SEQUIM — Right out of the gate from high school, Sequim High graduate Christian Davis is getting hands-on experience managing a painting business in Sequim.
Davis, 18, was selected as one of many interns in Washington state for College Works Painting, a nationwide business that hires undergraduate students as summer interns to manage a painting business.
College Works Painting is a fully licensed and insured residential house painting company providing homeowners professional services since 1993. It operates in about 35 states and the business’ website says it receives about 25,000 college student applicants and hires 2,500 to manage a crew every year.
Davis said he is on a team of 10 interns in Washington state with many based in the Seattle area.
He said he is the only intern that was selected on the Olympic Peninsula.
To apply for the internship, Davis did about six to seven interviews, attended a two-day training session in Bellevue and was assigned a district manager. He said he is in charge of everything from hiring painters to finding clients to reviewing estimates.
“They start you out so you don’t have to invest any money,” Davis said.
He is based in Sequim and is looking to find clients and painters in the Sequim, Port Townsend and possibly the Port Angeles areas.
While the company provides interns with marketing materials, a district manager and takes care of paying the painters it hires, Davis said there’s a lot to learning how to run a business.
“It definitely shows you how to scale a business,” Davis said.
“On average, interns in Washington run an $80,000 business in the summer.”
According to the business’ website, it says the average profit percentage on an average job is 20 percent and interns can receive periodic bonuses for exceptional performance.
The average branch makes about $50,000 in sales and a net profit of $9,500. The scale can range from the below average branch of $35,000 in sales to $150,000 in sales at the top few branches.
The company’s chart ranks a branch making $80,000 in sales a “great branch” with a net profit of $15,750.
Davis said he is interested in real estate and investing and hopes this opportunity is able to increase his entrepreneur skills. He already has invested and flipped one house in Port Townsend, he said, and ran a car detailing business in Sequim.
“Mostly I’m really into real estate and investing,” Davis said. “I really like the start-up scene.”
He also earned an associates degree before graduating high school in 2017 and is working on a second associates in business.
For more information about College Works Painting, visit https://www.collegeworks.com/. To contact Christain Davis about a painting job, call 360-670-5277 or email cdavis85@collegeworks.com.
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Erin Hawkins is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.
