E38: From College Painter to Mile High Coatings: David Nanninga's 17-Year Journey

From college internship to building a thriving specialty coatings empire, David Nanninga entrepreneurial journey exemplifies resilience in the face of unexpected challenges. When sudden unemployment struck at 25, David transformed adversity into opportunity by establishing Mile High Coatings during the 2008 recession—a pivotal moment that would shape his future.

Started as a house painting operation, Mile High Coatings has evolved substantially over 17 years to encompass concrete staining, polishing, epoxy flooring, and garage cabinet systems. David tackles common industry misconceptions head-on, particularly regarding epoxy flooring durability. While many consumers associate epoxy with peeling and failure, he explains how these perceptions stem from inadequate DIY solutions rather than professional applications. His company's lifetime warranty on garage floors stands testament to their quality and craftsmanship.

The business serves everyone from homeowners seeking to enhance their "forever homes" to commercial property managers requiring industrial-grade solutions. After nearly two decades in operation, Mile High Coatings enjoys substantial repeat and referral business—perhaps the strongest endorsement of their work quality. What truly distinguishes David's operation is his personal commitment; unlike franchises, this is a ground-up business built on experience, dedication, and continuous improvement. Between managing three daughters' activities and finding time for skiing, mountain biking, and golf, David exemplifies the work-life juggling act familiar to many successful entrepreneurs. Discover how Mile High Coatings continues to raise standards in the specialty coatings industry by visiting their comprehensive website at https://milehighcoatings.com/.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a highlyskilled commercial and
residential painting andspecialty coatings company?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
David Nanenga, with Mile HighCoatings.
David, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's going great.
How are you Nick?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good, we're excited to learn all about your business
.
Tell us about your company.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Mile High Coatings was started by me in 2008, so 17
years and we started out as ahouse painting company and over
the years, have evolved.
We're doing a lot of concretecoatings, including concrete
staining and polishing epoxyflooring, garage floors, we do

(01:02):
patios and basements and in 2016, we started doing garage
cabinet storage and have addedand refined some of our
offerings since then, but that,I would suppose, with the bulk
of what we do and how did youget into the business so?

(01:26):
I started in the business whileI was in college.
I participated in one of thecollege painting sort of
programs.
Back then it was College WorksPainting.
Another competitor at that timewas college pro painters.
It's kind of aninternship-based program where

(01:50):
they teach you how to run asmall business.
It happened to be a paintingbusiness.
I had a lot of success doingthat.
I did that a couple years whileI was attending school at
Colorado State.
Then I graduated in 2006 andstarted Mile High Coatings in
2008.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
What are some myths or misconceptions in your
industry?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
I think probably I'll do a specific example.
When it comes to garage floorcoatings, there's a big
misconception with people thatepoxy floors don't last and that
they peel up from hot tires andall this stuff, and that they

(02:40):
peel up from hot tires and allthis stuff.
But really what happens is theDIY kits that you can find at
the big box stores really don'tlast very long and mostly it's a
function of the prep involved,and so they get a bad rep
because people assume thatthey're just going to fail.

(03:00):
You know, they lump in aprofessional project along with
a DIY project and think that,you know, think that ours are
going to fail.
But you know, we do a lifetimewarranty on our garage doors and
some of our, some of our otherapplications and they're really
durable and they last a longtime.

(03:21):
So that's probably a specificmisconception, I would say that
we deal with from time to time.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Who are your target customers and how do you attract
them now?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
So really we have a pretty wide customer base.
So really we have a pretty widecustomer base.
Obviously, homeowners Typicallywe find the homeowners that are
on their second or maybe theirthird home, or maybe their

(03:53):
forever home and they're reallywanting to spruce it up, but
then it could even be reallyanyone, even you know property
owners, you know with the houseplanning side of things, and
then certainly business owners,facilities managers, when it
comes to the commercial andindustrial side of things, we
work with a lot of contractorsas well, and so really our

(04:17):
customer base is pretty wide andthen, as far as reaching those
customers, over the years I'vedone a lot of different things,
from bus benches and ads in thenewspaper and in different

(04:37):
mailers and everything, andwe've kind of refined it, kind
of built it down to some onlinesearch and then the in-home
home-improvement magazines thatpeople that homeowners will
receive once or twice a month,and then, of course, repeat and
referral business is a huge partof our business.

(05:01):
We've been in business longenough that we have a good
customer base, that people movea lot and when they move to
their next house they'll call usto do their floor or paint
their interior or they need somesort of work done.
So we get a lot of that as well.
To the next house, they call usto do their floor or paint
their interior, or they needsome sort of work done, so.

(05:23):
So we get a lot of that as well,outside of work, what do you do
for fun?
So I'm pretty busy between, uh,having three girls and in a
business, it's never a dullmoment in our house.
In the winters we have the IconPass, so we do a lot of skiing
most weekends in the winter,when we can, and then in the

(05:48):
summers, for me it's mountainbiking and golfing are probably
my two main go-to activities,and then I enjoy working out on
my exercises as well.
But, uh, you know we have somany activities going on that
it's it's just so busy withhaving three girls.
Um, my oldest is a freshman inhigh school I just finished her

(06:11):
freshman year and my youngest isin second grade and and so you
know they're involved in sportstoo.
So it's pretty mild right now.
It kind of feels like we're inpeak activity all the time.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Let's switch gears.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you
overcame, how it made youstronger?
What comes to mind?
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, probably the one thing that I think of, and
it was completely unrelated tothe painting industry.
That company sold in 2008 andthey transitioned everything,

(07:16):
reestablished their headquartersout east, and so they basically
just shut down, completely,ceased operations in Fort
Collins pretty, pretty suddenlyand swiftly.
So it was a pretty hugesurprise.
You know, being being 25 yearsold and, and, and all of a
sudden, you know, you know, oneday, one day, you have a job,

(07:36):
you know, the next morning yougo in, and, and you get a
pathetic two-week severancepackage.
And I was 25 years old, justfresh out of college, or maybe I
was 24.
And, yeah, just trying to makethings work, and so, so I

(08:01):
literally, just within a coupleof days, printed up some flyers
and some business cards and juststarted knocking on doors,
pounding the pavement, uh, herein fort collins, trying to drum
up some business, because Ithought, well, I can, you know,
I, I can always start my ownbusiness, so we'll, you know see
how it goes and so 17 yearslater, here we are, so it worked

(08:25):
out in the long run.
But that was uh, it wasinteresting there for a couple
of years uh doing, you know,trying to grow a business in the
midst of a recession david,please tell our listeners one
thing they should remember aboutMile High Coatings I think

(08:47):
probably the main thing would bethat I am the owner and I
started this business from theground up.
It's my business.
I'm not a franchise Not thatthat's a bad thing but I didn't

(09:09):
take the easy road, that's forsure.
Since I started, and you know,I plan on continuing to own and
operate my business for years tocome.
I've still got a relativelyyoung family that I need to, you
know, support, and so I don'thave any plans to, you know, to

(09:34):
shut down, to quit, to sell oranything like that.
So I mean, I really enjoy whatI do and it's always a fun
challenge, and I'd like to thinkthat you know a lot of the
mistakes that I've made I'velearned from and we've grown and
gotten better, and so you knowthat's what kind of keeps me

(09:57):
going too.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
How can our listeners learn more about Mile High
Coatings?

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Our website, milehighcoatingscom, is a great
way to learn about all thethings that we offer.
It's, you know, it's got apretty comprehensive suite of
information between the floors,the painting and then the
cabinets that we offer, sothat's probably the best way.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Well, David, I really appreciate you being on our
show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
I appreciate it.
Thank you for the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tognpfortcollinscom.
That's gnpfortcollinscom, orcall 970-438-0825.