I don't have a dog in this fight as I have not attended Horizon's training class, or any other for that matter. I will however say that I have heard from several technicians who have attended Horizon's class and were very pleased with the quality of training they received.
Here's the thing about training. I feel most technicians should work as an apprentice in a reputable shop for a minimum of 6 months before they are turned loose to replace windshields, side lites or back glass on their own. A year would be better. However, there are a number of problems with that. Here are a few:
1) Like Demsterglass, I have not seen very many good replacement technicians, regardless of how long they have been doing it, so it is extremely difficult to find a good mentor. Just because someone offers training does not mean they offer quality training. Apparently even Wyotech got fooled into believing in a self proclaimed expert.
2) If you can find someone to hire you and train you correctly, they sure as heck won't do so if they think you are going into business as their competitor, which means it is nearly impossible to get training in your area and not many people can afford to move to another city or state for 6 months to a year before moving back home to start their business.
3) I don't think any training class will leave you completely prepared to go into business for yourself but I certainly believe some training, by a qualified technician, is better than no training. A lot better! At the end of the day however, what will really make a good technician is a combination of initial training, ongoing support from a qualified mentor, mechanical ability, problem solving skills, and most importantly, how much the individual cares about doing things the right way. Some things you can teach and some you cannot.
4) There are no laws requiring training of any kind to be an auto glass replacement technician and although I got every certification that was available to me they are more or less meaningless in my opinion. I know plenty of certified master technicians who do lousy work and even more who have gotten certified by the adhesive manufacturers who still do not apply the adhesive properly.
Like I said, I have no dog in this fight but I do admire and respect Ben for seeking out the best training he could find and from what he and others have told me, Mike (Owner of Horizon) is available for email and telephone support after the class has been completed and does not charge for that service. I think that is fantastic! I also checked with some local glass professionals in that area that I trust and they all say Mike is very good at his craft.
I was very fortunate to work side by side with my dad for about a year when I started installing glass. I was pretty comfortable with most installations long before that but it was great to have someone to turn to when I ran into something I had not encountered before. Even after a year I would consult him when I came across a particularly difficult installation. My dad was an excellent installer by the time I got started but he learned pretty much on his own (some help from a former glass shop owner of 30+ years) and would be the first to tell you he would have benefited from a 2 week training course taught by a master technician. After I became a master certified technician I trained a number of other technicians. They all got more or less the same training but some picked it up very quickly and some will never be good installers despite my best efforts.
I guess my point is that a problem solver with an eye for quality get a couple of weeks of quality training and be a better technician than most in the industry today. Others may learn nothing at all from two weeks, or two years of training regardless of how good it is. We face the same problem with our windshield repair training classes. Everyone leaves our one day course with the basic knowledge and skills to become an excellent windshield repair technician. Some will go on to use that knowledge and skill as a foundation to build a successful business and some will discard everything we taught them and never do a decent
windshield glass repair again. It is beyond our control at that point. We would like to offer longer training courses but the reality is the vast majority of people who enter the windshield repair business will not get any training at all and those that do are not willing to spend the money for more than a day, let alone a week or a month of training. The problem is very similar in the auto glass replacement industry.
I've not seen any installations done by either benswinshieldrepair or demsterglass so I don't know if either do quality work by my standards (I'm pretty picky) but my guess is that both care about quality so I hope the two of you can get together at some point. I had a good relationship with a couple of other glass shop owners and always found it valuable to share information with them.
Does Wyotech offer a program specifically for auto glass installation? Do they offer more hands on training than Horizon? What other training options are available and what are the pros and cons of each? I'm sure many forum readers would appreciate a list of training options throughout the country.