From Humble Beginnings to Kings of the Valley 

Rapper Drake made famous lyrics about starting from the bottom but now having reached success through the efforts of his team. But Brandon Photianos and his business partner Mike Oh are living them every day. 

After working their way up through the mechanic and collision repair side of the industry from young ages, Oh and Photianos started MB Collision in 2007 in an 8,000-square-foot shop in Thousand Palms, California. As a DRP-heavy business, MB focuses on expanding into areas where their key account and OEM partners need them most, and it’s an expansion model that’s proven extremely successful for them. 

Growth was slow and steady at first, with the duo operating four shops between 2007 and 2022. In the last two years, however, expansion has been fast and furious — the team has acquired four additional shops simultaneously throughout the San Fernando Valley, bringing the current total to seven (after one of the first shops was recently sold). And they don’t plan to stop there; expansion is set to continue in 2025. 

“We're really focused on growing in the Los Angeles market with our insurance companies; 2025 will be all about expanding in L.A., 100%,” Photianos says. 

Strategic Partnerships and Calculated Moves 

When it comes to DRPs, you don’t want to partner with just anyone, Photianos warns. You have to be selective about who you enter into business with, to ensure it’s advantageous for both parties. 

Once you identify these “key accounts,” focus on their needs and how you can help meet them, he advises — especially when it’s time to consider expansion. 

A great way to do this, he says, is to study “heat maps” from your paint company. 

“The big question is…where’s the work and what type of work is there? Heat maps answer those questions by showing how much potential work there is in any given ZIP code. The paint companies use it to stock their inventory, because it shows every manufacturer and car that is living in those ZIP codes. For collision shops, it basically gives us the net worth of potential work.” 

From there, Photianos says, consider population, number of competitors, and whether you can obtain the manufacturer certifications that make sense for the area based on the data. Then, approach your insurance partners and let them know what you’re thinking. Do the homework ahead of time, he says, and give them all the answers up front to make it easy for them. It’s a lot of research, admittedly, but it pays off in a big way. 

“Find the places that aren’t saturated…that's the key.” 

That, and investing heavily in OEM certifications. 

At minimum, every MB Collision location carries Collision Performance Network certifications, in addition to whatever additional certifications make sense for the market it’s in. As a whole, the business either has or is in the final audit stages of having certifications for nearly 15 manufacturers, including BMW, Mercedes (Elite), Honda/Acura, Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Fiat, Nissan, Infiniti, Genesis, Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge, as well as certifications to fix semis and RVs at their new location in Chatsworth. They’re also actively working on EV certification. 

“Certifications don’t just get you more business from an insurance partner, they’re also ‘badges of honor’ for your employees,” Photianos says. “That’s another reason we invest a lot in certifications and training; it’s an investment in our team." 

Team Before All 

A true “family-owned” business, it’s the people associated with MB Collision who truly matter to Oh and Photianos. 

“We’re not the corporate people but we are the corporate people, if you know what I mean,” he says. “We’re that in between. No one who works for me is just a number. They’re all incredibly important to the success of this business; without them, we wouldn’t have MB Collision.” 

Having worked in body shops since he was 18 years old, Photianos says he knows a thing or two about being treated like “just a number,” and it was a top priority for him that none of his employees ever felt that way when he opened his own shop. 

“I wanted to create something different, something out of the ordinary.” 

Photianos says his staff knows they can call him or Oh directly anytime, about anything, and “Everyone in the shop knows how to do everyone else’s job.” Photianos doesn’t like titles, so no one really has them. The team just works together to get the job done, regardless of their role in the process. 

And while there’s plenty of accountability, there’s also a lot of grace at MB Collision. When someone messes up, says Photianos, they learn from the mistake and move on to do better next time. No one in management is in the business of pointing fingers. 

“We’re in this together. It's not about what you've done in the past…it's about what you're doing right now. That’s all that matters. You learn and move on. Accidents happen, that’s why we’re in this industry, right?” 

Insurance Made Easy 

Thanks to the cumulative experience and expertise of MB Collision’s leadership team within the insurance sector, the shops have been able to streamline their SOPs to expedite the repair process.  

“We have a strong leadership team led by ex-insurance professionals with 25+ years of experience managing, overseeing, and growing DRP shops, to help us eliminate the back-and-forth with insurance companies. So we can really focus on providing quality repairs and industry-leading customer service. I would put my leadership team up there with anyone else in the industry. Their collective unique experience is going to play a key role in MB's growth in the years to come.” 

A continual focus on providing support and training dedicated to the insurance companies KPI's helps the team keep up with the ever-evolving industry, too. 

And speaking of the ever-evolving industry… 

Flexing for the Future 

New technology — whether it’s attached to a car, being used to simplify shop processes or new equipment, or even digital marketing — is embraced with open arms at MB Collision. The team, says Photianos, is focused on creating a lean, seamless repair process and leveraging AI capabilities to increase efficiency.  

The company’s estimating software is a great example. 

“With CCC One’s estimating software, we’re able to digitally generate an estimate in about 10 seconds. Now that’s not a full and complete estimate, obviously, but it’s a tool to get the process started and save time.” 

Things are moving and changing so fast, says Photianos, that you have to embrace novel technology and continue learning and training or you'll fall behind. 

“The industry is evolving, and we have to evolve with the times, too. That's one of our key things: continue training, keep everything up to date, and make sure we're ahead of the curve. It's going to be something new tomorrow and something new the next day; you just have to learn to roll with it.” 

Digital marketing, he says, is no different. 

“You have to do TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn; we need all that stuff. You have to these days.” TikTok and Instagram, especially, says Photianos, are the wave of the future and have proven very successful for MB Collision...thanks in large part, no doubt, to the team’s French bulldogs (both owned and fostered) who regularly grace the page in their tiny, neon green Lamborghini. 

If you’re feeling lost and overwhelmed by it all? “Hire people that know how to do it…that’s what you do. It’s too important to be ignored.” 

Editor’s note: At the time of publication, the fate of TikTok in the U.S. is unknown. This interview was conducted before the Dec. 6 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s denial of TikTok’s petition to overturn a law which would require TikTok to break away from its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January. 

“Build a family around you, people you can trust,” says Photianos. “Once you have that, the sky's the limit. I have no fear of anything. I can open anything and move it forward tomorrow because I have the people behind me. I couldn’t do any of this on my own.”