Matt Murphy and Kiel Peryea of All Action Painting started their business with a dollar, a trailer, a sprayer, one job and Kiel’s mother. Before their humble small business beginnings, Peryea moved to Plattsburgh, a transplant from Malone, to attend Clinton Community College. After graduating, he worked at the Sherwin Williams paint store and eventually became the man- ager. During his six years with the company Peryea gained a wealth of knowledge, but was eventually ready to explore bigger and brighter opportunities. “I had always dreamed of owning a business,” he said.
Matt Murphy, born and raised in Massena, earned an Associate’s degree in HVAC and moved to Plattsburgh in 2005. For ten years, in addition to his normal 40-hour work week, he did sheetrock, paint- ing, and taping odd jobs. The two men met through mutual friends just about the time Murphy was ready to move on from his regular job and take his next step in life. In April of 2014, they came together and combined their skills and ambitions to form All Action Painting. “It was literally a dollar and a dream,” Murphy said. Now going into their third year of business together, Peryea described the company as “successful, so far.”
When I pulled up to 40 South Junction Road, at All Action Painting’s new location, I didn’t expect just how new it would be. The windows were taped for painting, the floors were unfinished and the back room was gutted. After two years of working from home, Murphy and Peryea are finally moving their business into a permanent location with an office, a full-time receptionist and a show room for clients.
Over the past two years All Action Painting has grown exponentially and now has nine employees. The pair and their team work on residential and municipal projects all over the North Country in Clinton, Franklin, Essex, and St. Lawrence Counties — from the Ampersand Drive apartments in Plattsburgh, to the remodel of Key Bank in Champlain, to Valcour Brewing’s new location at the Old Stone Barracks. Most recently they completed work on the new Marshall’s store in Lake Placid. “We thrive on perfection,” Peryea emphasized. “Superior workmanship.”
The duo provides a wide range of services—interior and exterior painting, coating, refinishing, staining, epoxy flooring, and much more. And they don’t just provide these services for large commercial projects. All Action still val- ues small, local projects. “We don’t want to get too big—we’re still that small time ‘We can paint your living room’ kind of company,” Peryea explained. “We help people out if they need a small job and we do a lot of community service.” Because of this, the partners have a loyal local customer base. “Most of our business is repeat or word of mouth from past customers,” Peryea said.
In addition to their families and their community, Murphy and Peryea attribute much of their success to their employees. ““My mom is our best employee,” Peryea stated, “and we’re grateful for Matt’s wife, Becky, who works nights and weekends as our bookkeeper. Our employees are what make the company. Our goal is to give back in any way we can to make our employees want to come to work every day for All Action Painting.”
When asked, “Why Plattsburgh?” Murphy said that while Plattsburgh already had plenty to offer in 2005, it has even more to give ten years later. “Plattsburgh— it’s growing,” he explained. “There’s always a new restaurant; there’re always new banks, new infrastructure. It’s a good place to raise a family and there is no better place than the Adirondacks to enjoy your off time and the weekends.”
As successful small business owners, Murphy and Peryea have some advice for anyone looking to set up shop in the Plattsburgh area. “Being new in business, we like to participate in the Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours which allow us to network, really get involved in the community in any way we can. The last After Hours was held at Commercial Sales at Taylor Rental and we had at least three phone calls the next day. The events have been a benefit.”
Murphy and Peryea are excited about the next chapter of All Action Painting’s story. They are working hard to get their new location up and running. Their next goal, according to Murphy, is to “get some green grass growing outside before we open in July.”