Diverse projects span car parts to lawn furniture

With the intention to provide a personal touch to painting customers' auto parts, lawn furniture and other items, Unified Coating Industries offers a unique service to the community.

Unified Coating Industries opened three years ago after Bruce Moss sold his spring making business that he ran for 16 years. His sons, Justin and Logan, powder coated the springs on the night shift and they suggested starting a powder coating company as a new business venture.

About 40 percent of clients are looking to restore their lawn furniture. Another 20 percent are people tricking out their cars. The rest of the business is made up of industrial customers. Even a few artists bring in their metal sculptures to be painted.

"We do a lot of auto restoration projects," Justin said. "People are fixing up old trucks. We coat a lot of rims, customized grills, running boards and motorcycles. It's a pretty common thing where people try to black their truck out with black rims and black bumpers."

There are not any businesses in the area that take on the diverse set of clientele that Unified Coating caters to, Bruce said. Some just specialize in auto parts while the bigger companies solely work on industrial projects.

Like the customers' valued possessions, a lot of care is put into the process. Powder coating is applied as a free-flowing, dry powder. It differs from regular paint because it does not require a solvent to keep the binder and filler parts in a liquid suspension form. The coating is cured under heat to allow it to flow and form a skin. It is often used to create a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint.

Unified Coating paints watercrafts with a corrosion resistant coating that will repel barnacles, oxidation, rust and prevent deterioration for years. The powder coating has chemicals built into it to deal with the hot Texas summers, making it perfect for lawn furniture, Justin said.

"You can sand your lawn furniture down in your backyard and just rattle can it, but you are going to be doing that next year," he said. "Or you can pay to get it done the right way and won't have to mess with it for about seven years."

Metal furniture costs $85 per chair to powder coat and tables start at $125. Rims are $95 each with two-tone rims being more costly. Other auto parts vary.

Unified Coating will pick up and deliver items within 10 miles on jobs priced $350 and more. Most projects take a week and a half to two weeks to complete with the exception of rims because customers will not wait that long to get their wheels back, Bruce said.

Typical projects at UCI

• Automotive
• Bikes, motorcycles
• ATVs
• Watercraft
• Lawn furniture

Unified Coating Industries, 17545 Huffmeister Road, Ste. A, Cypress, 832-326-5096, www.ucind.net