General Finishes was founded in 1928, and when
I bought the company in 1984, annual sales were just
$200,000. The facility was a tiny store front, once a
dry cleaner, in West Allis, Wisconsin. There were just
two of us. Rob Szwedo made the products one can
at a time, and I sold them one store at a time.
We moved to a real factory in 1988 and added a
six-head pour machine with an automatic lidder
(wow!). We bought a used forklift (and called her Elle,
she was gorgeous) and our ranks swelled from
two to six.
By 1992 we were still just another oil-based
finish company with a limited future. We then
made the decision that changed General Finishes
forever: We committed our resources to water-based
finishes, something few manufacturers were
interested in at the time. With dogged persistence
through some tough times, we created a diverse
product line of great water-based stains and finishes.
We won the first of three major water-based
competitions against national manufacturers in 1996,
and by 2000 we were recognized as a leading
innovator in the development of water-based stains
and finishes. In 2020 General Finishes introduced
“renewable resources” into its water-based products,
a technology that is the future of coatings. These biobased resources are made from fibers and oils, such
as corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and even marigolds.
Best of all, they replace petroleum ingredients and do
not compromise results.
Over the years, General Finishes has grown in
production capacity, sales, staff and, most
importantly, water-based innovation. Although not a
comparatively big manufacturer by size, we have the
deepest line of water-based and oil-based products in
the country. General Finishes is sophisticated enough
to tackle all your needs and small enough to give you
service the big guys don’t have time for.
George C. Adams, President
General Finishes Corporation
