The Finishing Company owner Craig Bishop with his awards from the recent Master Painter awards. Photo Jonathan Leask“They day I stop enjoying what I’m doing and do it solely for money rather than the passion is the day I’ll retire,” Craig Bishop says.

On the eve of 20 years in business, The Finishing Company has celebrated early after receiving numerous national awards in Rotoroa earlier this month.

Owner-manager Craig Bishop has been in the industry since 1983 and started The Finishing Company in 2000 but this year was the first time he entered the awards – not for the prestige, but for the judgement.

“It was not about the accolades or the trophies, I like outside audits,” Bishop said.

“It was about how other people, totally independent, judged what we do.

“It was a measuring stick for after 20 years in business, are we on the right track.”

The judgement they received was a big tick of approval.

At the National Awards for New Zealand Master Painters’ Association, The Finishing Company received Highly Achieved Residential Wallpapering, Gold Award for character home repainting, Gold Award for character home re-wallpapering, Gold Awards for new residence interior painting over $25,000, exterior new residence over $25,000, and were the overall winner of new residence exterior over $25,000.

Bishop is passionate about what he does and takes great pride in his company’s performance so was understandably thrilled with the results.

Being a company in a smaller community, Bishop said, meant they cannot afford to be mediocre.

“You are only as good as your last job.

“We always have to do a good job.

“Do a good job and 10 people know, but do a bad job and 100 people find out.”

Bishop has been in the industry since 1983 when he started out as an apprentice with Bradford’s, trained by Allan Wilkinson, and was a high achiever in receiving second best marks in the country in his trade certificate in 1987.

He worked at Bradford’s until November 2000 when he branched out on his own, starting The Finishing Company with his wife Sonia.

“In 2004 we started to get really busy, but there wasn’t the tradesmen around.”

That’s when Bishop ended up taking over another Ashburton firm, TH and TN Shaw, and shifted The Finishing Company to the site on Grey Street where they are still based 16 years later.

In his 37 years as a painter, a lot has changed in the industry.

“The whole industry has evolved.

“There were no water blasters when I started, so you cleaned roofs down with wire brushes and garden hoses.”

They now also have acrylic fillers, joinery is pre-finished, access to better tools and products, he said.

“It used to take us three weeks to paint a normal house and now we can go in and out in eight to 10 days.

Health and safety has also come a long way, with better products and safety equipment.

The industry has come a long way and after all these years, Bishop still enjoys his work.

“They day I stop enjoying what I’m doing and do it solely for money rather than the passion is the day I’ll retire,” he said.

By Jonathan Leask © The Ashburton Guardian - 24 October 2020