How long did it take...

TintDude · July 28, 2009

Ya, I remember my bosses and I heard about being able to do an old style Camaro in one piece and none of us believed it until we saw the video tape. :beer

July 28, 2009

IT TAKES SOME TIME AND PACITENTS UR SPEED WILL COME JUST GET IT DOWN DONT GET IN A HURRY IT TOOK ME YEARS TO GET WHERE I AM AT TODAY

tonktank · July 28, 2009

just keep working on skills and techniques, speed will come. started in 86 was comfortable about a year and a half thats when my old boss awarded me the golden olfa knife with presentation box! and I remember hair dryers as well.

July 29, 2009

took me several years to feel confident in my work. I started back when rear w/s was being spliced in 3-5 peices and when heat shrinkin was just discovered. and way bfore the bulldozers!!!!!

newshade · September 4, 2009

Confortable is when you have worked on all the brands available in your country, all the tinters " Nightmare cars 944, 928 " (which are now thought of as easy - never) - then your comfortable 95% of the time until you get unusual request like 1962 Rolls Royce Phantom, or Maybach, Veyron, New Ferrari etc.
How long does that take? upshot is you're never 100% comfortable.

This is true, you always run into new situations, you'll have common knowledge, but better beable to adapt on the fly if something throws you off, or your done for :beer

b7adh · September 5, 2009

just a quickie - I only feel comfortable when I have enough time, dont rush.... just because others say they can do a full car in an hour dont try and mimic them, time scale will come with experiance. just take your time. start rushing and you will produce scruffy work - REMEMBER YOU ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST JOB!

Naples Tint Company · September 5, 2009

Getting alot done in one day used to be three full cars. I cant believe how far things have come over the years. Still learning new cars, new techniques, new tools, new customers... business situations.

The biggest challenge becomes enjoying it vs work. When your exhausted and trying to slam out several cars in a day, your work goes bad, people skills go bad, and you get burned out. Not saying Im always busy, but when I am its a challenge to keep it within limits and still enjoy it.

Its my biggest focus now because Im prob not getting out of this business for another 10 years or more.

September 15, 2009

The amount of time it takes to get 'good' varies. We've had tinters who've been doing this for 2-3 years and weren't worth a crap. Then we've had guys that after a YEAR of on the job training do a PRETTY DANG GOOD JOB.

I'd say a solid bench mark to shoot for though, is 1 hour most cars, start to finish. Cutting, shrinking, installation while still keeping your installation standards UP. But as a general rule of thumb our store(s) set the bar at 2 hours most cars. We've got 3 stores and average only about 4 cars per day (For tint) per location. So 2 hours is realistic for our business, for our quality standards and acceptable to our customers.

But honestly, being 'good' at tint...........As other's have said, we've seen work of tinters that have been doing this for 10+ years and they suck, plain and simple.

So instead of taking 'speed' into account so much go for STANDARDS.

1 Piece back windows every time (There are only 3 cars which we don't REQUIRE ourselves to tint in 1 piece).

Minimal dirt particles

No scratches on the film from improperly handling/tool use

No cut gaskets/edges

All windows Micro-edged

ZERO LIGHT GAPS NO EXCUSE (it's extremely rare we have a car that has any form of light showing as there really isnt a GOOD reason for it except for FACTORY SEAL FAILURE or broken window mechanics)

And then last but not least

The best judge of all. ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS RAVING FANS........We're not talking about 'happy with the job for the money'. I mean do they tell EVERYONE they know how great of a job you did........or do they complain you said it was going to be done by a certain time and missed your OWN deadline. Ultimately your skills are judged by your customers.

Goodluck though bud!

Joe Cassity

Alarms, ETC.

http://www.alarmsetc.com

HoLlYwOoD · September 15, 2009

Still not comfortable :lol jk I get more and more comfortable every day but Im always still learning. When you think you know everything thats when %&$# goes downhill.

Tint Artist · September 15, 2009

Ya, I remember my bosses and I heard about being able to do an old style Camaro in one piece and none of us believed it until we saw the video tape.

That was the old Solar Guard demo video!!! I watched that in 91 I think and shrank the old Astro van back windows first! I still remember the blow dryer days on the old Probe 1/4 windows! :lol How things have changed!!!