PaintJet, a developer of robotics for painting, has unveiled its latest innovation for the industrial painting industry: the Bravo robotic painter and Alpha Shield paint, a “full stack solution” to paint commercial buildings “faster, more precisely and with more protection for worsening climate impacts”.
PaintJet says every warehouse and commercial building “must be painted for protection against the environment”. This would create a $250 billion industry which, the company says, is primed for opportunity.
However, due to an ongoing labor shortage, the US currently lacks “the 100,000 painters that are needed to complete these jobs”, claims PaintJet, and 41 percent of this workforce is expected to retire by 2031.
PaintJet says contractors are struggling to get painters to show up to ensure buildings can keep up with the changing environment, saying its robotics-powered solution will alleviate the labor shortage.
The foundation of PaintJet’s new offering is its proprietary Alpha Shield paint that helps protect buildings from routine corrosion and climate impacts like rain, wind and extreme heat.
To meet maintenance standards, commercial buildings need to be painted every 3-5 years, but the new Alpha Shield formula lasts “twice as long” to decrease the cost and frequency of repainting for building owners, according to PaintJet.
Alpha Shield paint is also insulating, protecting buildings from heat and keeping them cooler inside, helping PaintJet customers spend on average “9 percent less” on air conditioning costs.
“A first for the industry”, according to the company, PaintJet will also now offer a 5 to 10-year transferable warranty on the quality of Alpha Shield paint.
The Alpha Shield paint is applied by the Bravo which relieves the labor pinch by allowing a 2-3 person team to fulfill what was previously a 6-person painting job in half the time.
The Bravo is powered by PaintJet’s predictive analytics imaging, ensuring that the paint is not only applied faster, but more precisely, resulting in guaranteed higher quality that will require less maintenance over time.
Due to the more precise application process, the Bravo uses “25 percent less paint overall”, helping to drive down costs.
PaintJet says it is “a full-stack solution that gets the job done every single time, with no licensing or outsourcing required”. This is crucial for remote areas that are harder for painters to access.
By deploying consistent pricing across the country, building owners can count on spending 10 percent less in painting maintenance costs over time compared to traditional painting.
Nick Hegeman, CEO and co-founder of PaintJet, says: “The new standard for commercial painting is whether or not crews will even show up.
“The combination of the Bravo and Alpha Shield not only ensures that the hardest, most remote jobs will get done but that they’ll be done at a higher quality for less money and in a way that’s more mindful of our environment.
“We’re ready to bring innovation to an overlooked industry that’s ripe with potential and help protect our infrastructure from intensifying climate effects.”
PaintJet is based in Nashville, Tennessee and is backed by Dynamo Ventures, MetaProp, Pathbreaker Ventures, Builders VC, VSC Ventures, Expansion VC and LaunchTN.
The company’s technology is “already trusted” by customers including Prologi, Clayco, Layton Construction, Brinkmann Constructors and more to receive “high-quality painting that prevents projects from premature aging”, according to PaintJet.
