Learn how Don O’Connor utilizes BBSI’s services to eliminate inefficiencies and boost profit.
Don O’Connor, Owner and Chief Administrator of O’Connor Painting, leans on BBSI to facilitate employee management and provide invaluable business coaching. With BBSI, O’Connor Painting has:
O'Connor Painting is a family-owned and operated painting business based in Meridian, Idaho. Don O’Connor has led O'Connor Painting LLC for more than 20 years and in the painting industry for over 40. He has carried the business through major economic and geographical shifts, pivoting to capitalize on the growth of the industry. Don is primarily involved in company management, but isn't afraid to get his hands dirty (literally) to help out the crew.
They regularly fulfill extensive year-long projects that keep the crew busy every day. But keeping pace with such a wide range of client requirements and demands is no easy feat. Overseeing all the different compliance and payroll requirements quickly became exhausting, even for an experienced professional like Don.
Don's #1 priority is bringing the best service and craftsmanship to their client’s painting experience. But with substantial delays and negligence from his previously contracted payroll and staff management companies, keeping fluid in the business became incredibly stressful.
Before partnering with BBSI, Don had to go out of his way to manage all the little oversights while simultaneously maintaining a high quality of work in each project. He had no choice but to juggle both back-end administrative and on-site day-to-day tasks to keep the business moving.
Don utilized several leasing companies, but often experienced administrative negligence that left him with misfiled paperwork and long payment lead times. He often had to wait 90-120 days before the filing process could be completed and the payment fulfilled. With labor and material costs adding up, Don had to borrow money to meet fundamental business needs. Correcting errors and neglect took vital time away from focusing on growth and long-term business planning.
Having unmotivated and unreliable workers on the job put a lot of pressure on Don’s routine business operations. It forced Don to do hands-on work and supervise on-site, instead of focusing on securing new projects and running the business smoothly. While he wanted to increase employee engagement and encourage his crew’s professional growth, having C- and D-grade players took a toll on Don, the business, and the rest of his team.
Another primary concern of Don’s was his crew’s safety. Over time, workers can begin to neglect OSHA-mandated safety protocols. Without a dedicated safety professional on-site, it was hard for Don to ensure his employees’ safety. Keeping track of and fulfilling all the certification and training requirements also proved challenging.
Don was first referred to BBSI in 2018 through a trusted client of his after speaking to them about his frustration with his then-payroll company. He immediately connected with BBSI and remembered thinking, “Why didn’t I find these guys a long time ago?” Within 30 days of coming onboard with BBSI, Don’s BBSI Business Unit team was able to quickly correct the pressing issues with his government filing and certified payroll, and get him paid the significant amount of money he’d been waiting for.
After addressing the payroll issues, Don worked closely with the BBSI team to analyze the core pillars of his business and identify opportunity areas to drive additional value for his business.
Don had a lot of experience working with and vetting payroll companies from his years in business, so he knew what he was looking for in a new company. BBSI delivered exactly what he was looking for and more. After choosing to partner with BBSI, payroll slowly became a fringe benefit rather than the focus.
“Payroll is like a perfect child. There’s never a problem,” Don explains. “The kid you’re always talking about is the noisy, troubled kid. But payroll has been quiet, always solving problems, just doing its job every week and month and year.”
After partnering with BBSI, Don was able to fulfill his goal of improving on-site safety, getting his crew more certifications, and ensuring the company’s compliance with OSHA standards. BBSI ensures that each worker is adequately certified and that a dedicated safety professional oversees the job. With BBSI's help, Don has implemented a proactive safety strategy and maintained a nearly flawless track record in the past year.
“I don't want to run by the seat of my pants out there. I want my crew to go home to their families and feel good about their day, and that it was safe for them,” shares Don. “We've had a really good track record in the last year, and I think a lot of that has to do with acknowledging safety every day and having BBSI come out to make sure everything is right and tight for us.”
With BBSI’s guidance, Don could address the errors and issues he knew were holding the business back but couldn't control. For example, myBBSI, BBSI’s proprietary payroll system, requires employees to clock in and clock out on the job site every day, eliminating any opportunity for misuse.
“When the system first came, we had people clocking in at their house, so we were able to catch them,” explains Don. “‘Wait a minute, you're at your house in Napa, and the job’s in Boise. When did you actually start working?’ It solved some problems we knew were going on, but we couldn't control. Now that we have a system in place, it protects us financially and on jobs.”
One of Don’s favorite parts of partnering with BBSI is the access to leadership coaching and networking opportunities with other business owners. It’s not only helped him become a better business owner and boss, but also grow his own network to swap insight with and relate to.
“BBSI has these roundtable discussions with business owners in different areas,” says Don. “Sometimes you think you're alone and the only one struggling with this problem, but you find out everybody's dealing with the same thing. There's great comfort in that.”
What started as a mission to solve his payroll problems transformed into a partnership that changed the game for Don.
From advanced payroll management, to crew certifications, to leadership coaching, Don has watched his business grow under the guidance of his BBSI Business Unit team. With more freedom and time to focus on business planning, Don has been able to take off his whites and plan for the long-term success of O’Connor Painting, which he hopes to pass on to his sons.
“They helped me identify the issues I was seeing and explained that you have to make hard decisions to make your business more fruitful,” says Don.
Don’s currently working with BBSI to set up a framework to offer more comprehensive employee training and education opportunities for his crew. He wants to get his employees involved in a holistic program that improves both professional and interpersonal skills. He believes helping his employees learn the tools of the trade, and the techniques to resolve interpersonal conflicts and work together will build on the progress the company has already made.
To any business owners considering BBSI, Don urges them to consider whether they really have time to do the payroll, government filings, and everything else BBSI could facilitate for them.
"We're on the job with a lot of different trade people and a lot of them are one-man bands — they do everything themselves," says Don. “You don’t know what you don’t know about business. They're figuring it out as they're growing, and there's so much to that. They don't realize a lot of that can be solved with one meeting. It's just that simple.”
To learn more about BBSI’s unique support structure and sophisticated payroll solutions, visit bbsi.com/services/payroll or contact your local branch for more information.