Roach

4 hours ago, NicholasJaxson said:

window tint to block heat from homes? The tint needs to be clear.

My first suggestion is to call one, or more, of the big name film companies and get some educational materials because just asking for that my guess is you don't really know much about how film works and you will end up with a lot of broken glass or unhappy customers for using something that isn't going to solve their problems. 

There is much more to what causes solar heat that a clear film won't block nearly enough heat to make much of a difference. 

Did a bunch of exam rooms in a new doctors office. They were all the same, so I only got pics of one room. 

36 minutes ago, Bham said:

That is cool.

While I have not used it yet, I did have a sample of it on my office wall. One nice thing about it - I assume all versions of this film have it - was that you could use a permanent marker on it and it wiped off just like a dry-erase marker. 

I wrote on it and left it for months and it still wiped off.

Insurance, sure. If you break a window... it's gonna be costly. (generally speaking) 

Trademarking - probably not so much. 

4 hours ago, highplains said:

If you want to keep bickering maybe take it to PMs. 

Agreed. Let's get it back on topic of posting pics of recent tint jobs.

 Hopefully it's an improved version. lol 

17 hours ago, MikeMN said:

3M CC-75

What is that film? 

Currently not a 3M guy.. but always interested in what's out there.

According to this, it's meant to be applied on the inside.

In any event... it appears to be a silver film... and like you said, 33% absorption, which generally speaking is safe for double-pane windows, at least here in the US. 

I can't say much about the APA film.. can't find anything specifically online in a quick search. 

I love any type of deco frost.... plain is just... plain. and better then nothing. But when you use something with a bit of a pattern - it just makes it pop.

Did a bunch of these yesturday...

Done 

35% VLT film...

Found this in WFM

Haven't they been open for like.... ever?

I need to start trying that. I had another job with... somewhat big panes...  and I did it my usual way - which works... but not everything I do is the ideal way to do things. lol 

Very cool!!! Congrats!

I am trying, obviously without success, to get out of tinting.... but.. this was from today.  

Two other panes not shown, and a conference room door. 

1 hour ago, Sterling said:

 

Also, @Roach, I may try out the door-to-door sales again when it starts to warm up. Any tips?

Well ... I hate high pressure sales... It's probably why I don't make as much money as I could. When I've done it... I have a postcard made up.,. One side is just my biz info., Other side has the benifits of having  your windows tinted. . maybe 8 reasons. (im not home atm) I just tell them who I am.. that I'm giving them this postcard... I ask if they are familiar with home window tinting, which if they aren't, I tell them two benifits... Here people seem to be most concerned with solar heat and fading of floors and furniture. Hand them my postcard... And say if you are ever interested to give me a call.

I've pretty much gotten a few leads every nite I've gone out, and 1 job from them. I usually go out 530pm-730pm.. more people are home during those times....imo.

I've never had anyone slam the door in my face ... But maybe I just don't look like a typical salesman. 

49 minutes ago, TomTint said:

Focus your efforts on building your commercial base...Homeowners are a giant time sucking, needy , aggravating pile of grief. They are typically a one ride pony that you never see again. Your commercial customers will call you on a monthly,

I could not agree with that more.

The only (one of them I guess) reasons I still do resi is you do them.. you get paid. commercial you're waiting to get paid - which is all well and good. But having a good mix, I think, is worth it. Yeah.. once you tint a house (or partial of) you're done. But that instant money could be enough to hold you over.

Of course, if you have another contractors where you hey payment in a regular basic, I'm all for that.. but there is a lot to be said to do a job, get paid that day.... and not have to wait 30-46 days until a check arrives.

IMO

I've done door-2-door several times, and have had fairly good success with it. All depends on when you go, and how to you approach people, imo. Like Tom - not sure where you are... here, resi tinting isn't unheard of. A lot of $400k+ neighborhoods are nothing but huge homes, tons of windows, and no trees. They are very much away of the damage sun can do and the solar hear gain.

Other avenue is to talk to decorators. Again, you might have to educate them... explain how the sun fades stuff which causes homeowners to have to replace, refinished, etc. items. ie $$$$$ While film doesn't prevent that, it allows stuff to last longer. 

I don't think they are fake.. but they aren't popular. I get emails saying pretty much the same thing - basically that I'd win cause I'm the only tinter in the area. I never do anything with them though... cause really, who would care? 

Whatever film you choose to carry - they all should have a film-2-glass chart, which helps you to know what films are safe for what glass. Glass types kindof vary according to area, like here in NJ almost all homes/offices have the same glass types that are going to be different from down south... or out west. Point being - while there are a lot of glass types, your area will generally have this this and this. So you don't really, imo, need to know every single type of glass and what you can use on it. It don't hurt to know every single type of glass/window, but I don't think you absolutely need to know it all.

Tools - you need a spray bottle... scraper & blade... cleaning squeegees... install squeegees.. knives and a hard card. That's the basics. tons of other tools you could and probably should add over time, not that you would use them on every job... but on that one job where you need a certain tool.... it's worth having. You just kindof add stuff along the way as situations come up. There are tools you won't know you need until you need them... you'll figure it out at the time since you won't have it, but then you'll order it and have it for the next time.

Or you can just buy everything... just hard to know what you might need until you need it. Just kindof sucks you can't exactly go down to the Home Depot and pick something up the day you are doing a job during lunch or something. You just make due at the time so you can get the job done. 

Anyway... just a few of my thoughts. 

Sounds unfun.

Did this today.. super easy. Just one pane that needed to be replaced in frost.