How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Discuss all aspects of windshield replacement, including techniques, billing, etc.
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edrew1994
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How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by edrew1994 »

So I started doing Auto glass about 4 months ago and I'm trying to figure out how I can get faster at doing the removal and installation. I'm at about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours right now. Also I was curious what an experienced 2+ years tech can do a day as a mobile tech, thank you!
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Brent Deines
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Re: How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by Brent Deines »

I don't have any secrets to getting faster but you will improve your speed with repetition. Once you have done the same vehicle type dozens of times the process will become second nature. I'm sure you have already figured out that different methods of revoving the glass produce different results and that while one method works better for a particular model another method may work better for other models. Knowing which tool to grab and how best to use it for a particular application will cut a significant amount of time from your overall replacement times.

However, at 4 months in I recommend focusing more on improving the quality of your installations than the time it takes to do them. There are a lot of fast technicians out there that I would never want to touch my car and 4 months just isn't enough time to perfect the craft in my opinion. You may or may not be good now but a year from now you will be better and faster, and 5 years from now you will be far better and faster than you are after 1 year...if you continue to focus on improving your skills.

I know many shops operate differently than I did but in my shop I rarely let a new technican fly solo on a vehicle they had never worked on before until they had 12 months of supervised experience and had demonstrated proficiency in replacing windshields in a variety of different vehicles.

Hopefully you have a good supervisor or mentor that continues to help you along the way. Far too often technicians receive little or no training, or if they do receive training, it is from someone who doesn't know how to properly replace a windshield himself or herself and therefore passes on bad habits.
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Dempsterglass
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Re: How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by Dempsterglass »

Concentrate on doing the job perfect and to industry standards every time. That persons life is in your hands.
No matter how fast you do a job if you don’t do it right you’ll be going back to fix it. What’s the point of doing 8+ jobs a day if you miss things from rushing and end up having to fix them again for free. You lose time doing work you should be getting paid for and you’ll lose customers in the long run due to poor reputation.
My best customers are ones that the other guy screwed up on and I was able to show them the right way.
As a mobile tech, drive time and area covered are always a major factor. Efficient scheduling of your route is paramount.
As you gain experience you’ll become more familiar and more efficient in your work. You’ll know what tools you’ll need and minimize back and forth. You’ll learn more efficient ways to work around the vehicle. You’ll also build muscle for the job which will make cold knife work and lifting glass easier.
Cleaning and prepping the glass, moldings and car, and primer cure times cannot be rushed. Preinspection and post inspection of the vehicle and all systems operating correctly before and after also take time. Can’t tell you how many times I found something wrong on preinspection that the customer had no clue was wrong or not working or just asking them question during preinspection. Saves you from getting blamed for breaking something and pretty much always turns into more money as now you can also fix the prior issue.
Chat with your customer, make a friend.
If you run into rust issues they need to be addressed and require extra time as well as older cars with aged parts or worse, prior work that was done poorly by someone else that you now need to correct in order to be a safe install. They salt the roads here, and unprimered scratches from careless unskilled techs in a rush result in rust issues here and I see it everyday. Pisses me off. A lot of these cars have to go to body shops for repair and repaint. Trust me when I say these customers are pissed at the last glass shop.
I’ve been doing this 28 years. I’ve managed stores for National companies (which are all about volume and I always fought it) as well as having my own company. I’ve trained close to 100 techs in my career. Quality over speed. I run a lean efficient operation which allows me to easily spend 1-2 hrs on site per job. I talk with my customers, make sure the job is done correctly , fix little things while I’m in there like I would my very own car. Wipe the dash, vacuum, clean all windows etc.
Customers notice that and appreciate it.
Sure i can do an install very quickly and still correctly when i need to. Example -New Chevy truck windshield can easily be done in 30 min start to finish without any damage and all AGSC guidelines followed and no worries of any comeback. But that would cheat my customer out of the whole experience.
I moved to the Flathead 4 years ago and completely unknown here with my business. This year I was voted best autoglass shop in the Flathead because they know I take my time to make sure it’s done right and they are happy.
So don’t worry about speed. Concentrate on quality work and experience for the customer and your efficiency will get better over time naturally.
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benswindshieldrepair
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Re: How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by benswindshieldrepair »

To distill Dempster's post, some things I've learned along those lines:

Quality is number one and you can charge more than the competition for that. Every swingin' dick wants to put in an windshield for $150, but he won't be there next month. Guarenteed.

Communication with your customer is so important. The pre-inspect is huge, and when you encounter issues after the removal, you need to address that with your customer. It takes more time, but in the long run, that guy is going to trust you and you will gain A LOT of business this way.

Time is money but Money is time. Give your customers time. They will love you for it and all their friends will be calling you. Next thing you know, you will be booked out a month. 5 per day (as a mobile guy) is a damn good number (I think), especially when you can charge more than your competition because you are attentive to customers. They don't even shop around when they are referred to you by a friend. Quality over Quantity should be the rule in this business. Safety is number one.

PS: I was not the best Glass guy in the Flathead :( but cheers to Dempster for being so. He is a very dedicated and well respected competitor of mine.
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Mattimeo
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Re: How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by Mattimeo »

In My garage I only have space for 2 cars at a time. This really makes it difficult to scale up. So what I decided to do was offer mobile service for other locations. I even recently opened up a station in the parking lot of a tire general store. This way I have more space in the back lot to do more cars, and with a mobile service I can send guys out to meet customers wherever they are parked :D! This way I can see more people without making potential customers wait too long.
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Re: How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by Glasseye »

My advice to edrew1994, Is to firstly understand that most customers are more concerned about how well you do the job rather than how quick. You never hear " he did a crap job but at least he was fast" . Of course you want to achieve the best efficiency and the way to do that is analyse again and again your performance. Hopefully you have a good understanding of the process but make sure your performance does not put any of the key stages in jeopardy. When you make a mistake, and you will, ask yourself, why did that happen and how do I avoid that in the future? Be aware at all times that the customer will be watching and how you perform will have a direct impact in their confidence the work is good. Make your performance an obsession, believe me it will show. Look on you tube at some the fitting videos, some will make you wince but some will inspire you, if you do wince, think what your customer would be doing if you did that.
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Re: How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by Yasmine »

Brent Deines wrote:I don't have any secrets to getting faster but you will improve your speed with repetition. Once you have done the same vehicle type dozens of times the process will become second nature. I'm sure you have already figured out that different methods of revoving the glass produce different results and that while one method works better for a particular model another method may work better for other models. Knowing which tool to grab and how best to use it for a particular application will cut a significant amount of time from your overall replacement times.

However, at 4 months in I recommend focusing more on improving the quality of your installations than the time it takes to do them. There are a lot of fast technicians out there that I would never want to touch my car and 4 months just isn't enough time to perfect the craft in my opinion. You may or may not be good now but a year from now you will be better and faster, and 5 years from now you will be far better and faster than you are after 1 year...if you continue to focus on improving your skills.

I know many shops operate differently than I did but in my shop I rarely let a new technican fly solo on a vehicle they had never worked on before until they had 12 months of supervised experience and had demonstrated proficiency in replacing windshields in a variety of different vehicles.

Hopefully you have a good supervisor or mentor that continues to help you along the way. Far too often technicians receive little or no training, or if they do receive training, it is from someone who doesn't know how to properly replace a windshield himself or herself and therefore passes on bad habits.
Hi,
Thank you for this post as for me I found here a lot of usefull info :) ;)
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Brent Deines
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Re: How to increase speed? Average windshield replacement a day?

Post by Brent Deines »

You are most welcome!
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