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TintDude reacted to HobOthetinter in Looking for some career advice
Not many shops are paying commission these days. The big money in window tinting is in 1. Making training videos (Essentially selling out the trade and 2. Setting up your own space. IMO it doesnt make sense to spend years working for a "sweat shop" in a trade that doesnt offer benefits like PTO STO Medical or some type of retirement plan. Good Luck.
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TintDude reacted to Dano in Looking for some career advice
The installers are not demanding it or don't have a spine to allow them to walk out and set up next door. Why on earth would a good tech work for McMinimum wage under someone else? Installers owe them nothing.
WTH is wrong with these installers? If someone has skills, buy a roll of film and get busy. Are these guys just beat into submission? Lazy?
When I opened my first shop I literally went out on foot with a stack of biz cards to every buisness in a half mile radius, made local connections and 9/10 came back with a car to tint. Pounded on every dealership, rock lot and auto brokers office. Bought a used plotter and made my own store graphics, then started making them for others. No reason to be hungry or under a bad owner.
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TintDude reacted to Dano in Looking for some career advice
That is good advice if you're dealing with respectable owners. If not, then leverage is the only way to pry your worth out of their pockets.
A top notch installer can command up to 40% on a w9 in most markets and often more on wholesale/fleet work. 35% is average for retail and maybe 30% if you have a base minimum guarantee of say 400wk.
I would personally begin preparing to open independently. Buy your own film and start laying it every minute you're not scheduled. When you build enough workflow go find a good space and put your name on the door. Problem permanently solved.
I always say there is no such thing as "side money" or "jobs". Making money is my job and I get all that I'm able to daily.
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TintDude reacted to Bracken.G8 in Need help with wrinkles/creases
well since i do know satin is a delicate vinyl i actually switched to using my thumb instead of a squeegee since it sometimes leaves marks on the vinyl, i watch CKwraps all the time and actually is where i get all of my information, i did glass it out as best as possible, the G8 has a pretty big wide body fender from factory which is a pain, i did the driver side in 3 hours smh which was my fastest panel so far but failed the passenger panel because of the finer wrinkles and how the vinyl wasnt sticking. what is the best method to laying the film down and where should i normally start and how do i divide the panel up into like corners or? I have made beginner mistakes which i have learned from and have failed two panels one was with my friend, first time wrapping with him and i am not shaming him at all but he did cut it short so failed that and i failed the fender.
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TintDude reacted to Dano in Need help with wrinkles/creases
Looks like you started at the wheel edge on used too much heat...way too much. Satin films don't need alot.
I would recommend that you "glass" the film, as in try to streach it as flat as you can on the whole panel before you squeegee it. Also start your squeegee strokes in the middle and work your way towards the edges, over lapping your strokes as you go.
CKwraps on youtube has some excellent, straight ahead install vids if you want to see it made simple.
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TintDude reacted to Bham in Website down time
Have you checked the ground wire to make sure it's connected properly and has a good ground?
That's what they always asked me.
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TintDude reacted to Bham in Website down time
This sound like me going to deep into an automotive repair. I'm shade tree at best and usually don't know if it's right until it doesn't blow up or catch fire.
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TintDude got a reaction from Dano in Website down time
Hey guys, we may or may not have the site be unreachable for a short time. Some settings have to be updated and it may affect the site, but hopefully not.
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TintDude got a reaction from Bham in Website down time
Hey guys, we may or may not have the site be unreachable for a short time. Some settings have to be updated and it may affect the site, but hopefully not.
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TintDude reacted to Prokfol in New Summa S One
I have this plotter, the values can be entered in increments of 1g, but it is necessary to enter the value manually, not using the arrows
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TintDude reacted to LB55 in Looking for some career advice
Not enough money for the value of what you bring to the business.
I would have a meeting w/ the business owner and or manager. Articulate what you bring to the table on paper and then ask for a pay increase, whether it be a higher commission rate or overall higher salary.
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TintDude reacted to Tintguy1980 in Unknown Marks On Windows
It looks like there's a scattering of tiny air trails that occur when the tinter was installing the film.
It happens during the installation process of pushing the slip solution out by squeegee. If the liner gets peeled and the adhesive is not sufficiently saturated before applying to the glass surface, any dry area on the adhesive will grab the glass.
As the installer squeegees the slip solution out, the solution in front of the squeegee blade carries small amounts of air which can easily be forced into the adhesive structure at the dry spot; trapping microscopic air pockets in a streaked fashion. Redo is the only way to know for sure.
Air scattering can also occur when finding an air bubble after one thinks they are done with the window and an attempt to push the air out only splinters it into streaks in the adhesive because the adhesive has tacked.
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TintDude got a reaction from dom_tntz in Introducing America Film
It is from Korea and named America?
Sounds legit.
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TintDude got a reaction from Paragon in Unknown Marks On Windows
Did you have it tinted recently or did it come like that?
Can you tell which surface they are on?
The second set of pics I can't really tell what's going on there. It almost looks like some air was moved after the film had tacked up already.
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TintDude got a reaction from Paragon in Unknown Marks On Windows
That looks like a metal rub. Before the windows were tinted, something metal that was riding in the car rubbed against the window, leaving a metallic stain on the glass. A lot of cars have them, but they aren't very noticeable until the windows get tinted.
More on metal rubs here: https://www.tintdude.com/care.html/
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TintDude reacted to pbalentine in New to tinting
Get ready to remove every panel. Seems there not one car I can tint now with panel and that isnt pure misery. Ahh this jobs sucks, but I love it
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TintDude reacted to Dano in Flat Glass Installers: how much do you make per year?
A lifetime ago I would hand a box of film to an installer and payout 20-30% depending on the difficulty. Sales would get another 15-20% based on material and labor inputs. I would gross net about 25% after sales/labor/film and then start winding down my internal expenses like accounting, advertising and cost of waiting for payment.
This was all on a w9 and subs had to carry their own liability with a cert proof before going on site.
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TintDude reacted to TomTint in Flat Glass Installers: how much do you make per year?
This is such a vague question and impossible to answer without more detail as to the situation. Are you a hired gun or a sub working on a 1099. Do you have your own insurance and tools, your own vehicle ? ..Or are you a 40 hr a week employee that’s paid on performance ? A good hired gun will hang 750 sf or more on a daily basis. More if it’s commercial with large openings of similar size. When we hire a hired gun, We figure 1.50 for simple work, but we also have a prep person going in front of them and again behind them doing clean up. So basically the installer just cuts, and installs. No cleaning the glass no moving obstacles, and no picking up scraps. ..just lick and stick.
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TintDude reacted to Ryker in Popcorn on defroster lines
If your talking about the film popping off then figure out a smoother shrink style. The film pops because it's not flat. Over shrinking is a problem.....
Look at my signature or look up "the ryk shrink" on YouTube. Figure that out and you will likely find your solution.
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TintDude reacted to nanamja in Popcorn on defroster lines
Use double 00 steel wool and scrub the defrost line much as possible and shrink the film slowly and not to over heat the film.
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TintDude reacted to Dano in Shrink Pointers, Needed
I tack it horizontally about 8" in the middle first, then use my free hand to streach tension towards the center side while making my initial squeegee strokes. After its streached in I re-wet the film for a second pass, followed by a hard pass on the edges with a black & blue conqueror.
The film is more pliable than you might think. You can accidentally push the slack into one area and cause a bunch of fingers.
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TintDude reacted to Dano in Shrink Pointers, Needed
Sounds like too much soap and not enough pressure. That area can be tough to get good even pressure on. The marks are likely water that trailed off the edge of the squeegee and dried in place. For good lower pressure I start with the Short Cut and finish the deepest eges with the Conquerer.
Notice how worn the tip is on the Conqerer. They work great once they get thinned down from use and can slide in for good edge work. You can break em in with a piece of denim.
For super deep areas and behind tail lights I'll break out one of these.
Wayyyy back in the day tinters would use these turds repurposed from drywall and screen printing. The yellow tool came out a few years later.
To this day the clear blade on this hammer is still my favorite. I think it's sold as a flat glass blade these days. Extra thick clear max-ish. The first one I remember seeing was from a screen print shop.
Same with the black and white card. Those would usually get cut into an angle for reaching and cut smaller for 1/4glass.
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TintDude reacted to prostcfc in Stubborn Peanut Removal
I took it back to the shop. They heated it and tried to put it down, but it slowly popped back up. They did offer a re-do and were nice about it, but I'm going to live with it, and try again periodically. Not worth the risk of further issues, and this is the only peanut. In talking with them, it didn't sound like they do anything in particular to prevent in the first place, so it could be worse if they do it again, and I might not get so lucky with only having one small one remain.
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TintDude reacted to Bracken.G8 in Wrapping Pontiac G8
also had a question, getting rid of the visual mistake i made is one thing but how do i prevent these things that you mentioned such as the scar and over heating, any tips to make it more smooth of an install.