Painter’s business covers the coast

Little did Kerry Borsch know when he went to apply for a teaching job 25 years ago that he’d leave the school with a new profession.

An administrator there said her husband was looking for help with his house painting business, so Borsch thought he’d try it. The painter turned out to be a master of the craft, with the highest standards. Borsch learned to paint interiors, exteriors and finish woodwork the old-fashioned way. He does everything by hand rather than spraying.

“My goal is to make the woodwork look like furniture and the walls look like velvet,” said Borsch.

A Sisters resident since 1999, Borsch’s expertise has kept him busy painting some of the most beautiful homes in his native Southern California.

Borsch said his teacher was strict and told him immediately if one brush stroke was wrong. But Borsch stuck out the intense training and learned to paint the right way. His attention to detail in this busy, do-it-yourself world has made a good career for Borsch. One contractor told him he’d only met one other painter of his caliber. Borsch credits his teacher.

“He always told me, if you paint like me you’ll always have work,” said Borsch of his teacher. Those words have certainly been true. Borsch has advertised his business, Pacific Rim Painting, very little. Instead, he relies on word-of-mouth to make his living.

“Referral work is the best,” said Borsch.

The movie executives and doctors he works for have high standards. Borsch said the secret of doing a top-quality paint job is in the prep work. That takes 75 percent of his time. Many steps are required including sanding several times, several coats of paint applied by hand, patching and caulking.

“There’s 10 steps when they say, ‘Can you just fix that crack?’,” said Borsch.

“The best chance you have at a good paint job is the first paint job,” he added.

While some Sisters residents make their living by telecommuting, Borsch’s real commute gets a little tiring. He makes the trip to Southern California a couple times a year and has stayed as long as six months.

“I know Highway 5 very well,” said Borsch.

But painting the homes of millionaires has its advantages. At one ocean-front property, he and the other subcontractors ate their lunch every day at a sunny table overlooking the Pacific.

To reduce his driving, Borsch would like to work with a few top-quality contractors and decorators in the Sisters area.

“My goal ultimately is to be up here year around,” said Borsch.

When not painting, Borsch enjoys his two sisters and families who live in the Sisters area. Also, he enjoys biking, motorcycling logging roads and lake fishing.