TomTint

Ain't that the truth

We have not been very active here over the past months..But there is some BIG news that will break here very soon... There is my tease.....Anyone here going to the Tint Off in TX this year ?

Pricing projects correctly comes with experience. The 200 SF job that you are bidding may take a veteran 60 minutes to complete on site, where if could take a newbie all day. I don't know your level of experience but I'm assuming that if you are asking about pricing a 100-200 sf job..you are a bit green. There are many variables to factor in, and everyone's business structure is different. IMO, if you are just starting out in FG and have aspirations to grow that sector of your market, figure out what your hard cost and soft cost of opening your doors as well as what margin you need to be sustainable and profitable.. then go from there.

Buy a laser level and call it a day.. Best 120.00 you can spend for doing this type of stuff

Numerous other costs would come into play. ..Insurance, marketing and advertising, point of sale materials, shop renovations, business license and state registration or LLC, upfront material stock, along with the other costs already mentioned. My guess is that a minimum of 10 k and likely quite a bit more depending on how professional you want to look when you open the doors.

....I have to disagree..to some extent. Today, buildings with newer glass are remarkably efficient. The lowE and modern mechanical systems..along with relatively cheap cost of energy..make window film ROIs unattractive in many cases. We are seeing a typical model in the 15-25 year payback with Silver 20 type materials that are by far the most economical and best bang for the buck. Try and fit a high end fancy spectrally selective 4-5.00 PSF material cost alone film into the model..and the ROI can quickly go to 30+ years.

Get a Film Handler.

Not usually. But in some cases I will. More often than not.. I never see the actual project untill we show up to do it. It's typical that I'm only working off sizes given on plans.

We are pretty good at minimizing waste here. Accurate measurements are a big help. If there is a way to split a roll for a project with different size Windows efficiently, This equals less waste. We have a slitter that helps us minimize waste and we now have numerous full rolls of various different remnants in various widths.. Good for things like true divided lights or other smaller projects.. It's essentially "free film" at this point as it would have otherwise gone in the trash. Pre cutting and sending out kits for installers is also a good way to control shrinkage and keep invintory in check.

Me and my rescue Weimariner, We have had him a little over a year and he has been a great dog

.. They make more on duct tape than window film.

Total film sales is far less than 6% of 3Ms portfolio.. no where near 6% is gross profit. .. Window film to 3M is a pet project for a few people, they could abandon it completely and not shed a tear.

I'm not the best teacher in the world, and some of what S2S said I agree with...What I disagree with is letting them find their own way early on. .. I insist they learn my way until they are competent enough to install without supervision. I know my way works, and I know what happens and why, if steps are not done correctly. I have no interest in letting a newbie experament in the learning curve, and trying to figure out a way for everyone's different approach to be successful. .. Learn my way.. master it.. then if you can improve on it .. have at it.

Big hairy sweaty dude with leftover spaghetti stuck in his beard.. if that's your thing.. your all set

Good luck with all that flooding in ....you were sold a bill of goods my friend.