Opening A Shop

I'll be honest. I'm car audio shop GM and when we built our new building we built an additonal garage bay for tinting. We don't have any tinters.

Couple of questions
1. How much should i pay my employee, they will be doing all of the work them selfs, for now cutting film by hand. I'm Thinking like a 200 dollar draw plus x%commision, what would be a fair percentage?

2. Where am i going to find someone to work for me?

i pay my tinters 25% straight across of what they do no draw and they make a damn goood living very loyal to me

run an add in the paper dont hire unless they have at least 2 to 3 years exp mininum

Where might i find one of these very loyal tinters?

What about insurance for tinting? really need it or not, what could go wrong?

all auto glass mind you, in house not on the road

yea like installing a radio what could go wrong? EVERYTHING is not done right. long story short, my High Beams don't work because of a radio install.

Ever price a Headliner on a 05 _____(fill in th blank). its cheap cover yourself.

just make sure that you get an experenced titner and not someone who's says "yea I can tint. i did my brothers truck" ask for reference, even if they were mobile or self employed ask a suppler, they had to buy material. And on that note ask the suppl;iers in yoru area, they may have a lead or two for you

25-30% is great if you have the business and volume to keep them busy,but if you have not got the tinting business built up yet the base plus commision is a good idea, if you find a good tinter you can't keep him if he is not getting paid

So how do i base my pricing now. I'll be honest i don't know anything about tinting. I think a x-friend said she used like IWFA pricing or something like that. Where might i find this pricing guide

This very true you have alot of homework ahead of you.

well just so you know once you get into the business being brand new and all, make sure you give out good prices, hard to believe but right there are these price wars in the tinting industry that its not even funny, if you dont know nothing about tinting, i suggest you do alot of homework, that way customers know what the hell you are talking about instead of them seeing that you are the guy just trying to sell, and haveing someone else doing it for you.

it takes a while, once you get a customer base, it builds up from there , its not rocket science but you know what i mean

It's not what you know it's who you know isn't it? I was hopeing you could help me with a pricing guide. As far as competion i'm not worried about it since the other people pissed the town off

You should base your $$ on your market-and trust me-It is WHAT you know when it comes to tinting- If your"new" tinter screws up 5 of those people you KNOW s cars-well -catch my drift?Good Luck!ss

So ya'll cant help me with a general pricing guide to give me an idea

anything less than 35% is an insult to an experienced tinter.

Offer 35% to start, if they work out, bump it up from there.

I've earned 50% but that was when i held the cards...

Adendum: I wouldn't even think about tinting for anyone for less than 35%.... never have, never will.

I mean for cars

That's what i'm talking about.

Flat should be between .50 to 1.00 per square.

I'm sorry i'm completly lost. Is their a guide that says like

Ford
F-150 250
Exp 325
ect....

for paying an employee or for customer pricing?

Damn dude, looks like you may need to be relying on your tinters advice for model prices.

I need one for cars, my employess are probley going to get a draw plus commision until we get goin really good. I'm sure i sound like a complete moron right now but i'm a business savy as hell

Sorry to all for he confusion i really appreciate all of your help.



-God Do I Ever Need A Vacation

The only person who can give you the "blow by blow" for cars will be an experienced tinter.

If you are fortunate to find one, LISTEN TO THEM. He/she will save you more grief than you can ever imagne.

so when my x-friend who owns a shop here in town told me she used IWFA tint pricing guide she was lying, or is this a window tinters cult secret ;)

I don't know if there is a guide or not, but the reason people don't tend to talk about prices is because it's very dependant on the quality of the shop and work, as well as the area you are located at.

If you do quality work, using quality films, you can charge a whole heck of a lot more then the $99 special down the road, and in the end, you'll have a better customer base charging more then other shops. (As long as it's worth it to the customer)


RoAcH

unless they have 50 differant guides for differant states it won't be acurate and a waste of money

no one can give you the pricing you need all the info is out there, call other tint shops in your area, look at tint shop adds in you area,you need to do the leg work.

I'm gonna call around tommarow and have my friends call around w/ their cars aswell so we can get a wide range of prices. I will probley match their prices.

Also does any body use WinTint? we use a program sorta like that for car audio. it tells us all the little technical tips. Is it worth the two hundred bucks?


Also how should i go about choosing film companies?

Warning:Do not reasearch the tinting world!! You''l fall in love and become a
tinter yourself!!

If I were in your shoes, I'd do some major market research in your area, which it sounds like you are already doing. Then I would research the different types of films available to you. After you figure out what manufacturers you want to consider, call the distributors for you area, discuss your plans, get their input, they will be able to provide you with lots of good direction. If they don't want to, you probably shouldn't use them as a supplier. At this point, how much you charge your customers really shouldn't be the biggest question. I'd figure out who was going to do the tinting for you and then determine a pricing schedule. So, use your distributor as an informational source, and go from there.

I know its old but I had to comment.


Since you are so business savey, why don't you use a cost analysis and make up your own pricing guide?

Decide on the film your going to use. Do the math and figure out your cost per foot, then decide on your profit margin. if the car your going to tint is going to require 10 feet of film then simple math will give you your price. Don't forget to add enough for labor, difficulty of job, overhead, and other materials.


Or like mentioned, better to just hire an experienced tinter because they should already know what to charge per car.

WinTint works good from what I see, but I haven't used it in the shop yet. It has about every car I can think of in the program with pics and prices. I bought it from ebay for $100.

Brian

I've found a few cars that dont have prices to them, you can edit them though and they stay for the next time you open up that particular vehicle. One for example is the new GTO's I also notice the GMC TopKick isnt even in the program.