EP #261: From South Africa to DFW: How Damien De Klerk Built a Painting Legacy

What makes Damien De Klerk with PRO Painting LLC a good neighbor?

Ever wonder what separates a true professional painter from someone who just slaps paint on walls? Damien De Klerk's remarkable journey from South African rugby player to founding Dallas's most trusted painting company reveals exactly that distinction.

Damien shares how his rugby career unexpectedly led him to painting celebrity homes in Aspen before establishing PRO Painting LLC in Dallas back in 2003. With refreshing candor, he dispels common myths about the painting industry, explaining why proper preparation, product knowledge, and meticulous attention to detail make all the difference between amateur and professional results.

What truly distinguishes PRO Painting isn't just technical expertise but their philosophy of partnership. "We're not a painting company that you hire and hope they do a great job," Damien explains. "We're on the same team." This approach has made them particularly valued by designers, contractors and realtors—clients who might send other painters running. While most companies avoid "picky people," PRO Painting embraces them, confident in their work quality and communication process.

The conversation reveals how resilience shapes successful businesses. Drawing from his rugby background, Damien lives by the motto: "When life tackles you hard, get up and tackle life twice as hard." This mentality has helped PRO Painting overcome inevitable challenges with what he calls "stupid resilience"—an unwavering commitment to making things right, no matter what.

Whether you're seeking a quality painter, running your own business, or simply appreciate stories of immigrant success, this episode offers valuable insights into building customer trust through transparency, communication, and genuine pride in workmanship. Discover why PRO Painting has earned their reputation as Dallas's go-to painting professionals for over two decades.

Ready to see the PRO Painting difference for yourself? Visit dfwpropainting.com or call 972-974-8003 to turn your painting project into a partnership.

To learn more about PRO Painting LLC go to:

https://dfwpropainting.com/

PRO Painting LLC

214-952-7809

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a trustedDFW painter?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
damien DeClercq with ProPainting LLC.
Damien, how are you today?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm great, Sophia.
Thank you for having me on theshow.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Of course, damien, and it's a pleasure.
We're so excited to learn allabout you and your business, Can
you?

Speaker 3 (00:43):
start by telling our listeners a little bit about
your company.
Yes, so we've been in theDallas area for about 22 years,
since 2003,.
I used to be the painter, theguy out there rolling the walls
and painting, doing the physicalpainting, and we do residential
and commercial paintings.
So with that experience I'vebrought into the company, into

(01:07):
growing a business that helpsequip some of Dallas's top crews
painting crews and we're takingthat level up to the next level
, which is really just beingtrusted that we could deliver

(01:34):
what we say we're going todeliver.
So in the residential andcommercial industry we're often
known as Dallas' top painterthat works with designers,
contractors and realtors as wellas wonderful homeowners.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
So, Damien, getting into your story a bit more, tell
our listeners how you got intothis business originally.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, I came from South Africa back in 2001.
Came here to play rugby in theSuper League.
So I played rugby in the SuperLeague for about eight years and
in doing so, unfortunately wedidn't make enough money with
rugby here in America becauseit's not NFL football.

(02:21):
But so some of us guys we allgot together and worked with a
wonderful painting companystarted painting up in Aspen,
colorado, where our rugby teamwas.
We painted a lot of moviestars' houses and all that up
there.
So from there I met my wife inthe Dallas area while we were

(02:44):
playing rugby here.
And one thing leads to the nextthe American dream Got the
beautiful wife in Dallas and twokids and playing rugby and
growing a business at the sametime.
So once everyone here in Dallasrealized I could do a little
bit of painting myself and I washighly have a high attention to

(03:09):
detail when it comes to workingI quickly became a popular
amongst the designers andrealtors and contractors in
Dallas.
My network is huge with themover the past 20 years and we
still do a lot of businesstogether.
A lot of business together.
A lot of us and some of my bestclients are people we've been
doing business together for 15years, 20 years wow.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
So, damien, it really sounds like rugby really led
you to your full happy happilyever after huh yes, absolutely,
absolutely.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Rugby is a good avenue and a good bunch of
people and it doesn't matterwhere you are in the world.
Rugby is a family.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
So, damien, what is the most common myth or
misconception in your industry?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
the prep work and the details and the communication
and the knowledge of the productthat you're applying and making
sure you're applied in thecorrect process, that you would
understand that painting is alot more difficult than just
going down the home depot andjust like slapping some paint on
the wall.
Now, good on you if you do ityourself, that's fine.
But you know, diy job and aprofessional job are two

(04:38):
completely different things.
The next thing is that, likepainting is cheap, it's not a
cheap process.
When you take the correct prepwork, like I mentioned before, a
highly skilled crew and acompany that delivers great
communication and projectmanagement, then you have the

(04:59):
perfect mix of a company that'sreally going to take care of its
customer.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
on that next level, yes, and I can advocate for you
as well.
Trying to paint your homeyourself is not a good idea.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Right, hey, it's a good idea.
If you try, hey get on you ifyou try, so at least you tried.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Right.
And so, damien, you got intowho your target clients are.
So, in terms of marketing, howdo you typically attract them?

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, we are.
We do a lot of networking, soreferrals are huge and, as you
know, your referral goes only asfar as your next good job, you
know.
So if we deliver a poor job,that referral stops right there.
So I don't like to say we'reperfect.
We're far from perfect, but andbut we'd like to say we're

(05:56):
perfect.
We're far from perfect, but welike to say we have a perfect
process in the way we do things.
So when we're out there lookingfor our customers, they want
somebody that they know is goingto take care of them, that they
can be assured that we didn'tjust walk into a house and say
that this job is worth $10,000without giving you a detailed

(06:18):
itemized estimate on why itshould be that price.
So a lot of other companiesmight come in and say, like you
know, give you a number high ora number low, or should I say
you might get an estimate thatthe number's high and number's
low and you don't know where togo because you're just like,
well, I think I'm just going topick the nicest guy for the job

(06:39):
or you're just going to go thecheapest because you don't want
to spend that extra two, threegrand.
But in the long run that couldcost you a lot more money.
Um, so networking is is hugefor us.
We love working with designersand if you ever ask a painter,
do you love working withdesigners?
A lot of them would say, oh, no, no, please, I don't want to

(06:59):
deal with those picky people.
Well, we love the picky peoplebecause we know we know nothing
to hide in the work that we do.
They love the work that we dowork with some of Dallas's top
designers and designing groupsas well.
General contractors love us aswell, because they're sick of
those painters or companies thatjust come in and they do a bit

(07:24):
of a shoddy work and they leaveand they never come back and do
the touch-ups.
Well, our contractors and ourdesigners love that we schedule
that touch-up day that's goingto make sure that we come back
and pay attention to thesmallest little detail possible
too.
And realtors love us.
Realtors hate referring paintersand contractors because they

(07:45):
are uh, you know they do a greatjob one day and the next day
they make a mess and they leavetheir client dry, you know, and
it gives them a bad rap.
But because of our process frombeginning to end, they can be
rest assured that they lovereferring us to other customers,
you know.
And then we love the homer thatjust gives us a call on the

(08:06):
phone.
You know like, hey, I saw yourpage and you guys do painted
brick and you do great cabinets,or you know.
Or you're number one onThumbtack, so we're also around
on some of the other third youknow lead generating partners

(08:26):
out there.
So we've been number one onThumbtack for the last five
years out there, so we've beennumber one on Thumbtack for the
last five years.
Getting customers is all aboutjust creating a good
relationship with everyone thatwe have for the long term,
everyone we work with.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
I agree with you 100% .
So, damian, let's go ahead andswitch gears and talk a little
bit more about your personaljourney.
Can you describe a hardship orlife challenge you overcame and
it made you a better andstronger business owner today?
What comes to mind for you?

Speaker 3 (09:03):
So we have in rugby.
We have a saying and I've takenthis throughout my life, and
when life tackles you, when youget tackled in rugby really hard
, you get up and you tackle lifetwice as hard.
There's been a few projectsthat we've worked on where we've
just dropped the ball and we'vejust like.
For some reason.

(09:23):
We hate to make excuses,whether it was the product that
let us down, or my painter justhad a bad day, know, or we get
hit with covid and we need tofigure out how to do business
together and how to be workingwith other.
You know, within thecircumstances that we're in, our

(09:44):
communication is key witheverything and equipping our
crews with the right knowledgeto be successful, learning every
day from others in the industry.
We learn from contractors andother painters and I learn from
our painters and we're on thejob, hands-on, trying to learn

(10:05):
and grow together.
Like I said, we're not perfect.
We like to think we have aperfect process.
Like I said, we're not perfect,we like to think we have a
perfect process.
So when the job hits us one dayand we hit that bad job where
we just dropped the ball, we'reon a project right now that we
just like the product, let usdown or whatever it was.
We're back there two weekslater and we're going to knock

(10:27):
it out of the park and I'mlooking forward to seeing a
smile on their customer's faceat the end of the day.
And that's what really ticklesme is when I get to see them
just look at it and be like, wow, I'm not only just proud of the
money that I spent, but I'mproud of my home.
The resilience is what we have.
We're stupidly resilient tojust make sure it's done.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Resilience is a fantastic quality and every
business owner should have that.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
So, Damien, please tell our listeners the number
one thing you would like them toremember today about Pro
Painting LLC.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
The number one thing that I would like our listeners
to take away today is that we'reon the same team.
We're not a painting companythat you're just going to go and
hire and hope they're going todo a great job.
When you hire us, you hire ourwhole team From the beginning,
all our experience andeverything our project managers.
I have my son working in thebusiness as well.

(11:33):
He came straight out of highschool and he's given his heart
into this company because he'sseen what we've done in the
years, that he's grown up andhe's looking forward and he's
proud of that.
And so the takeaway is we're ateam and we want to be proud
together on how your projectlooks at the end of the day and

(11:55):
where can our listeners go tolearn more about pro painting
llc yeah, so we can be found on.
Our website is dfwpropaintingcom, and we also have a Facebook
and Instagram, and we can alsobe reached at our office phone

(12:15):
number.
Chantelle is ready to take yourcall at 972-974-8003.
And shoot us an email at infoat dfwpropaintingcom, and we'd
love to help any of you takecare of your problem and become
a team so we can do businesstogether for the rest of our

(12:38):
lives.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Well, Damien, I really appreciate you being on
the show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Thank you very much.
It's an honor to be here.
I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpfriscocom.
That's gnpfriscocom, or call469-221-9345.