Our Story
Who we are:
We are a very small family-run business comprised of Bill Sommers, his wife Jenni, and her brother Jake. Jenni has a 21 year-old daughter named Naomi who spends 99% of her time away at college, and they all share a home with their ginger kitty “Mama”. There you will find Jenni’s art studio, a gallery of her art work, a custom picture framing shop, Bill’s workshop, a crochet corner, and a library full of books.
Bill is the owner and operator of the company and brings 30 years of experience working in the painting industry. He spent 7 of those 30 working in the corporate world with Sherwin Williams. There he started by establishing a spray equipment repair facility in their Albany commercial store which still thrives to this day. He then took the show on the road refurbishing sprayers as well calibrating and repairing tinters and shakers in their brick-and-mortar locations. No matter where he was scheduled to be, he always received accolades from coworkers and management alike for his kindly professional behavior and his conscientious work ethic. Bill’s unassuming personality is the perfect foil for his 6’4” frame.
Jenni has been working as a fine artist for nearly 30 years. She is a certified custom framer and has a home-based frame shop, assisting clients an on appointment-only basis. Among various administrative positions over the years, Jenni worked as an office manager for several years. She has been teaching and showing her work in upstate New York and Vermont for the last several decades and continues to try to fit time into the studio whenever possible. Because she is so feisty, Jenni was only allowed to be 5’1” by the powers that be.
Finally, in the spring of 2021, they brought on Jenni’s brother Jake to help with job site preparation. After being a pub chef for nearly 20 years, he was walking with a cane and ready for a change. The precision needed to be a chef translates well to our type of work and he has become an invaluable part of our preparation process. We took him to to Dr. Ellen Nichols of Tackett Chiropractic and he has a new lease on life! Jake recently picked up his guitar after a several-year hiatus from performing live and is slowly becoming reacquainted. These days you’ll catch him rolling around on his little cart with a caulk gun and sanding block in tow, grateful for a chance to sit down, an unheard-of luxury back in the kitchen.
Backstory:
Bill and Jenni met on a spontaneous blind date on September 23, 2017 at Sweet Mimi’s in Saratoga Springs around 8 o’clock in the morning. She had worked an overnight shift immediately prior to this date and had scrolled past his profile on her break. They had a few quick exchanges and decided to meet. When Bill sat down Jenni said “So, you’re really 6’4”?” and he answered “Yup. So, you’re really 5’1”?” She said “Yeah. That’s kind of a big difference.” Bill replied, “Not really. You get the low stuff and I’ll get the high.”
And they have been inseparable since!
Fast forward two years to 2019. Bill was working on the road for Sherwin Williams, and tired of never being home. Jenni was very burnt out working with psychiatric patients and wanted to get back into the tactile world of art on a more full-time basis. They decided to work with a partner who was also a veteran in the painting industry, but quickly realized three’s a crowd. In the height of pandemic mania in the summer of 2020, Bill and Jenni launched “Lock 5 Fine Finishes, Inc.”
When you hire us, you actually get us. We don’t hire subcontractors.
Bill does the bulk of the work himself, from most of the painting to all the pressure washing and floor grinding and deck staining. He really values quality control and wants to be able to stand by the name of his company. Jenni can often be found in the office catching up on administrative work, or on the floor painting baseboard trim in a tiny bathroom somewhere. She is deadly with cutlines and is super-fast at brush-painting the most amazing finishes on windowsills. Our clients always say the same thing: “Softer than a baby’s bottom!!” Jake is our prepper-extraordinaire and works harder than anyone we’ve ever seen. He is a pro with frog tape, and constantly comes up with clever ideas to work smarter.
