Tintguy1980

You want to be competitive with the prices in your area and price close to or at the highest prices around town. Raising prices can lose past customers, but at some point you need to do it and leave those custys behind for the ones that’ll pay more.  Thats what I did when I first raised prices. The past customers that said I was too muchwere some of my cheapest customers that I didnt mind losing. As for pricing I would charge about half the cost of a full vehicle for the two fronts. I actually just raised my two front price now. I did it because of the rise in tinting only the two fronts. The higher price will push people more to tint the entire vehicle. 

The attached picture should be enlarged, framed and hung on a wall where you discuss the cost with your clients.

My first two years were as you describe. Didn't have the internet in 1980 so it was more about networking related industry and getting a PT job in the evening. I was available 8-4 during the day 6 days a week and PT'd at a side job 5-9, 5 days a week.
 
Right around the two year mark my word of mouth reputation began paying off big time; to the point of quitting my PT job and doing only tint. From there I expanded into doing flat glass. One feeds the other (auto/flat)
 
Signs placed roadside around town were against ordinances so that avenue wasn't much help to me.
 
Dramatic price increases can negatively impact sales. Try smaller incremental increases. Yeah, it doesn't help your dire straights in the immediate, but it does long term. You raised your price 25%. That has to be justified when someone comes asking and that can be a hard sell. Been there, done that, too.

My 2cents.

The attached picture should be enlarged, framed and hung on a wall where you discuss the cost with your clients.

The attached picture should be enlarged, framed and hung on a wall where you discuss the cost with your clients.

My first two years were as you describe. Didn't have the internet in 1980 so it was more about networking related industry and getting a PT job in the evening. I was available 8-4 during the day 6 days a week and PT'd at a side job 5-9, 5 days a week.
 
Right around the two year mark my word of mouth reputation began paying off big time; to the point of quitting my PT job and doing only tint. From there I expanded into doing flat glass. One feeds the other (auto/flat)
 
Signs placed roadside around town were against ordinances so that avenue wasn't much help to me.
 
Dramatic price increases can negatively impact sales. Try smaller incremental increases. Yeah, it doesn't help your dire straights in the immediate, but it does long term. You raised your price 25%. That has to be justified when someone comes asking and that can be a hard sell. Been there, done that, too.

My 2cents.

Yes!!!  The signs around town will help. 100%  
 
I was already established at a location with a partnership deal along side an auto accessories shop.  That partnership fell apart and I had to move to a different location and start over 100% on my own.  My new location was not very visible from the road and down off a side road.  This meant I had to put out signs and I had to go out and hand out business cards and pound the pavement to tell everyone where my new location was.   Of course FB adds on local pages that would allow me to do so helped, but mainly going around handing out cards and putting out signs on busy corners was the biggest thing. If your area will allow signs without taking them up after you put them out, I would definitely get some easy coroplast yard signs and stick them everywhere they will let you.  Go to every car show or craft event or whatever type of public gathering that will let you hand out cards.  These things will help more than you know. 
 
also I edited your post and tagged Dano for you.   

You're smarter than you give yourself credit for.

I thought I put a blurb about fish seeing themselves in the tank glass, however, I should have gone into it more so. Thanks for catching it and backing this discussion up.

Interested in this scenario but here is my  from the "not so smart" section.   I see problems with the enclosures being made of glass.  I feel the reflective properties of glass itself combined with the reflective properties of water, both of these combined are going to be a problem with this experiment.  I just feel like the multiple pieces of glass that will have to be used are going to create multiple reflection issues. i.e. - the way a fish tank looks at the corners.
 
Also the fact that film will change the environment much like putting film on a sunroom and killing all the plants in the room.  Film is going to change the environmental conditions to where they are incorrect.  
 
Water temp I would think would also be a factor in this experiment and is going to be difficult to get correct without some sort of heat lamp or water heater option.  Using light to have one side brighter than the other is going to also hinder keeping the same temp in all areas of the test.  
 
Fish generally group according to size and safety. Size being key because we all know big fish eat little fish so the grouping will need to be very consistent in that aspect. They also use the cover and currents to determine where they feel safest. 
 
All in all I just think this test will be rather inconclusive because of the difficulties of recreating the "proper" situations for said testing and man made tanks with minimal environmental similarities will be the reason for it.  
 
Again, just my two cents.  

If it's been installed for some time, then most likely, the issue is your eyesight, especially if you're over 40. Your close vision is the most affected (hence people needing readers), but also with glare, etc. So you still could have great vision in ideal circumstances (doctor's office) but not in more severe driving conditions. If you recently added the tint, the reduction of visibility might be the issue. Even though 70% is pretty clear, you are still losing an additional 30% of visibility.
 
I wear contacts, my fiancee wears glasses but she has overall better vision than me. She only does 90% on the windshield since she felt 70% impacted her night driving way too much. I do 35-40% on the windshield and have perfect clarity even at night. Unless it is pouring down, I typically do not use my wipers.
 
One thing that will help you is adding Yellow LEDs to your fog lamps. Yellow cuts through the rain and fog better than any whiter light. Below is our shop vehicle with only fog lights on.
 

You may already know the following.
 
If the grooves are from long time use go with the above recommendations, otherwise, you might consider re-calibrating blade pressure, check for damaged blade point, clean the blade tip with a sweep or two using a tooth brush, and or replace blade if damage to tip is noted.
 
When repositioning the strip (flipping or replacing), ensure there are no high / low spots. Those strips should last a long time without carving occurring when pressure is dialed in with a precision balancing act between cutting usable material only and not cutting cleanly.

LLumar DR series, if still available, is practically a dead ringer in look and performance to Night Vision for less.
 
Global DR Ceramic is another that leans to the smoke look rather than LLumar and 3M's Night vision. 35% VLT would suffice.

And to you and yours.

You may already know the following.
 
If the grooves are from long time use go with the above recommendations, otherwise, you might consider re-calibrating blade pressure, check for damaged blade point, clean the blade tip with a sweep or two using a tooth brush, and or replace blade if damage to tip is noted.
 
When repositioning the strip (flipping or replacing), ensure there are no high / low spots. Those strips should last a long time without carving occurring when pressure is dialed in with a precision balancing act between cutting usable material only and not cutting cleanly.

Hi guys,
 
I’m looking for advice on some architectural film. I hope I’ve posted in the right place.
 
I want to tint the windows in my apartment. It would be nice to have some degree of added privacy and UV/heat protection but those are secondary. The main thing I’m looking for is something with low internal reflectivity because I don’t want my internal lights to interfere with the view.
 
I saw 3M’s “Sun Control Window Film, Night Vision Series” and it looks great but it’s quite a lot more than I want to spend. It looks to be about $1750 per roll and you get a lot more than I need.
 
Is there anything else that has similar non-reflex properties on the inside? Ideally I just want dark, maybe silver reflective if nothing else is available, around 50% or maybe 35%.
 
Please let me know if such a thing exists. Or if it’s standard for window films to have low internal reflectivity, and this is just 3M marketing talk.
 
Thanks
tt

Most any film company will have a dual reflective film.  Internal reflectance will be about half the external.  

About the only thing you can do is pull it out of the channel and flip it over. That is if the other side is in good shape. This usually works one time. After that you will just need to order a new strip.  

The elcheapo amazon replacement strips are pretty good. I try to keep at least one on hand just in case. Same with blades, you never know when you might need one. Or even better, someone local might need one and you get to be a hero and exchange some good will.

It's a braided microfiber rope that I probably paid too much for, but has saved my tail many times, so definitely worth the cost. I usually break the melted knots on the ends to stuff 'em deeper and have them not snag the film as I pull them out. I also press on the dash when pulling so they don't drain out when pulling.
 
The other tool is a "must have" for my style of installation. I found them both on 44tools.

I have a living room with windows on the east and south and knowing what I know about the effectiveness of even the darkest film, which comes with hazards of thermo stress on the dual pane glass ... I set the TV in the corner between the two windows. Viewing the TV and the windows in the same field of vision. There will always be a reflection of the windows on the TV, just muted. Curtains are the best solution for this issue.

 

The coating can be removed by "dry scraping" with stainless single edge razor blades, but it is very time consuming and tedious. The coating comes off like a super fine powder. If done correctly there is no damage to the glass and you can tint it just fine after a thorough cleaning.  

I scraped the drivers door clean after making the mistake of scratching the coating but I did not scrape the passenger side.  After tinting you could not tell the difference between the two.  

Sure looks like auto glass technology is advancing. I remember the coating on Lexus and some Toyota models could be removed with a glass polish. It took some effort to get to the glass itself and that was an anti-fog coating technology.

This IR/UV coating is looking like it is more robust. I wouldn't want to be the one experimenting with whatever product to attempt removal of it. The UV rating is 99%+ reduction, but they limit what they  say about IR performance to: Mitigates sense of intense heat on the skin ... Controls rising cabin temperatures.
 
The link is to a company that apparently is deep into providing glass with this coating and they certainly limit info. Take a look for yourself. This appears to be something that could/would expand to more brands/models. It sure is going to put a new slant on selling film and installing film to cars.
 
https://www.cgc-jp.com/products/search_category/automotiveglass/ircut.html

I agree with TD.

I'll answer with a question; as long as you've been in business before moving to a new city, how many times did you receive a cold call via email?

This was always my plan: go to dealer > request a brief meeting with decision maker (sales/service mgr) > intro > present reason for being there > close on services, if there is interest.

Win some, lose some and in most cases, there isn't any easy way other than plain old shoe leather, a smile and a handshake.

It's tough to do anything unsolicited in email. I'd prepare some kind of concise presentation and go personally to the service managers with your offer.  

It appears film suppliers are tightening up on warranty claims.
 
If I was still installing, all they ask for would stick in my crawl for awhile and when it comes to vin # I'd take a picture of it and attach to the submission. F**k writing/typing the whole thing down.
 
Then again, the consumer should be the one to register while the installing firm need only supply VLT & lot/roll number to the client via their receipt.
 
Change is the only constant in our lives. Ugh!