and as well as the airplanes. So the challenge was when everybody knows Southwest Airlines, I'm going to go ahead and use it. If you notice their plane, it's got a dark blue, purple top on it. So what happened was they approached us with it. They wanted a paint that was going to be different, but didn't want it to be white because that the heat, you know, obviously the heat plays a lot of roles. As you know, airplanes, their air conditioning systems not the same like we have here down in the lower 48 or even in hotels and stuff. So our chemists went to work. And what they used was a eggplant. Everybody knows what an eggplant looks like. And that dark purple, what they found out, when you peel it back and you open up the eggplant, the inside of that is always cool. So the technology, the paint, they took that technology from the eggplant purple part of the eggplant and placed it on Southwest Airlines and the rest is history. So yeah, it's been pretty good. And I don't see my slides up and I don't mean to. So, okay, so let's move back to condos. So an interesting question is, so how can they put that same technology that they use for the airplane to condos to kind of protect the concrete of the building? That's a good, great question. So as you know, in Hawaii, it rains a lot of moisture, a lot of wind, right? And so the salt has something to do with it. So what it is, it's an alkyde that goes in the paint. So there's really three ingredients in paint. There's colorant, resin, and then a binder, what holds it all in. So what you have to look at is when they adjust the outfit and they put this paint in for each different environment. Let's take Hawaii, for example, you have salt that you're competing with. So even though we make paint for all around the manufacturer, all around the world, each one, our facilities are designated for that environment. So for the West Coast, we have California, Hawaii that have it, Florida, New York, and all that, those are manufactured on that side. But the point and thing is, it's the alkyde that goes in there and it's the resins that keep it. Because what happens is when you go to paint, whether it's fiber cement, whether whatever it is in Hawaii that you guys use, stucco, CMU block, whatever, the one thing is it has to be resistant to not only the air, the salt, but the whole environment. So those alkyds are what's really crucial in that. Oh, okay. So let's bring up slide number, slide number five, because that was what really brought my attention. One of the other things that brought my attention to PPG paints is what you can do, your offerings to property management companies, which would be the slide number, slide number five. No problem. So what we do here, really, and especially not just because me, it's everybody in PPG, we really do value our customers because they're very important to us. So we offer a lot of different services to the end user, whether that's a homeowner, whether it's commercial hotel, whatever it is. And one of the best things we do is specification writing. So we have a spec for your painters to follow. In other words, it is the blueprint or it is the directions for your painter to understand coding system, coding systems recommendation. They consult with PPG to find out what works best for your requirements. What's the substrate? Is it fiber cement? Is it a block wall? Is it just regular drywall? So what happens is we'll make sure that when we don't supply the painters, we manufacture the paint. So we'll work with the painters. And then we want to also address the color, the design and renderings on site. So if you happen to need a custom color that you're trying to achieve, we can go back and forth and digitally it is amazing the technology that we do today. We can take a hotel off a set of blueprints, a house off a set of blueprints, and our coloring team can give you not only the trim, the body, the door and show you virtually through your computer what it would look like. So that way you get a choice. Now everybody knows once you have a swatch this big and you go out to the actual job site, you know, there's some variation there. But it is probably the most accurate thing where it really helps the homeowner look at this and say, wow, okay, I don't like this color, can we change this around? And it happens that fast. The other thing is, is because we're the manufacturer, obviously, we can refer, we can make all kinds of referrals. We have what we deal with painters, right, who do residential, who do multi-family, who do commercial, who do government. So that's a big thing where we could say, okay, you're going to paint your condominium. Here's three, four different painting companies that you should, you know, reach out to and tell them you're interested in having them give you a bit. The other thing that we do, oh, go ahead. Oh, sorry. So with these painting companies, and you're taking like, like you're going out for bid for a paint, and you can suggest these different paint companies, or the board might have certain ones that they want to use because they've used them in the past, and it's been successful. Do you work with the board and the painting company to do the specs correctly? Absolutely. We can. Because that is a very great question, Rayleigh. And because not all surfaces are the same, let's be honest, you know, there's different things going on. How old's that building? What's been, how many layers of paint has been on there? So there's a way also, you know, what we will say is, is the way to get that surface prepped for the proper adhesion, for the proper, for the colors to really pop, you know? So we will write the spec cater to that. That's something that we do all the time. We do job walks. That's, you know, part of this architectural services that we do. And what that does is gives us the eyes, not only you guys is the homeowner, but we're the professionals. So we look at everything and we take notes and we might take a bunch of pictures, right? And then we'll, we'll, we'll work with the architect design team to say, okay, this is the challenges we have. So that way they can make sure that it is always prep prep prep prep is the key in all of this painting, no matter what you're painting. It's the prep and also, um, like, um, some of the building space west. So you get the afternoon sun, which is, which is a big heat. And I know some colors do not react well to that afternoon heat or even to the, the morning sun. It's nice and bright, you know, but it really does some, some havoc. And, um, and I know I've seen, I've seen some walls, you can tell they're getting ready to paint because you see different colors on the wall. They're trying to decide what kind of color. So I'm sure you guys have some input, even with the painting painters themselves, they have experience saying, well, you know, that color may not be good because, you know, in two years it's going to look like, like you get, you need to paint again, you know, because it's so faded, you know, so definitely. And that's a good point you bring up too, because light hits it at different angles, right? So there's UV protection that we want to make sure that we're capturing. We don't want to put a paint on there that's going to attract heat and make that room hotter than this one. Because you see that a lot and people don't realize that, but there is ways when we use, you know, that's getting back to prepping the surface, right? And then actually the right product, right? Because there's so many different products. You can go with a cheap paint and make it look good, right? But you do, the old saying is, you know, that's our name on there. We don't influence the painters, but we work with the painters to make sure they're doing it correctly because you get what you pay for, right? And you want, and some people will sell you, you know, not to say, you know, just saying they'll just say, here's a cheap bucket of paint, and you'll be painting that thing every two years, and you'll be miserable inside. We don't do that. So like when you're dealing with condos, because I saw one of your little condo books that you guys build, or the condominium, you guys have a copy and you give them a copy that has all their paint specs in there. So like with a townhouse where they have like Milliline town, they have certain colors that can be used. So if a board was in that same environment, like a townhouse where they can only use a select, you know, select number of paints or colors of paints, and you guys would create that binder for them to use. And would that be in every single store? Or something where, you know, they could go into any location and pull up the requirements? Yes. No, that's a very good question. So when we work with the board, like, you know, a homeowner association, whatever it is, the board, they'll say, well, we have to use these, you know, these sets of colors. So to the closest PPG store, we will have not only the homeowner get, you know, the, I'm sorry, the whole board will get that book. So then when it comes time to repaint, the homeowner can either call them and say, hey, I'm getting ready to repaint my condo. What condo unit are you in? Here's the products that were used. They can go to their local PPG store and it will be the exact same product, same colors, same dialot that it came from, from the paint, because what happens, people don't realize you could take a swatch today and go, and you can go to your local home store, right? And go in there. But the person who is actually mixing the paint or tinting that paint, he could have been in Lawn and Garden yesterday or whatever. So if these machines aren't calibrated right, there'll always be, you know, aversion, not to say even with us in a store, because everybody's hand is different, right? So someone's got a little bit of a heavier hand, but 99.9% of the time it's an exact match. And what we do, let's just say, God forbid that, you know, your child hit the ball up against there enough times or threw the bat against the wall and some of it came out. So rather than just do a touch-up, we always tell this the proper way to do it is you're going to do corner to corner, right? You don't want to just take a little square. You want to do from one corner to the other to fill that in. And most people don't realize. And then once that sets up, you'll never know anything was there because of the drying of capabilities that that has to do with the residents inside. Right. So I just want to stress to our audience and to our boards that it's really important to maintain that history of painting, the specs from the previous one so that when you get ready to paint for the next the next time that you know what you guys did the year before because the majority of the time the same people may not be on the board. So they got to start creating this Bible because I think it was last year was introduced to the legislature that it didn't go through, thank God, but that they were going to start doing building inspections. And they were going to, they had the, if the bill went through, they had the authority to go through all their repair orders, their repair records. So the board needs to, it might come back again. We don't know, we hope it doesn't, but you know it was going to create like a headache for all of us, you know, but, but still historically the board should still maintain some kind of record keeping of their maintenance of the building. They need to keep it on site. Absolutely. And if you bring up a great point, not to interrupt you, but really you saw the binder that we presented to you when I first met you. It's not something that's just thrown together in this little, it's protected. So what that does is it maintenance people change, right? Board members change. It's in a sleeve and it's the product, the product code, the product number and the color. So all they have to do is even if you take a picture with your phone or you make a copy of it, take it to the PPG store, it'll be the same thing that you have that we have in our store. It's very important because that is a very, very detail that we're very proud of, that we can make sure that this thing, now if you want to change it later on down the road, the board decides we'll do the same thing. So that's how it works. So let's go through some of the, the, okay. So the water, the water base, they're way from acolytes. So how durable is the water base? You wouldn't know the difference. If I put the water base done with the old, it's advanced formulas, right? They're waterborne. Now, one of the things is, you know, the acrylics, such as 100% acrylics with added rust inhibitors or there for the DTM's direct to metal, you have to understand that the, we have tested this, you wouldn't know the difference in the water base. And what that does, the only difference you would know, lower VOC so that smell that comes out, it's a lower odor. It's easier to clean up, but yet with all the resins and the colorant in there, it doesn't take away, you know, it doesn't take away the color or that luster of the paint. So our chemists are very good at what they done. And if the more we go with this water base, you will see it, you will never know, but it just gets better, better, better. And it's already at a peak, but we're talking for the very, very high end products of DURNR that go on the outside of buildings, commercial buildings, skyscrapers. How does it hold up to mildew? Very good. So with the mildew, it's very well mildew resistant. And what's nice about that is to, you know, even if you, let's say you, I won't even say mildew, let's say there was just a little piece of dirt that got stuck in stucco or cyber fiber cement, you could take one of those little brushes and you hit it with the hose, a little bit of soap and the brush and you watch, it'll take the dirt off, but the color will still stay there. And the same as mildew, it is, it is amazing what these paints can do nowadays. And I give all the credit to our chemists who are very, they work on this stuff all the time. And just to give you just a quick synopsis real fast, we all know when COVID hit, that was a very, very different times for a lot of us. So we have a product, we went to work right away. We partnered up with, excuse me, Corning. We came out with Copper Armor for five years. This paint with COVID, SARS, everything, five years will be guaranteed. We put them in hospitals. It's, it's really, it's, it's amazing. It's COVID, no, no, it's antimicrobial. So then in other words, the virus can't live on there. So even if you hit the gurney into the hospital and it hits that, you touch it up corner to corner. There's another five years that we guarantee you were the only company paint manufacturer that's got it from the FDA and the EPA on the only stamp that it's proved for. Well, that's really interesting because I remember certain metals are very antimicrobial. So And hence the name Copper? Yeah, Copper. And I think brass was the other one because I was teaching them when I go, no wonder it looks like, it looks a junkie almost like an hour after the box. I mean, it's nice and shiny in the box. But the minute you take it out, it all of a sudden now turns like it's like a hundred years old, you know. Right. Not here. And the good news is, as you bring up a very good point while I'm on that subject copper, that would be the only paint that I would say we would never do. There's a pure white because of the ingredients that's in there. You can never get a pure white. And it's that pure, pure white, but it'll never rust. It won't fade. It won't do anything that it's just not a pure white. Oh, that's interesting. And the other thing I found because I remember when I met you, I told you, I was like, you know, I was really trying to find reflective paint and you guys and I've looked, I looked, a lot of other paint stores couldn't find it. And I was kind of getting disappointed trying to figure out how I was going to do this one thing, you know, because I think reflective paint is is really, really important because, you know, some, some condos and with any project where you redo your asphalt, your parking lot, or it's nice and striped. And then if you're in a rainy area, there goes your striping. So now you got to restripe it again. And it's nice to use that reflective paint, especially on the tire stops, you know, and your little step ups and things like that. And I think you're one of the only ones, because I know some of the other paint companies didn't have it at all. And I think you're the only one that has it on the island. Absolutely. And we bought, and that's a testament a couple years back, we bought Enos Flint, who that's all they did was traffic paint. So we acquired Enos Flint. We used our technology, made it better. So you know, whether you're restriping it or it's, you know, brand new construction, this paint dries like that. It's the ingredients that are in there. It's reflective. Not only is it the striping, but we do, we do it for the fire, you know, where the fire curb is. So where the fire trucks park, all that red. So that's got to last because you can imagine the traffic people hit it side like this. And so you're right, we are and we're very proud of that. But we offer that too as a thing. We can do the restriping and we can recommend restriping companies on the island. Good. And then because we have like about five more minutes, but one of the other things I wanted to point out is your, because you have three, have they kind of caught the good, better, best, right? Right. So in working with condos, you kind of kind of like help them to understand the good, better, best, you know, kind of like what you get, what you pay for. But, you know, also that goes ahead and had where as to where it's going to get applied to. Exactly. Right. That's what's important. And that's why when we come out, when we deal with the specifiers and we specify, we'll always specify three different, you know, good, better, best, we will do samples. And what we call them is drawdowns. We will actually bring you out a sample of each product and in each color. It's on an eight by 10. What happens is it gets made and it cures and then it comes in a folder and then we go and we sit down with the board along with myself or whoever the sales person is. And what happens is, so that way you could see here's what good looks like, better, best. This is what we recommend. However, because everybody thinks, you know, oh, well, you're always going to push this. You will find that really. And I think you know me long enough to know if the good one is just is what is going to do what you guys are looking for. That's what we're going to tell you. You could go and spend more money. Why though, if we know, because based on your substrate, what your surface is, that this one will do fine and it'll last just as long as the other two. Right. Because you could be, I would imagine you would use your higher quality to the area that gets all the wind and rain. Where's the other side of the building really doesn't get that element. You know, it's same like fencing. Some of the fences get get beat up faster than the other parts of the building. So you could kind of save some money there with the different qualities of paint that have the same lasting effect. Absolutely. You want to put the money where you want to put the money to the most important part, right? So the, the, like you say, the sun, the side that gets the sun, we want to use this. Now, can you get away with this? Absolutely. But the benefit would be this, all your railings, your iron, we want to go with that DTM and we will explain how if we're repainting it, let's just say we're repainting it, what they have to do to bring that surface to back. So when we paint it, we know for five years, okay, this is going to last for five years. We'll tell them the equipment to you, whether they're going to spray it or use a weaning roller, right? Roller or spray. But we will make sure, you know, and that, again, we don't control the painters. We work with the painters, right? Because we're the manufacturer. So we go hand in hand. And I think that's a big plus in a lot of this because a lot of time people go for the cheaper. And then they look at it and they're like, that doesn't, doesn't look good, right? You've got corners that were missed, cocks, maybe, maybe cracks that weren't cocked. So we go through all the little steps that you can imagine and to make your, that's your property. That's your enjoyment. You know what I mean? And we want to repeat business. Even if it is five years from now, we want you to just then say, hey, PBG did this, they brought their painters here, whatever they worked with ABC painting. But we use this product, this product, this product. Here's our binder. You guys should really give us a try. And I tell you, my, I always say this and people, when you get to know me, they know my line to all my customers is this, nobody's going to be able to service you like I will. And I stand behind it because I take pride in it. It's not a sales thing. I enjoy what I do. And I think you can see now I have a time because I use my hands, but it's really neat because you are seeing, it's like, you know, here's a building. Oh my God, look, it needs painted. And then to see the joy that it brings people. And it's a visual effect, right? Everybody's like, wow. And that's what we love to do. The other point I want to think that I will want to comment too is, is you brought up a thing like when we're talking about, you know, one side of the building would be this kind of paint. And, and you put into there how long it should last, which helps the board in their budgeting. You know, rather than painting, spending like this huge amount of money at one time to paint the building, they could break it up and it might help with the budgeting and the reserves and kind of like stretch it out a little bit more, you know, make it a little bit easier on our monthly maintenance fees. And I think that's really important, you know, rather than spending one big hole chunk, you know, you can kind of spread out a little bit more that might help. And you, you could break it up to your point. And I know we're out of time, but to your point, you know, we could break it up in stages too, right? We can take, you know, if there's four buildings on site, I'm just assuming or if it's one large building, we could do this side, then everything will match. You know, we're there to do this where other people will sell you everything and then say the wrong product. We take pride not to say anybody else doesn't, but I'm only speaking for myself. We take pride in what we do because that's our name on it. We haven't been around for 140 plus years doing things wrong. We do it right. And the other thing I really appreciated was, it is really the quality of work. And like you said, your people take pride because I noticed that when they were looking for the lead-based paint kit and I had already bought the last one. So I needed it for a project. She's like, you're the one who bought the last one you had, you know, but, but your, your, your PPG representatives are cognizant enough when they're going to a job site. They know they have to have that lead-based paint kit with them to test for that. You know, and because that's really important because that's a, that's a big EPA thing on that lead-based paint. So to me, that shows the quality and the attention to detail that, that's going to protect everybody and the association on all that kind of stuff. So I really appreciate that. And we appreciate you. And, you know, that's all we need is just the opportunity to let us show you what we can do. And I think it's a whole different way that you will look at the painting industry once you allow us into your world and we, we enjoy it. We do it every day. Okay. So we're out of time. We're a little bit over, but, but Vito, I really thank you. I really, really thank you. And I'm so glad I ran into you guys. Me too. And this has been a learning experience. I learned a few things from you, from you today, especially, you know, the best, the good, you know, and then the okay is really what it is. You know, it's okay paint, but you really, when you're talking about big projects, you really want to understand those different grades of paint. So you're not repeating it more often than you should have to, because ultimately that's going to cost you more money over the long run. Right. And that's it. And I will leave you with this really real fast. You hit the nail on the head. Preparation is the key no matter what you do. So that's where you really, you could put the best paint on something. If it's not prep right, it's going to look like garbage and you're not going to be happy. Yeah, you're going to have peeling pain in the few years. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for doing this for me. And I hope to see you soon. And everybody, I hope to have you have enjoyed the holidays and be safe. It's gotten, the world's gotten a little crazy out there, but everybody be safe and be careful. And thank you. We'll see you on another edition of Condo Insider. Thank you.