About

Our History

University First Class Painters (UFCP) is a national student franchise system dedicated to interior and exterior painting. We generally operate from late May until early September, but some of our managers will choose to operate beyond the summer, as it accommodates their schedule.

UFCP was founded by Michael Benteau, our company president, in 1982 while he was enrolled in his first year of a business degree. Michael, similar to most students, was looking for a summer job that would allow him to pay for the cost of obtaining his education. Together with his best friend, Michael started a small painting business that brought about incredible success!

He devoted the following two summers to launching UFCP’s first franchise in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After graduating with his business degree, he focused his efforts on establishing and expanding the UFCP brand to a national level. Michael founded his business model on offering a good quality paint job at a reasonable price (a value that we still hold true to this day).

Year after year, the business expanded across the country. As the business grew, the role of the regional manager was developed. They have become the mentor to the franchise manager and the insurer of safety, quality workmanship, and customer service. Our regional managers are industry professionals that work to ensure that UFCP maintains the quality standards for service. Every franchise manager works directly with a regional manager on a daily basis.

The growth of our business over the years has seen UFCP become a leader in innovation. Our online training resources insure that everyone from top-level staff to field staff such as painters and marketers receives the training they need to deliver the standards of UFCP. Our recently developed online management and estimating systems have ensured consistency in delivering a detailed and accurate proposal to our clients.

UFCP continues to develop and enhance services by maintaining ever-changing product knowledge, application methods, and safety standards. The last number of years has seen a lot of change in the paints, stains, and primers that we apply. For example, Alkyd ( oil-based paints) have been removed from the market and emulsions have taken their place. Our UFCP managers will always have the latest knowledge on paint and primer and process standards to best suit the client’s needs.

The original vision by Mike Benteau of delivering a quality national painting service has been achieved and continues to develop beyond expectations.