University of Virginia sophomore Jeff Lin analyzed the trim work his two employees did on their fifth painting job of the summer.
"Frank, did you caulk that crack under the gutter? Wipe that paint off, and then start on the porch. You guys are making pretty good time. After that get under the deck. I'll give you about 2 1/2 hours. We started pretty late anyways," he said, looking at his watch.
Lin's summer job was working for College Works Painting, but he was equipped with a Palm Pilot computer instead of a paint brush, taking on the role as business owner, manager, bookkeeper, human resource person and salesman.
In February, a representative from College Works came to the University of Virginia, where Lin is enrolled, looking for potential candidates for the internship. He spent the next few months lining up jobs in the Springfield area while still attending U.Va. classes in Charlottesville.
"Every weekend I came back and did door-to-door, free estimates," he said.
In the spring Lin attended a two-day course where the company crammed in all the aspects of the business. Now he has to put the skills to work. He was seeking out more employees and doing the interviewing, while his crew, Frank Chen from Fairfax and Sam Readinger of Herndon, were working up a sweat on the roof of the townhouse in Whittler's Creek community in Springfield.
"Basically, they teach you the whole business cycle. I'm shooting for $70,000 worth of business [for summer]. It's a lot of work. Sometimes I don't eat," he said.
At first he's starting out with one crew and one house and plans to branch out as the summer goes on.
"I'm only managing one crew for now. We're taking baby steps," he said.
Lin told his parents, who looked at it skeptically at first
"They didn't want me to get scammed or anything. Sometimes they think the work is too hard," Lin said. He is a graduate from West Springfield High School, Class of 2000.
Elaine McCandlish from Richmond is Lin's district manager and mentor. In the fall, she will go back to the University of Virginia for her senior year.
"I learned more from this than I did in school. You're given an unbelievable amount of responsibility. It's really unique," she said.
Chen, a Fairfax High School Class of 2000 graduate, met Lin at school. Readinger is from Herndon and is a sophomore at Radford University. Neither had much painting experience.
"I painted my garage and basement. He [Lin] ran into a couple of my friends at Subway," Readinger said.
They both were ready to take on a summer job where they could be outdoors, get a tan, work up a sweat and make money for the upcoming school year. Chen talked about the level of satisfaction with painting.
"It's a tiring job, but after you finish, it's fulfilling," he said.
According to their Web site, “National Services Group developed the College Works Painting internship to give local college students an opportunity to acquire real-world business and leadership skills through business ownership. Since 1987, thousands of students have completed our rigorous program that teaches them work ethic, management skills and leadership.
“College Works Painting is fully licensed in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
“College Works and Student Works are under the same parent company.”