Literally paid to watch paint dry.”

So reads Kate Gaynor’s Twitter bio.

Indeed, when she takes Irish Country Living’s call on a Friday afternoon, she’s in the middle of painting her garden shed.

“I love it,” she laughs. “I think once you’re any way authentic about what you do, I think that comes through and sells it for you.”

Opened in February 2019, it has become a one-stop shop for everybody from the home DIY-er to the Instagram interiors influence. \ CJ Nash

Kate is managing director of The Paint Hub in Carlow; which has never been as busy since physically closing its doors in March due to COVID-19.

Opened in February 2019, it has become a one-stop shop for everybody from the home DIY-er to the Instagram interiors influencer, given its collection of bold and beautiful shades; “Denim”, for instance, has been their best-seller from day one.

However, the company’s history dates much further back, with strong links to Irish agriculture, explains Kate; who clearly has paint in the blood.

Agri roots

Her parents, Pat and Mary, actually met in a paint factory in Cork, where he was a chemist and she was working in the lab on quality control. Pat later went on the road as a sales rep and into management, but in 1995, established his own business in his native Carlow, Advanced Coatings, which went on to become the leading supplier of technical paint to Irish agricultural machinery manufacturers.

“Agricultural paint here in Ireland would be the most technical kind of sales because Ireland is renowned internationally for the quality of its farm machinery,” says Kate, who explains that quality assurance has been key to their success, given that many of these machines are out in all weather, especially when exported to foreign climes.

At The Paint Hub in Carlow, Kate Gaynor is determined that everything she sells does exactly what it says on the tin; and more. \ CJ Nash

“I suppose my dad had his chemistry background and having managed a lot of paint companies, he came into that with that quality focus.”

Not that it was ever the plan that she would follow in his footsteps.

“My dad always had that book, Don’t Leave It To The Kids, on his locker,” she laughs.

Taking charge

Kate herself had studied social science in college and completed a post-grad in business, but ended up in Advanced Coatings almost by accident after a sales rep left and her father needed somebody on the ground.

She later went to the UK to become the first woman to qualify as a Level II paint inspector with the British Institute of Corrosion; in fact, she is still one of the few females in the world certified in this regard.

She felt, however, that such expertise was essential to be taken seriously, “being very young and female” in what is still a male-dominated industry.

Kate is Managing Director of The Paint Hub in Carlow; which has never been as busy since physically closing its doors in March due to COVID-19. \ CJ Nash

“I was definitely challenged an awful lot more than any sales rep,” she says. “When I went on site, lads mightn’t take you seriously initially, but the second they asked me a question, you could see their eyes light up a little bit and think, ‘That young one knows her stuff!’”

Little wonder then that when Kate’s father did retire in 2011, she took over the business; at just 26.

“I must say at the time it was hard and I felt so much pressure because I could see what the family had put in to it,” she says, explaining that her dad stepped back completely, giving her “free rein”.

“But I was very grateful to have it completely and to steer it then in different directions and to grow it in my own way.”

Daring to diversify

In the early years, Kate continued to focus on the agricultural sector, investing in their own technical testing- with her brother Aaron coming on board in 2013 as technical manager so that they “didn’t have to rely on the word of any manufacturer”.

“If they released a new paint and they said it was tougher than before, we’d test that for 12 or six months before we’d introduce it to any of our customers,” she explains.

However, having saturated that market, Kate also recognised that there was a need to diversify.

“We were linked to the milk prices. If farmers had a bad year, we had a bad year. If the ploughing was a success, we had a successful year,” she says, explaining that her idea was to expand the customer base to include the “end user” ie not just the machinery manufacturer, but the farmer who bought the trailer, as well as home owners.

Kate explains that people are becoming much braver when it comes to decorating their homes now; painting not just their walls, but everything from PVC doors to tiles with specialised paints. \ CJ Nash

Having completed an MBA in Carlow IT by night, Kate had been thinking about the next move for a while, but it was actually stepping away completely from the business for a year that saw the idea for The Paint Hub really flourish; albeit in very challenging personal circumstances after Kate’s twins, Harry and Sarah, were born prematurely in 2017.

“They weren’t due till the May and they came in the February,” explains Kate, who spent the first few months practically living at the hospital in Dublin as the babies fought for their lives; thankfully today, they are thriving three-year-olds.

Being cut off from work, however, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Kate realised that she had built a strong team to keep the show on the road in her absence. This meant she could step away from the day-to-day operations to plan the next project: The Paint Hub.

“I wanted to bring good paint [to the market] and sell it honestly with the technical back up,” says Kate of her vision, which meant sourcing brands worldwide for everything from farmyards to baby nurseries, but also finding the best staff and investing serious time in training so that they knew the range inside out.

“So that when someone says, ‘I’ve got mould on my bathroom wall, what do I do with it?’ they know exactly what cleaner and exactly what product physically will not let mould grow on the surface of that product.”

Kate explains that people are becoming much braver when it comes to decorating their homes now; painting not just their walls, but everything from PVC doors to tiles with specialised paints.

“Some people hate their bathroom tiles, but they don’t have €10,000 to spend on tiles, so literally you’re spending less than €100; and you’ll absolutely transform that room,” she says.

Adapting to COVID-19

With such a high level of personal service built into the business model, having to close due to COVID in March was, for Kate, “very, very frightening”; especially considering the business was barely a year old.

“I was sick with worry here for the first few days,” she says.

However, Kate explains that because they already had an online shop, they actually had “the infrastructure to react quicker than anybody else” to trade by web; especially driven by the boom in home improvements during lockdown.

“So within a week we could see, ‘God, this is actually going to go in our favour,’ which is terrible because it’s an ill wind, but we took it and we ran with it,” says Kate, who actually had to hire extra staff to meet the surge in demand, splitting shifts for safe social distancing.

And while the plan initially was to reopen the physical shop after lockdown ended, COVID actually highlighted that focusing solely on online sales was the most sustainable way forward.

In a very honest video that she shared on social media, Kate explained to her customers that while The Paint Hub had a record May – selling €204,000 worth of paint – that side of the business still made a €10,500 loss the same month, after all the bills were paid; especially given the amount of time they were spending on one-to-one customer queries e.g. colour consultancy.

“Paint is a low-margin item,” she explains. “So the analogy I give is that if you were going to see a kitchen manufacturer, he will give you an hour of his time and sell you a €20,000 kitchen or a €10,000 kitchen and make a couple of grand, And then you go buy tiles and you might spend €1,000 or €2,000 and they might make a good few hundred.

“Whereas with paint, you’re selling €20, €30, €40, €100; and we’re making €2-€10 or €15. So it didn’t even add that you were paying for the hour of the [colour] consultant’s time, not to mind the guy who did the paint or the till.”

Decision time

This means that Kate has made the difficult decision to close the physical shop for day-to-day sales and to suspend the colour consultancy service, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of two jobs, although the business still employs 25 staff.

However, she is in the process of building a brand new website for launch this autumn – creating two new jobs in digital marketing – and hopes to replicate the expert service they are renowned for by smarter use of video and DIY tutorials.

“So if you go into ‘radiator paint’ [on the website], you should see a picture of the can, you should see a picture of the product on a radiator and you should see a video of me saying, ‘Right girls, this is why this is a good paint, this is why I would use it and this is how you would apply it,’” explains Kate, adding that similar videos will tackle topics ranging from the best neutral shades for kitchen cabinets to the 10 things you need to paint your PVC door, which can be shared to their 24,000 followers in one go, rather than spending time responding to the same queries again and again.

The very personal touch, however, will continue on social media, and she will continue to host special events in the shop itself, like quarterly yard sales, and interior design events. This also includes working with customers to share their “real life” projects to inspire others in their DIY adventures.

Wholesale business has also seen a surge, and Kate and her team are working hard to supply more of their exclusive brands – such as Tikkurila – to independent, family-owned paint shops around the country. And of course, there is the ongoing service to the agricultural community.

So for the foreseeable future, Kate will continue to watch paint dry. And love it.

“Sell your passion!” she laughs.

For further information, visit www.thepainthub.ie or follow on Facebook and Instagram @carlowpainthub

Top three tips

1 Neutral shades that work well in most Irish homes are “Jasmine”, “Brie” and “Calla” by Tikkurila, but if you want to be more adventurous, “Denim” has been our best-selling shade since we opened!

2 My top tip when it comes to painting is to buy a soft-bristled, synthetic brush. Those stiff, black bristle brushes “gouge” into the paint so much that you will never be able to level it back out. Zibra brushes cost between €8.49-€11.49 and if you take care of them, you’ll have them for life.

3 There are lots of inspiring Irish interiors accounts to follow on Instagram, but four that I personally follow on a daily basis- especially for DIY projects on a budget- are @hanselhousedesign @colourfulsaz @simplyhomemadenicola and @lorraine.oconnor.5686

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