About Us
Timeline
CIP has evolved over the years from the 1970’s to present. CIP traces its roots back to the 1970’s when founder, Charlie Irwin, Sr. was in a partnership with two of his brothers. When the construction economy in Nashville slowed, Charlie, Sr. moved his family to Florida and started a business in the early 80’s. Shortly thereafter, Charlie moved his family back to middle TN and founded the current company in 1984. Though our business cards have changed over the years, with new logos, additions of fax numbers, cell phones, websites and even a “contactless tap” feature- what hasn’t changed is our commitment to what we do.
1984
Charlie Irwin, Sr. sets up the current company as “Charlie Irwin Painting, LLC” in Franklin, TN with a focus on residential repaints. Keeping the business small and lean allowed him to serve his customers well and be on every job everyday.
2000
Charlie Irwin, Jr. leaves his job as a civil engineer and joins his father in the family business. From day one, their goal was to grow the business and shift from residential to commercial work. To do this, they started building trust and relationships with customers as they focused on small jobs at first and grew from there.
2002
Rodney Billingsley, Charlie Sr.’s son-in-law, joins CIP bringing his architectural and commercial construction expertise with him. This allows CIP to pursue larger, more complex projects and kept the two “Charlie’s” in the field overseeing production.
2010
Beginning in 2008, Charlie Sr. began transferring his ownership in the company over to Charlie Jr. and Rodney. In 2010, CIP brought Keith Mabry on board to begin and grow the industrial painting division. CIP opened a facility in Shelbyville, TN to begin self-performing sandblasting and shop coatings.
2017
CIP acquires a middle TN based fireproofing company, Solitude Corp, and starts a new fireproofing and spray insulation division. As part of the acquisition, the owner of Solitude Corp, Butch Worrell joins CIP in a consulting role to help grow the new division.
2021
With increasing demand for industrial shop work, and the existing facility running at maximum capacity, CIP builds a new state of the art abrasive blasting building at our Shelbyville facility. The new building allows CIP to double capacity and allows for safer more efficient abrasive blasting operations.
2025
CIP again increases shop capacity by opening a new 14,000 s/f paint shop with advanced filtration and environmental controls with an eye to the future and the ever expanding coatings market.
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