 Soep Painting painted these three-million gallon disgester tanks, a $30 million job over ten years. |
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Soep Painting Corp.
Malden, Mass.
The bigger the challenge, the better they like it
by Susan Brimo-Cox
For Soep Painting, safety on the job is first and foremost. The company's award-winning safety effort takes a zero-tolerance stance. By providing training and safe working environments, Soep works hard to create a safety-conscious workforce. In fact, as the Soeps explain, Howard Soep's focus on safety has affected the entire region in a very positive way.
“About seven years ago we were rewriting our safety program and I was casually talking with the head of the union about it,” says Howard Soep. “What developed was a union-management-type program that includes all union contractors in the region.”
 Another project: The Boston Engine Terminal. |
The PIPS (Painting Industry Partnership for Safety) program rewards employees who have a perfect safety record for 2,000 hours by entering them into a drawing to win significant prizes, like trucks, televisions and gift certificates.
Matt Soep says, “It's a huge event that everyone goes to. Everyone wins! The employees win for being safe and we win because they are.” Now, other groups around the country are interested in implementing the program in their areas.
Maintaining safety does have a price tag, but as Howard Soep observes, “Keeping claims down is a real benefit to business.”
Not only does Soep Painting welcome challenges, it thrives on them.
“Our customers are very demanding, but we've built a reputation as a company to tackle difficult schedules. We've never missed a schedule,” Matt Soep says.
Beginning in August 2001, Soep Painting tackled the 68,000-seat Gillette Stadium project „ the new home of the New England Patriots. It was a $3.5 million job for the firm, requiring some 25,000 gallons of paint. “We coated drywall, CMU, structural steel, sealed concrete floors,” Matt Soep recalls. “We had 70 people on project because of the fast-track schedule.” Painting wrapped up just before the start of the 2002 football season. Interestingly, Soep Painting was also the painting contractor when the Patriots' original Foxboro Stadium was built 30 years earlier.
| Painting the underside of the stands at the New England Patriot's Gillette Stadium. |
In the late 1990s, there was the Boston Park Plaza Hotel room renovation project. A massive commercial project with unbelievable turnaround requirements, it proved Soep Painting could meet demanding schedules. The 960-room project spanned 10 floors. “We had to scrape, patch, fix molding and paint; and they wanted a floor completed every two weeks. We made it happen with around 30 of our best guys on the job,” says Howard Soep.
The Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Facility project kept Soep Painting on the job for 10 years. As Matt Soep describes, “The significance is the massive size of the job. ... The project was so large it helped shape who we are as a major industrial contractor.” It included blasting and painting more than a dozen 3-million gallon, egg-shape digester tanks. Throughout the project's life, it has earned Soep Painting some $30 million.
While neither Howard nor Matt Soep sees any major new trends in the industrial-commercial side of the painting trade, both agree that as a business they have to welcome challenges and continually try new things.
“My grandfather always says, 'There's a better way to do whatever,'” Matt Soep says. “We're constantly bettering ourselves to do the job better.”
 Left to right: Matt, Howard
and Benjamin Soep. |
The company also credits its success to its unique history as a family-owned business, something that is rare for businesses of this size. “I'm the third generation in the company and I have a lot of pride in the company,” Matt Soep says.
That pride contributes to a positive mindset. “If you want to be successful in the business, you have to be as enthusiastic Monday morning as you are on Friday night —you have to be passionate,” he adds.
Howard Soep says it's important that that feeling be contagious. “If we're enthusiastic, it will rub off on our employees. Attitudes make a huge difference in a company.” It apparently works very well for Soep Painting.
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