What is it worth.

[screenman]

Knowing what you know now and the income you earn, what would you have paid to get into this business. I do not mean how much it costs you to get started. I want to know what you would pay to get the best training and ongoig support.

I have guys talk to me every day that want to get the opportunity to earn the £50,000 a year I earn without taking any financial risks, maybe that is why the are doing what they do.

Personaly I paid Novus £4,000 in 1988 for my first franchise it took me six weeks after training to get that back. I am no longer part of the Network but I could not fault them or their tools

Nowadays I would have happily paid 5 times that. We have guys over here buying oven cleaning franchises for £15,000. that must be madness why not just start up without a franchise.

Come on guys and gals give me an answer I do give out a lot of my time here for I hope for most peoples benefit.

[mafsu]

I paid 3 thousand to get started not including the truck I bought or any office equipment. I think a good set of tools, proper training, and ongoing support would be worth 5-10 grand or more. Trouble is you can get the tools and support for a lot less than that.

[Layne]

Screenman---My situation is a little different. I am a retired explosive, pyrotechnic and industrial safety manager. After 29 years, I eased into retirement until my son got me in this business to relieve some of the pressure off of him. I do very little advertising...40 or so hours per week repairing 'shields would be counter-productive for me. Being part time at this venture stills raises my tax obligations.... After 10+ years, I am not receptive to travelling several hundred miles and pay lodging expenses just to add "factory certification" to my resume.

Except for the cost of Novus and Delta injectors and related equipment, I have not invested a great deal of capital in this 10+ years involvement. I share experiences and expertise with others that pursue this methodology. I find that if you do good repairs and can interact with the general public, you can be a success in windshield repair. It ain't rocket science ( I have some experience along that line also) but much can be learned from sharing.

I enjoy reading your posts and those of others. Please continue.

[mrchip]

I got sucked in for 10,000.00 22 yrs ago with the keir system and aerebolic chemical..at that time i dont believe there were that many companies out there and the internet was in its infancy..so not as much to look at..i did well with the kier system but dropped it for the glassweld system.. under a thousand at that time..you live and learn.

[rockaway]

I payed 3,000 for trainning and the kit and all accomidations and i belive it was worth it .I wouled probly pay 10,000 if i had to .But knowing what I know now i would probly get it a lot cheaper

[screenman]

Just a thought occured to me this morning. People spend 5 years learning to be a mechanic or some other trade to earn a lot less than us. we are very lucky to have found this trade.

[Dave M]

Screenman,
To answer that question (if I was just beginning) I would have to ask myself two questions. Do I want to start from scratch with no accounts or purchase a w/s repair business that someone is selling?
As we all know a newbie can get started for under 1k to over 30k for a franchise. What is my business worth if I was to sell? I have no idea...never looked into it! Is this considered a turnkey business?
I would like to get 30k if I ever sold. Could I get that much? The new owner could easily get that investment back in about 7 months (after I properly train him or her).
I don't think I aswered your question......very complex, knowing what I know now!

[scratchy]

My wife never got a chance to finish college and probably never will. She got Delta trained and is as good or better than me. She runs the business when I am out of town. We are doing 20-30 jobs retail a week. If I fell over dead tomorrow she could keep going without me and not miss a beat... What is that worth? A heck of alot of peace of mind. When my kids hit high school I am going to send them to training too. I don't think training has to be expensive to be good. Nobody gave us this oppportunity. Nobody could have even said "pay this and you will suceed" It was a serious gamble with very high stakes. The gamble payed off though. We had to capitalize on it and make it all work. Our first year I put every extra dollar into it to get it where I wanted it and now I am happy where it is.

[Bruno]

Screenman

I am looking at purchasing a repare-brese franchise(he is looking for an english name, as he told me his name is useless in english), and he charges $29,000 CDN. After speeking with some of his current franchisee's they find the price quite reasonable, most grossed over $100,000 in the first year. Fir there franchises all is included right down to the paper towels. They do WS repair, scratch removal, headlight restoration and paint chip repair. Give him a call I am sure he can answer your questions.

Yes Screenman as you stated you are a great resource here, please keep up the good proes, and your constant reminders that repairs can(will) be wet are well recieved, and full of truth. Thanks for your help and I hope this helps you a bit.

[screenman]

Thanks to everyone for their replies, over here on avaerage a franchise costs about £12,000 plus extras and I tend to think this is quite cheap, to get into a business where it is not hard to earn in excess of £35,000 a year and that is for an average tech.