CoatingsPro Magazine - January 2022
ProFile
Jim Cook 2021-12-28 22:08:46
Upskill, Slowdowns, and Paying It Forward
Sid Arthur started what is now a multi-million-dollar business just a day after being laid off by his previous employer. “It was almost a joke,” he said. “I walked into my former employer’s biggest account’s office and told them I was starting a business.”
Arthur’s force of character was no joke to the contractor-turned-client, who began sending work his way. Over time, Arthur built Sid’s Sealants LLC into a business that employs 60 people and earns about $9 million in revenue per year.
Located in Port Washington, Wis., Sid’s Sealants primarily focuses on building weatherization. Arthur’s business began more heavily using coatings in its work about a decade ago, and it further embraced coatings with the purchase of a business specializing in polyurea spray coatings in 2018. His company’s recent work to install a variety of materials, including a fluid-applied air vapor barrier, was featured in the article titled, “New Hospital’s Building Envelope Signed, Sealed, and Delivered!” (CoatingsPro, November 2021).
Arthur credits the strong relationships he’s built with customers and fellow contractors and a growing professional reputation in high-rise work in the Milwaukee area with a decade of strong success for his business.
“2010 was a turning point for us,” Arthur said. “We started building a better name for ourselves in high rises, and since then, our business has really expanded.”
Getting By With a Little Help From Friends
Arthur is a native of Iron Ridge, Wis., and grew up on a farm. He credits his work ethic to his father, who was employed as a chemist and also ran the family farm. “He’d work for 10 hours a day and then come home to work the fields or in the barn,” Arthur said.
As a young adult, Arthur worked as a general laborer in the construction industry before taking up an opportunity to upskill as a PCC (Pointer/Cleaner/Caulker). Arthur enjoyed how this work required a practical mindset and an artistic sensibility; this combination of skill sets has kept him interested and engaged in the industry over the years. Before starting his own company, Arthur worked for several employers, and he has tried to incorporate what he learned from each into how he runs his business now.
“I wanted to take what was best from each of them and practice it in my own business — if they did good work, if they were reliable, if they had a reputation for honesty, if they had a good sense of humor — I incorporated all these things into my company,” Arthur said.
Arthur said he was lucky in that several contractors immediately took him under their wings after he started his business, sending work along to him. And he said the relationships he built in the industry likely saved his business in the early 2010s when a major customer was unable to pay for the work that Sid’s Sealants provided.
Arthur’s good relationships with other contractors in the construction industry ensured that his company stayed afloat. “Luckily, we had some great customers looking out for us who gave us projects, which allowed us to maintain the business,” he said.
Looking Back and Ahead
With regard to coatings, Arthur said he’s been impressed by how much more precise the industry has become over the years. He said the body of knowledge surrounding not only the manufacture of quality coating products but also their application has vastly increased in the 25 years he’s been in business.
Arthur has made his own contributions to the coatings industry. Several manufacturers in the coatings industry have worked with Sid’s Sealants to test new coatings and equipment, evaluating how they work in the context of his company’s specialty: weatherization.
Looking forward, Arthur said he sees challenges on the horizon for the construction industry as labor and supply shortages caused by the pandemic and macroeconomic conditions have made building more expensive and may result in a slowdown. Should that occur, Arthur feels confident that the strong relationships he’s built over his career and the good reputation of his company will allow Sid’s Sealants to weather any economic downturn.
Arthur also hopes to pay some of the good fortune he’s had forward. In recent years, much like that first customer did for him, Arthur has taken a beginner under his wing and sent business his way.
“He’s become a dear friend, and he let me know that if I hadn’t sent business his way in those first years, he likely would have folded,” Arthur said.
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