Opening Shop..NEED HELP

I'm working on opening a new shop, Texas Pro Audio and Tint in a busy location in a city of 8,000 with a great neighboring area. I have the Audio part down, and have MECP certification. My lead installer is a graduate of Acoustic Edge-Houston. But, I have never ventured in to the world of tint. I have some questions, and would really appreciate any help anyone has to offer. Here it goes!

1. Good brands of tint? Where to buy? What size roll to buy and how much should a good roll cost?

2.What to pay a tinter. It's mostly commission down here (Southeast Texas), and I have heard numbers of 20-30%.

3.How many cars can a good tinter book per day? (Shop hours of operation are 9 A.M-7 P.M).


I am going into business right outside of the large city of Beaumont, (120,000). There are 3 shops there, but all of them have high overhead, and r*pe people on a daily basis. There is also a Best Buy and Circuit City with better prices, but do hack job installs. I will be an Authorized Dealer of Kicker, Memphis and Total Mobile Audio, (by JL), and also carry Audiopipe, Powerbass and MA Audio. I will carry Pioneer,Alpine and JVC headunits, and also Jensen screens. I have an extremely low overhead, ($2000 a month) in a high traffic area and plenty of room for growth...(5100 sq feet, 4 bays...large show room. Im thinking wheels and tires within a year). I have taken out a $35,000 loan in order to start.

OK! Someone show me some love and tell me I have a good plan going. If you feel the need to criticize, make it constructive. Ill appreciate any help/tips anyone has to offer.

Thanks for Reading,

Joel
Texas Pro Audio & Tint

Dude,
My advise is that if you yourself can't tint. Dont do it. You are gonna find yourself booking cars, only to find your tinter ain't gonna make it. Anyone who owns a tintshop had better know how to tint.
But if you MUST get into tinting watch what you are hiring! Asking for daily pay? Red Flag. Using what I call "itinerent" tinters will bring you nothing but grief. What happens when his work starts coming back, and he doesn't? Get References and check 'em. And above and beyond all else PULLEEEZE don't fall into the $99 job mentality. You can have quality or quantity, but not both. Go for quality, and charge accordingly.
That being said, I'd go with SunGard and/or Hanita. I carry both. Good products, reasonable prices and great film reps.

As to the other questions, I pay the upper percenage you stated. I supply expenables (Paper towels razor & Olfa blades etc. Tinters supply thier own tools.

During the hours of 9 to 7, you can get it two ways. There are guys out there who can crank out a car every 45 min to an hour. That looks great on paper, until the comebacks start kickin in. Or a good, comptent tinter should be able to do about any car in 2 hrs or less. At two hrs per, thats 4 per day that most probably wont be comebacks.
I would alwats ask the tinter how much can he/she handle. This is a high burnout profession. Especially for those I mentioned doing a car every 45 min.

I would stick with what you know!

Thanks for the help. So..you gave me good film companies, good information on payment..(I'm already in the conveinent store business, so I know the red flags of employees..). I know my audio, but I feel like I can pull the tint off as well being that this town is FULL..and i mean FULL of car dealerships, and also because the only other tint shop stays booked and is very hard to get into. That tells me that there is more money to be made. One more question...


What do I subtract from total sales made per week before taking 30% to pay my tinter. Do I take the price of film out or not? Let me know something.

Thanks

NO!!! tinter gets his from the gross sale before taxas. Also jobs that are strickly labor (removal) I give between 50% and 75% depending on performance.

Gross sale before taxes. That's the main thing I needed to know. My first time to deal with paying employees by commission. Hah. Thanks for the help man. I will let you know how everything goes. Ill post pics of my building probably next week, the remodling and then when we open and our work. Thanks again.

When you say there are 3 other shops raping customers, what prices are they charging ?
Are you going to try and beat them on price, then ?
How many tinters will you have ?
Will they be paid on an hourly basis when there are no cars to tint ?
Just trying to provide some additional food for thought...........

19 years old? wow-good for you-I've been a business owner since i was 21.No regrets-but it hasnt always been easy.Looks like you have some backing-work hard -good luck.

It shouldn't be hard to beat them on price. 2 of them are "raping" because they are on the "west-end" of Beaumont, which is the priciest in town, and both have very high overhead. They deal JL, Eclipse, Kicker, MTX and Rockford collectivley. The other shop in Beaumont is a hack-shop, and in the words of the owner, "we carry everything 'cept JL". (Not authorized dealer). The rent for that location is STILL twice as high as mine, but I am 12 miles away in a "suburb" with 8000 people, and around 20000 in a 10-15 mile vicinity, not including Beaumont, which has 120,000 prospective consumers for my shop. I have been in a "love affair" of sorts with car audio ever since I was old enough to illegally start a car and drive it from A to B, and it is my personal mission to provide nothing but the best products, service and prices to my customer, while also maintaining enough net profit to keep my employees happy with their workplace. I will start with 1 tinter, booking only mon-fri, 40 hrs. a week and pay commission. If he or she is a good employee, I will be a good employer, and "take care" of them when the business is slow. You business owners know what I mean. As to the one who commented on my age, thanks for the good wishes. I have the backing of my father in this, which is why I am convinced that between his pockets and my passion we can provide an excellent facet to the city of Silsbee and Southeast Texas, while at the same time proving profitable for myself, and my family..(including employees. Good employees are FAMILY). I have been in business for the better part of my life. My family owns a chain of convienent stores and Supermarkets across Texas and Louisiana.

Thanks for all the help guys, and keep it comin' if need be.

Joel Howell
Texas Pro Audio & Tint

I missed your age earlier, but at 19 you are doing what so many folks have put off trying, in fear of failure.
I wish you much success and lots of $$$$ in this venture !
You might want to have 2 tinters though, if you have 1tinter and they have a death in the family or some type of emergency, what do you with your appointments for that day ?
A second tinter, or learning yourself as a backup would be important.

What you need to focus on now is YOUR business. Don't worry about your competition .Remember if you are talking about someone elses business-youre not focused on your own!

TINTDESIGNZ...where in East Texas are you?

Have you talked to any tint reps? Do you know what brand of film you want to use? You'll want to build you a stand or mount your glass to the wall.(for peeling your liner). Buy your heat gun and supplies. And maybe go to a tint school that your supplier has. Like a few people have already said You do need know about tinting.

As far as tinting, I can tell you first hand you have some major competition in Beaumont. I have a good friend that has a shop there and she is also a member on this board.


Good luck finding a tinter here in Texas, is all I can say! There are a lot of people that say they can tint, but there works says otherwise! Again, first hand experience!

Most good tinters work for them selfs the ones that don't you need to cough up about 35% of the total ticket 3- 4 cars a day if you want a good job.

lots of good ? but its good to know how to tint. most tinters are not to reliable. 30-35% is good for a very good tinter. i like johnson films, !. because its good quality, dependable, and most of all affordable. i've seen, been to the plant talked with the owner, and i know his guts into his product personally!!! i have a tint school im going to get started @ the end of this month begining of may, so if your serious, i can teach you how to tint and get started, at the same time hire someone for production. e-mail or call me for more advise......just spreading the truth! if that dont work for you. i'll fly out and teach ya !! good luck

Interesting replies here and I read some good questions.

Finding a great installer is extremely, extremely difficult. So much, I have created a training program and started creating my own. There are three levels of installers, wannabe's, so-so's and awesome. The wannabe's never catch on, don't get it, but think they are great. Most of them also have an attitude. The so-so's show up, do their job, most installs are correct and clean, but never pass the next level. The awesome ones are in two sections, cocky and just plain good. The cocky ones think they walk on water and demand the world including most of your profit. I refuse to hire them, they do not work out.

The good ones will listen to you on what you want done. They and the so-so's will stay with you in the long run. They look out for you and your company.

Commission is the most common method of paying the employees. The above mentioned is not bad, need to keep accurate records of the installs. Someone commented about paying per hour when there is nothing in the door, not a smart idea.

As far as brands, there are quite a few out there available that are good. You are not far from three distributors. My suggestion, call three to four and request a visit from them. This is a marriage that will effect your business. You will be needing support from time to time and product availability during busy season. Find one that will provide you with those needs.

Look up McFly. He's a member here and good business head and lives in Beaumont..

Personally I would concentrate on the audio first like many have suggested. Stick with what you know, then slowly expand into the tinting portion. If you can get a good installer with legitimate experience, things might be different. But if you are going to hire someone and send him/her through training etc. it will take a substantial amount of time before he/she is ready to take on any constant workload.