In 1988 Raymond Petersen, then an administration clerk working for the Western Cape Provincial Government, began to help out on weekends at a small and private painting group. It was there that my late father learned how to paint. Painting came easy to his hand and an instant love for the trade was birthed. After months of filling in extra work hours every weekend, just to earn additional income for his family, my father was urged to retire early and start his own business. This however only materialised in 1992, only after enough people had come to know of Raymond – the trustworthy and affordable painter.

Becoming an entrepreneur in the early nineties must have been a daunting feat. Especially for a young coloured man with 5 kids growing up on the Cape flats. And it was with this life changing move that a small family based painting legacy was started. I, Isaac Petersen, along with my 2 brothers, began to help out on weekends in the very manner our father once did. By then my father’s skills had evolved and continued to improve. His greatest selling point however, remained honesty and integrity. People paid more for that than they paid for the painting service itself. They knew they could leave their homes and belongings without worrying about it being damaged or stolen. We were all taught with the same principles both at home and on site. After I matriculated in 2000, I became a cleaner at his company. Still just a name at the time and not even a CC or PTY. As time passed and the industry grew, so too our skills improved. I slowly moved up in the ranks but will never forget how I cleaned my way to become a skilled painter. We began cleaning roofs, painting factories and doing small furniture also. But our main focus remained houses. Efficiently and effectively sticking to the quote and time frame over the years also helped build our name and ensured our clients stayed happy. The company’s marketing strategy has only ever fashioned one method and had never needed another. The work flow generated by solely “word of mouth” advertising, remained consistent for the most of a work year. We have successfully been putting smiles on the faces of home owners in and around the greater Cape Town area for more than 25 years.

In the latter years we began using “greener” paints, we sharpened our detailing and shifted our focus more on protecting the surfaces we always beautified. We achieved this by guaranteed workmanship and using only approved products. Any newcomer to the team continues to be briefed that all stages of painting are highly important and not one of it can be neglected. Preparation, detailing, application method, drying time, finishing and finally cleaning. All of these processes are carefully factored in to ensure the highest quality paintwork.

  As a painter you always run into objects or surfaces needing repairs before you can paint it. Over the years we never shied away from small DYI jobs that would improve our paint finishes. We reached a stage where our trade began to borderline those of schemers, plasterers, builders, tillers and carpenters. But then we’d always returned to our painting passion…the expertise that so easily flowed within our family.

Raymond Petersen Painters (PTY) Ltd was founded in ’92 but only registered months before the passing of its founder in 2016. This legacy of professional painters now continues and has reached a new stage in its life. Private clients and customers have for long been the only recipients of this company’s unending pursuit for painting perfection. Until now. We welcome a new era whereby we share our services with all and have partnered with a non-profit organisation, The Mashach Project. Our aim is to see our poorer communities partake and enjoy good quality painting services. While we help transform the face of these communities, we ourselves are continually renewed on the inside.