Andrew Hoge and Jessica Miller are two students who have added a whole new tint to the term "summer job."

They are painting houses this summer -- but not with their own hands. Instead, they are hiring other college students to work for their house-painting businesses.

"We don't want to have to pick up a paint brush this summer," Miller said. "It is our job to give (our employees) the skills to paint and line up enough houses to keep them busy."

Hoge, a 2007 Davis High School graduate, and Miller, a 2006 Bellevue High School graduate, are managers with a company known as Studentpainters.net, which for the first time has a branch here.

This summer, though, the pair are "pioneering" the Yakima Valley.

The greater Yakima territory, which includes Selah and Union Gap, will be managed by Hoge, an 18-year-old Seattle University sophomore.

Miller, a 20-year-old sophomore at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, will manage the Ellensburg and outer Yakima territory, which includes Terrace Heights and Naches.

Studentpainters.net is a "painting company and student development company," Hoge said. Production-wise, employees paint houses; career-wise, the company creates entrepreneurs.

"The philosophy is to find those individuals who are leaders, ambitious and entrepreneurial, and let them manage a region," Hoge said. "We are given all the tools we need to start our own business training on paint technology, sales techniques, production management and crew management."

The business began in 1981 in Toronto, according to its Web site. In 2000, two University of Washington graduates and longtime veterans of the program, Dwayne and Jessica Bishop, took their entrepreneurial passion to the next level and made the Northwest division an individually owned and operated company. Hoge and Miller work for them.

"We both worked our way through college with the student painting business," said 37-year-old Dwayne Bishop of Seattle. "It paid for all of Jessica's schooling, so we really appreciated the company. And now we enjoy giving that experience to others."

Hoge has been returning home to Yakima on weekends -- about 360 miles round trip -- to start gaining a clientele in his territory. Miller has also been traveling to sites in her territory.

Although they aren't reimbursed for gas, they are paid a salary -- roughly $8 an hour -- for a nine-hour work week in the spring and a 40-hour work week in the summer.

Said Miller, an aspiring business owner: "Not everyone can delve into the career they are interested in before they graduate from college."

And she and Hoge are definitely delving in deep. Gaining clients is just the first part of their job requirements, and it involves more than just a long car ride.

"We perform a detailed and free estimate that is tailored directly to a client's home. The exact paint job the customer is looking for is usually established after two hours, and then we come up with a contract," Hoge said.

Because the estimate and painting plan are written into the contract and a two-year warranty is provided, Studentpainters.net, affiliated with the paint company Sherwin-Williams, works at a high standard, Miller said.

"Ninety-seven percent of our customers do not use the warranty, and we immediately followed through with that 3 percent that did use it. We keep the promises that we make," she said.

Building clientele is only half of the responsibility these managers carry. The other half is to hire painters and maintain their payroll and expenses. Since their employees are often their peers, this is the side of managing that can often produce the most pressure.

"I promise my employees 40 hours of painting a week, so I have to make sure I have a constant lineup of jobs for them. It creates more than just a personal risk in running the business. These people are depending on me to deliver work, so I have to follow through," Miller said.

Six to eight CWU students are working for Miller this summer. Five students from Washington State University, the University of Washington and Western Washington University will be working for Hoge.

Tegean Coward, a 19-year-old CWU junior and Miller's friend, is excited to be a first-time painter this summer.

"Judging how (Miller) handles everything business-wise, (working for her) will be just like working for any other established company," Coward said.

Miller's aspiration is to one day run her own nonprofit organization. She has a double major in business administration, with an emphasis on marketing, and English literature.

Hoge has a double major in bio-chemistry and political science, and wants to be a pediatrician.

"Studentpainters is one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life," he said. "It is teaching me what I can do, how I can handle juggling many activities at once while giving a serious amount of focus to my business."

Both Miller and Hoge point out another perk of their summer job: meeting people who are just as motivated as they are. A recent training session in Seattle allowed all of the managers and district managers to share successes and discuss solutions to difficulties.

"It's so rewarding to be in a room full of people who work as hard as you," Hoge said.