Our Trades
Choose your path to join Wisconsin and Michigan’s most powerful voice in the finishing trades.
Commercial Painting
Paint and wall coverings make surfaces clean, attractive, and bright. In addition, paints and other coatings protect outside walls from wear caused by exposure to the weather.
Core Responsibilities
Painters apply paints, stains, varnish, and other finishes to buildings and other structures. They prepare surfaces through stripping, sanding, burning, or blasting, wash walls and trim, fill nail holes, and repair cracks.
Specializations
Paperhangers cover walls and ceilings with decorative wall coverings made of vinyl, paper, and fabrics. They measure areas, examine patterns, apply adhesives, and ensure tight, closed seams.
Drywall Finishing
Drywall consists of a thin layer of gypsum between two layers of heavy paper. It is used today for walls and ceilings in most buildings, because it is comparatively cheap and fast to install.
Installation Process
Installers fasten drywall panels to framework, measuring and cutting pieces around doors, windows, and mechanical penetrations. Standard panels are usually 4 feet by 8 or 12 feet.
Finishing Techniques
Finishers embed paper tape and coat joints with compound using specialty knives. They apply multiple coats, sand smooth, and may use automatic taping tools on commercial projects.
Glazing
Glass serves many uses in modern buildings. Insulated and specialty treated glass keeps in warm or cool air and provides good condensation and sound qualities.
Core Services
Glaziers select, cut, install, replace, and remove all types of glass. They work on residential windows, commercial storefronts, and large building curtain walls.
Installation Methods
Glass is typically precut and mounted in frames, then positioned and secured with mastic, putty, bolts, or gaskets. May use cranes for large, heavy pieces.
Sign & Display
Sign and display professionals combine artistic and technical skills to create visual communication elements ranging from traditional signage to complex display installations.
Services
Design, fabricate, construct, paint and install interior and exterior signage including window lettering, vehicle graphics, plastic and neon signs, and trade show displays.
Applications
Retail environments, corporate facilities, exhibition spaces, outdoor advertising, and digital signage integration across diverse industries.
Industrial Coating
Industrial painters specialize in applying protective coatings or decorative finishes to machinery, equipment, infrastructure, buildings, and other industrial structures.
Surface Preparation
Remove coatings and rust through abrasive blasting, water jetting, or grinding. Wear protective equipment including blast hoods during preparation process.
Application & Safety
Use spray pumps, electrostatic equipment, and brushes. Follow strict safety protocols in industrial environments with chemicals, dust, and confined spaces.