In the early 1990s, Christopher Alpers and Thomas Bradley founded Alliance Painting in Washington state. Chris, who now operates the business with his brother, Ben Alpers, had initially learned the craft of painting while employed with the Seattle Housing Authority, the agency that owns and operates subsidized housing in the city.

Back then, “I was working for minimum wage, and I didn’t know anything about painting — not anything — and so they kind of took me under their wing and started training me,” Chris said.

After a few years, his work improved dramatically, and he realized that he not only enjoyed painting but also now possessed the skills of a journeyman.

Chris and Bradley, who was from Kirkland, Washington, formed Alliance Painting in 1993.

Chris and Ben Alpers take down a sign in Manistique that will be reinstalled after the building is painted. (Courtesy photo)

Houses in the Seattle area provided solid business for Alliance for many years. Shortly after the company kicked off, though, Bradley left to take a different career path in construction, and Ben came aboard.

Chris described his work as “traditional,” utilizing more brushes and rollers than sprayers.

Alliance specializes in both interior and exterior painting. Often, a client will hire for an exterior job first and then decide they could use some indoor painting as well.

Before any job begins, Chris said he visits the place in person to give the customer an appropriate assessment. Once a price estimate is given, a potential client has 30 days to decide whether they’d like to enter a contract.

Alliance Painting does not typically require any money down, just collects when the job is complete.

Exteriors appear to be given new life after a fresh job by Alliance Painting LLC. (Courtesy photo)

“The beauty of our business is that we’re actually licensed, bonded, insured. So we’re making sure that the client is protected through the whole process. …They’re getting a two-year application warranty backed up by Sherwin-Williams’ 15-year warranty,” Chris said. “They get a copy of those warranties, and that’s something that makes them feel at ease when we’re painting their house. So it’s really beneficial.”

He added that taking careful steps ensures quality results.

“The key ingredient is coming out doing a really good job,” he declared. “We come, we lay it on, we check the millage of our paint, we backbrush every square inch of people’s houses, and then we end up putting a final finish coat on, and it looks fantastic.”

On some of the older buildings, rust from non-galvanized nails can seep into paint, so Alliance makes sure to cover old nail hands in peel bond.

Powerwashing, paint scraping, caulking, spackle and Bondo make frequent appearances during the preparation stages.

Alliance Painting's Chris Alpers says the company excels at what they do -- paying attention to detail when it comes to prepping and painting walls, ceilings, doors, accents, etc. (Courtesy photo)

True paint is not the only surface finisher Alliance Painting specializes in. Chris explained that people with log cabins want to maintain the natural appearance, and he knows which techniques and products — like wood stain — are best for the jobs.

“We do paint, we do stain, we do lacquer work, we do mill packs. I mean, you name it, we’re on it,” he said.

Alliance is experienced working on different types of buildings with various architectural features and materials. Crown molding, millwork, flat stock — all are familiar.

“We do the doors. We do the walls. We do the ceilings. We do two tones. …There’s not much we don’t do,” said Chris.

Recently, competition and pricing forced Alliance Painting out of the Seattle area — Marysville, north of downtown, is where it had been based. On the West Coast, “the cost of living is just too much,” Chris said.

Chris’s wife is from the Upper Peninsula, so they chose to relocate to Manistique. They’ve found the community refreshing.

“I wanted to go somewhere where it’s a little bit calmer, a little bit more peaceful, and has a community surrounding it,” Chris said.

The business owners also operate The Hive on Cedar, a venue at 238 S. Cedar St. in Manistique. Alliance Painting’s workshop is housed in a different part of the same building, though it’s not public-facing.

Alliance Painting reopened with its new Schoolcraft County home base just this winter. In the last six months, they’ve been performing jobs around the area, usually within about a 100-mile radius. Marquette and Escanaba are frequent calls in addition to Manistique.

The U.P. is a lot different from Seattle, Chris noted. In this area, their jobs are almost exclusively the re-painting of old buildings as opposed to new builds.

“We’re just going through and and pretty much trying to bring these things back to life and make them look good,” he said, remarking that property owners in both Escanaba and Manistique have contracted similar types of work.

“We’ve done houses over here that you would think would never be brought back, but we brought them back, and they ended up being the best-looking house on the block,” Chris said.

At present, the painters for Alliance are just Chris and Ben. Chris said he’d be interested in hiring additional help, but that it’s hard to find reliable workers.

When asked what he enjoyed most about his job and what the highlights were, Chris responded:

“The highlight is bringing something back to life and making it look new, making it look good. I thoroughly enjoy people being happy when their house is done, and they’re really excited about the way it looks. I like working with people. I like working with the community. … I’ve become friends with a lot of people that I just met through the paint industry.”

Alliance has done some work with nonprofits to complete painting jobs for people who really need it, and Chris said that feels good.

Anyone interested in contacting Alliance Painting may visit alliancepainting.net or call 906-257-9595. Chris said he always gets back to people, though the business doesn’t schedule jobs far in advance.

“We usually only take on enough projects to carry us through maybe two projects. …We always complete the job that we’re on before we move to the next,” Chris said.