NORTH HILLS : Anti-Graffiti Coating Builds a Good Business

Ernest Garrett has found a silver lining under the blanket of graffiti covering area buildings, walls and signs.

In truth, it’s a waxy lining and Garrett, co-founder of a company called Graffiti Prevention Systems, has built his business putting it there. Although he is not the only entrepreneur in the anti-graffiti business, Garrett has captured a fair segment of it in the San Fernando Valley, winning praise from Councilman Richard Alarcon and a contract from the city.

“It’s a waxy substance that dries in a half hour,” Garrett said. “If you spray it on and someone writes over it with spray paint or a marker, you can spray it off with water heated to 140 degrees.”

The coating is reapplied each time graffiti is washed off. Each application costs $150 for an average-size building.

“We started from zero in 1987 and now we have well over 3 million square feet covered under this guaranteed service,” Garrett said.

Garrett said the waxy coating allows workers to remove graffiti six to eight times faster than painting over it and 20 times faster than sandblasting it away.

Garrett said he became interested in graffiti removal several years ago, when a maintenance company he was working with was hired to keep the Hollywood Walk of Fame clean.

Since then, he said, he has been hired to keep 115 of the city’s most-often targeted overpasses and underpasses free of tagger markings. He also works for National City in San Diego County.

The company has helped prevent vandalism to 75 murals in Southern California, including 50 commissioned by the city of Los Angeles.

Agreeing with other experts in the field, Garrett says quick removal is the best method of controlling tagging because it frustrates the writers into moving to new areas. And once the incidence of graffiti decreases at a particular site covered by his company, the contract rates paid by clients are reduced.

“We’ve seen that within a three- to four-month period, the incidence begins to drop and in some cases it goes virtually down to zero.”