Small-Business Administration Loans
Ask 10 body shop owners to tell you the most frustrating aspect of running their businesses, and eight of them will probably name the area of financing. It’s no secret that obtaining adequate funding to meet day-to-day needs for working capital, equipment and facilities poses a major challenge.
Strategic Partnerships
No business exists in a vacuum, least of all a collision repair shop.
A Crash Course on Retrofits
As a collision repair specialist, air-conditioning service is part of your job. When your customers bring in their cars for repairs, you want to offer them all the services required.
Going to the Spraybooth: Downdrafts
Ten years ago when Myra McConkey first laid eyes upon Michael McConkey, he was standing in a spraybooth – “One of those old, old ones,” she says. A crossdraft?
“Yea, a crossdraft!” – covered in paint, hair matted to his head.
School Profile/Alfred State College
At Alfred State College (ASC) – a technical college in Western New York with a student body of 3,200 – an emphasis on work ethic and a real-world shop atmosphere combine to assure plenty of job opportunities for every graduate, including its autobody program grads.
Designing A Dream: Kustom Kreations
The newly opened Kustom Kreations, nestled in the scenic Sierra Nevada mountains of Carson City, Nev., is stopping traffic – literally.
A Model of Success: A 1:24 Collection!
Lee Stone began collecting cars nearly two years ago – everything from a Ford Model T to a ’56 Ford Pickup to the newly designed 1994 Mustang – and the collection is now pushing 30 vehicles.
A History of Success and Change
The time: 1894. The place: Boston, Mass. The body shop: Fitzpatrick Brothers.
The Cost of Going Global
Since each country’s refinish market is at a different stage of maturity, product needs vary – making formulation costly for manufacturers and standardization of VOC rules nearly impossible.
Legal Insight: Know Laws that Affect Your Business
As a body shop owner, you have a lot to worry and think about. If you’re successful, though, you probably make the time to check the quality of the paint work leaving your shop
– even though you employ painters.