View From The Trenches

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” —Oscar Wilde

Being self-employed has its advantages. You can set your own schedule, not be beholding to anyone and keep the fruits of your labors (when there are any). There are, I suppose, an equal number of disadvantages as well. As former president Harry Truman once declared, “The buck stops here.” Every owner-operator in auto glass pays dearly for their mistakes and it becomes imperative to minimize them.

I have come to hate Fridays. To me, the worst disasters in my business often have occurred once it has passed noon on the last work day of the week. Thirty years of slapping glass in cars has given me far too many opportunities to be fallible.

It was on a Friday in the mid-80s when I encountered my very first Taurus windshield that had the lower recessed urethane band that I was ill-equipped to cut. The car had come over on a dealer trade as it was sold and had caught a rock. Since the model had just been introduced, there were few replacement parts available in the supply chain, I had to drive a considerable distance to pick one up. I arrived on the job past 3 p.m. to start. I just remember getting the cowl off and the sides and top cut only to encounter the bottom. I never liked a banana knife and used wire to reach places I couldn’t access. However on this day, I had used my last coil in the morning. Suffice it to say, such a mess was made that still defies description. I went out the next Monday and ordered a new electric tool on the market from a company called Equalizer. They also had a large spatula-shaped tool called “The Persuader” that rivaled in width and certainly in weight the blades in use today. However, a hammer had to be used in lieu of any other motivating force. I bought that as well since I wanted back-up at a lower price.

It was also on a Friday when I was called to switch out two Ford Fairmont windshields for a used car manager. The glasses were butyl-set, so removal was easy and unremarkable. What was remarkable was the fact that in mid-June in Northern California, the chance for rain actually existed on that day. Who believes weather professionals, though? The Ford dealership was packed with cars and little cover existed in the first place. Since I had two cars and my work truck, finding the space I needed was hard enough. I admit the skies were cloudy when I first started the job, but since it never rains here in summer, I had no real concerns. I think I was applying primer when the first drops hit me. A massive (for California at least) cloudburst began to commence within a minute after that and I distinctly remember frantically looking around for any cover that I could park these two cars under. Let’s just say that dry times were significantly increased for that job.

I’ve had a dog tip over my glass stand with its owner’s new windshield atop on a Friday. I once went through three DW685s trying to get one not to crack during install on a Friday. I’ve run out of gas and urethane midday on a Friday.

Are you a pack rat? I certainly can claim that title. It’s not so much that I collect things. I tend to leave tools at jobsites as a sort of a remembrance of my being there. My body shops techs have appreciated my generosity and over time could have started mobile glass services with my temporary donations. At some places, the guys have actually collected boxes of the tools I’ve left behind. I once arrived at a job about 10 miles away and discovered I had left all five of my cutout knives next to a vehicle on which I had just completed a backglass R&R. I had to go back and retrieve them before I could resume work. Oh, by the way, that was on a Friday.

What is perhaps the worst inconvenience any tech can endure is having the wrong glass for a job. Now any corporate tech can blame their CSR or someone else at times, but we, the lone wolves of the industry alone bear the brunt of our own errors. Today, with cell phones equipped with blue tooth ear pieces, you can make bids and operate fairly efficiently while not having to stop production. Yet customers still think right is left and the passenger rear describes someone’s posterior.

I would like to think that the days of asking the correct questions and recording the appropriate answers have arrived and one can depend upon the lengthy time of experience to minimize mistakes. Au contraire, mon ami. You are dead wrong. Infallibility may be a papal quality but not for this alleged veteran. Just recently I had a customer text me his VIN # on his BMW 325 so I could correctly order an OE moulding and cowl. I arrive at his house, removed the broken lite, installed a new moulding on glass, performed all necessary AGRSS procedures, and began the installation.

I happened to notice as I was lowering glass into hole that the upper-middle of glass was nowhere close to roofline. That fact was confirmed as both upper corners made contact with vehicle. As I reversed directions while my customer viewed this operation, I looked and finally counted doors on his car. It was a two-door coupe and not the four-door I thought he owned. I had indeed tried to install the wrong glass and realized that I had never asked him and the dealership never mentioned the model to me. Needless to say, I never actually confirmed upon arrival that I had ordered the correct glass. I had to first clean up any urethane that had hit the pinchweld, pack up my tools and head to my distributor to pick up the correct windshield. It was the start of the afternoon commute and what would normally take me 30 minutes to traverse would take twice that long. Just in case you were wondering, that was last Friday—no surprise for me.

Abigail Van Buren of “Dear Abby” fame once wrote: “If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we’d all be millionaires.” I certainly would not try it on a Friday.

First of all, we in the auto glass business are not alone. There are other sectors out there that are suffering from the same ailments with which we are afflicted.

This weekend, I was the guest of one of my golf buddies as I played in a tournament near his home. After Saturday’s round, I had the chance to sit down at dusk and share a beer with him. His best friend, a general contractor who played with us earlier, stopped by and joined in the festivities. Inevitably the conversation turned to the economy and the challenges the contractor and I face in maintaining a steady work stream.

If you think the auto glass business is tough, try being in construction. Basically, if someone can pick up a hammer and knows the route to Home Depot, they call themselves a contractor, he told me. In fact, Home Depot and other building material stores will sell any commercial product to anyone and are a Mecca for daily laborers, loitering nearby looking for work. Those stores also encourage a do-it-yourself attitude among homeowners and amateurs—at least we have not seen those same conditions exists at a Service or PGW warehouse. (Not yet, I say—but as a wise man once said, “never say never.)

The discussion I had with Mike the contractor strangely mirrored many of the topics that impact us. One topic touched on was a conversation he recently had with his new partner about the bidding process. They are of two minds. The new guy wants to get business, even at cost, just to stay busy. Mike, who just turned 50 and has a quarter century in the trade, strongly disagreed. He said to me, “I run a for-profit business. Every job I bid I want to make money on. Why work and just stay in place? If you don’t you are just lowering your chances for longevity and ultimate survival.”

Truer words were never spoken and that should be a mantra for every business, especially ours. Why is it that auto glass shops have a self-destruct methodology by continually lowering prices just to get work? In short, you are basically cheating yourself and the industry you represent.

Just today alone, I was told by three call-in customers that my cost-plus bid was high by more than $100. I was taken aback simply because if true, some shop or service was making a marginal gross profit. How can anyone expect to stay in business with that sort of pricing? In fact, one of those bids was for a tempered part on which my acquisition cost was higher than the “winning” shop’s installed price. I’m a competitive guy who truly hates to lose but, in so many cases lately, I am disgusted at the level at which some people prostitute themselves and the industry they allegedly represent.

Mike talked about quality and selling himself and his track record rather than trying to pitch price and demean the competition. He has remained in business for more than a quarter century by providing a good product, showing up and finishing up on time and catering to the needs and wishes of his client. How many CSRs and owners mention their positive attributes when talking to customers rather than stressing price and speed of install? Who is to say whether, if given a choice, a customer would spend more money for better quality? I am finding a fair number of customers that will.

We are working harder to find quality. Sad to say, many of our replacement parts are, in my opinion, inferior products and the number of brands distributors stock that generate confidence are shrinking as well. If you think all glass is the same, then you might as well join the amateurs who believe the same. Mike talked about how lumber has changed over the years, how a two-by-four isn’t and discussed the case of contaminated Chinese drywall installed after the Katrina disaster that is being appealed in the courts. Items such as conduit, wire and even PVC pipe have dropped in price but also in commensurate quality over the years, all due to the effect of the flat-world economy. Our opinion of tools seemed to echo each other as we decried the short-life or even efficacy of many once-proud brands.

We talked about the economic and competitive pressures that we each confront. We both face rivals who ignore licensing, labor laws and tax regulations to undercut bids. Both industries have segments that embrace the underground economy making any sort of oversight either impossible or even visible.

Workmanship and practices are not at the level they once were even as short of a time as 20 years ago. Outcomes such as electrical fires, floods caused by improperly fused copper or PVC pipe or just storm induced water leaks caused by poor sealing or roofing procedures are just a few manmade disasters caused by unskilled or shoddy workmanship. Earthquakes (something we tend to get out here in California) tend to reveal other structural deficiencies. Almost all of these problems are caused by the easy entry aspect of the building trades, piece work pay plans that encourage speed over quality and lack of painful regulatory penalties that could act to discourage those to try to subvert codes and building practices.

Does any of this sound familiar? The only thing missing in the construction business is the size of the insurance sector and the lack of a single international company that wishes to take it over.

Once we finished our drinks and it was time to head to bed to ready ourselves for the next day’s competition, we walked Mike out to his F-150 crew cab only to find that he had a cracked windshield. He sheepishly admitted that he let replacement slide due to time constraints and budgetary considerations. I rolled my eyes in feigned disgust. As I write this column, I am weighing whether I want to contact Mike to do the install. I am scheduled to play two nearby tournaments in August and plan to stay with my friend since I live 100 miles away. Who knows? Since his truck has a lumber rack that extends well over the windshield, I may have to drive by a Home Depot to pick up a body to help me set his new glass. He may only want to pay cost. If he insists, I’ll try to select an appropriate aftermarket brand and demand a cash payment.