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Meet Chris Zamora of zpainters in West LA

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Zamora.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Chris. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My family painting tradition began in 1983 when my father, Gilbert Zamora, at the age of 19, found out that he was going to be a father. Mr. Zamora landed a job as a general helper for a residential painting contractor in 1984, which eventually led him to an official union apprenticeship-training program for the residential, commercial and industrial painting fields. It was in the painters’ union that Gilbert became a journeyman painter.

Growing up I often helped my father on side jobs during the weekends and summers breaks. Inheriting the trade from my father taught me the value of hard and honest work, and it gave me a love for craftsmanship.

Shortly after graduating high school in 2002, we decided to start our own self-employed painting company in Palm Springs, CA–Zamora Painting, Co.

I earned my contractor’s license in 2007, which was exciting, but the Great Recession put a halt to many of our plans. My father moved to Arizona for job opportunities, and I decided to go back to school at a local community college in 2008, when I was 24, doing painting jobs on the side that would still trickle in. School was a bit of an escape for me to be able to achieve my goals and fell in love with academics. I worked hard and was accepted into Berkeley and UCLA.

I transferred to UCLA from College of the Desert in 2011, and finished my BA in History in 2013. Shortly after graduating, I decided to go back into the family business. My father had since moved back to Palm Springs to run what little business we had when I transferred to UCLA, and by the time I graduated business had picked up substantially. While helping my father run our business in Palm Springs remotely in Los Angles, I decided to start our business in the Los Angeles area, as well. We’ve been operating in Los Angeles since 2013.

While at UCLA I met my future wife, Leah, a proud UC Irvine alumna, and we a proud parents of a 2-year old girl, Abigail. Leah runs all of our administrative operations and has developed a love and appreciation for the trade. You can be assured that our little Abby will grow up acquiring the family trade.

Some of our notable projects include the Commerce Hotel & Casino, The MOCA West Hollywood, DELTA Cargo LAX, and many custom residential interior & exterior projects.

Has it been a smooth road?
Starting and maintaining a business comes with many challenges. I started my business when I was 18, and I had not the slightest idea what I was doing. I was young and uninitiated, but ambitious and hard-working. Learning the hard way is learning nonetheless, I suppose–and I have many lessons to heart.

I do get a sense of pride, however, that we survived the Recession. While we slowed down dramatically, I got enough work to help subsidize the cost of school, and enough to sustain my father while I was at UCLA. It was a very difficult time to be sure, but persevering through it was character building.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with zpainters – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are a full scale interior and exterior, residential and commercial painting company.

Gilbert Zamora’s primary experience strength is in large-scale, production style painting. His focus is commercial painting, and training our staff on how to provide clean, quality work in a timely manner.

My emphasis is quality craftsmanship. I love fine finish work such as cabinet refinishing and wood staining/varnishing, custom interior painting and intricate historical exteriors.

What sets us apart is education. We have weekly safety meetings, and both Gilbert and Christopher Zamora are in the field doing on-the-job training with their painters and apprentices. Our apprentices start at $18 per hour, so we are looking for quality individuals who are fast learners and are excited about acquiring craftsmanship skills.

We are also proud members of the PDCA. My father (Gilbert) and I just got back from a national expo in San Diego, where we connected with the best contractors all over the country and spent 3 days educating ourselves on industry standards, safety, efficient production, and good business practices. We attend these annually and stay on top of industry standards and professional growth.

We received Zinnser’s TOP JOB Award through the American Painting Contractor (APC) magazine for an exterior we painted in West LA. .

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love Los Angeles. What I love most is the rich diversity. People from around the world want to come here to make their dreams come true, and there’s an uncommon energy here.

Like everybody who lives here, I could most certainly do without the traffic.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Ontay Johnson (headshots only)

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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