A smart business philosophy and hard work has led to steady growth and business expansion for these shop owners
While Caldwell had a decade of experience as a body shop technician, Reid had more experience with the numbers side of the business. One thing the two had in common, however, was that each wanted to own his own business — and because each recognized that the other had skills that could complement his own, the colleagues made the decision in 1988 to open Image Collision Repair in Spartanburg, S.C. as partners. As Caldwell explains, "As the years passed, I got more the way he was and he came around to my way of thinking."
Despite that convergence, however, each of the partners has always operated with a high level of independence. "There's a lot of give and take," says Caldwell. "I'm not going to condemn him if he makes a decision and it's wrong."It's a dynamic that certainly seems to have enabled the partners to be successful. Over the years, Image Collision has experienced steady growth. In 1994, it outgrew its first location and the partners built and moved into a new location, later moving to an even bigger facility in 2004. That move was a particularly good one. "In our previous building we were averaging $2.75 million a year," notes Caldwell. "We're now doing around $4.2 million."
And that's not the only business the partners are in. They own 28 lots in a golf course community, where they are building houses they intend to sell, and they own part of a car rental company, as well as stakes in an auto glass company. Caldwell and Reid work with one managing partner for the car rental business and another for the glass business — and their investment in those companies has the added benefit of enabling them to better serve body shop customers needing glass repair or needing to rent a car.Today Caldwell is primarily responsible for the body shop, while Reid is more involved in other joint endeavors. "It got to where it wasn't necessary for both of us to be here," notes Caldwell.
Also driving the partners' decision to expand their business was something else both men had in common. Both have sons who are young adults and each father wanted to help position his son well for the future. "They both work for me here," explains Caldwell. "My son does our books and the books for the rental and glass business, and Darrell's son is the parts manager."The idea of independent teamwork that seems to pervade Image Collision doesn't stop with its owners. Technicians also are organized into autonomous teams, with each team lead by what Caldwell calls an "A technician." As he explains, "My A technicians have had five, six or seven years experience at a minimum. We hire helpers out of technical colleges and team them with an A technician and bring them along that way. We train them in our mentality and way of doing things."
Each team may have as many as seven or eight cars assigned to it at a time, with the A technician overseeing the work for each team but also drawing on the shop foreman for guidance as needed. Judging by the company's low turnover rate, employees seem to like this approach. "We may own the business but we look at it as a place where we all come to work," says Caldwell. "We listen to all ideas." The company also offers a wide range of benefits, including a retirement plan and health, dental and life insurance, which helps in retaining good employees.
Image Collision is on 12 direct repair programs — and although some shops find it difficult to be profitable on the margins they make on DRP work, Caldwell says that hasn't been a problem. "If you run a lean process, you can make money," he says. "You have to analyze the situation. Do you have a lot of fat in the building or wasted processes that require you to have more staff?"
One aspect that helps Caldwell run an efficient operation is the experience he has gained as part of a vendor-sponsored 20-group program. Initially, Caldwell thought the program, which links shop owners with peers from around the country, would be a waste of time. "Then I got into the mentality that if I go for two days and walk out with one good idea that can help our business, it's worth the time." One of the best ideas Caldwell has gotten from the group is to use a spreadsheet to track all the cars in process at any given time — sometimes as many as 85.
Another smart move was based on common sense — and a willingness to work harder to make things easier for customers. In a market in which many shops open at 8 a.m. and close at 5 p.m., Image Collision is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. "One of our biggest periods is 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., especially on Mondays, because people want to drop off their car prior to going to work or school," notes Caldwell. "When others aren't open yet, we're renting cars and getting people to work on time."