Ever since Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca,” smart entrepreneurs have recognized the importance of relationships. One body shop that owes a large part of its success to a strong foundation of business relationships is Bracken Collision Centers, which has two locations in San Antonio. Those relationships are built on the trust and confidence that people have in the Hewitt family that owns the business—father and mother, Don and Beverly, and son Todd.
Take Bracken Collision’s newest location, for example. Opened in mid-2005, the location was built from the ground up in a prime site that the Hewitts lease through a land-lease arrangement with the landowner. Several other body shops had previously approached the landowner about building a shop there. But, explains Todd, “We made a phone call and met up with the landowner and clicked real well, and he felt we were the people he wanted to deal with. It was like meeting someone you’d known for a long time.”
Contributing to the landowner’s decision was the fact that his daughter had recently had her jet ski repaired at Bracken Collision’s original location and had a positive experience. Because Bracken’s land-lease agreement is for multiple years, it was important for both the Hewitts and the landowner to have confidence and trust in one another. “We’ll be his friend for a long time,” Todd says.
Today, Todd manages Bracken Collision on his own. Don retired from the business two years ago, but is still a part owner, along with Beverly. She works part-time at the company, handling bookkeeping and other financial responsibilities. Todd, like his father before him, has worked in the body shop business his entire career.
Originally from Houston, Don owned his own shop there in the 1980s, but worked for other people when he moved to San Antonio near the end of that decade. At that time, Todd remained in Houston, where he owned a shop for a few years. About 10 years ago, father and son decided it would be nice to own a shop together, and they purchased the shop that Don had managed, renaming it Bracken Collision. The existing business, which focused on custom body restoration, was located in what had been a small town called Bracken but which had since been absorbed by San Antonio.
The Hewitts immediately began to refocus the business more toward collision repair. “I had done custom work in Houston and didn’t want to do it so much,” says Todd. Although the company still does custom work, that part of the business is run as a separate shop and customers are charged on an hourly basis.
The refocused company thrived, driven in part by San Antonio’s strong population growth, but also because the partners’ strong relationships with customers and employees created a winning environment. Todd had learned the importance of communication from his experience with his first shop. “I thought quality and service came naturally, that you shouldn’t have to focus on quality and service because if you’re doing your job, you’re doing quality work,” he says. At the new shop, from the start, “We focused on fairness and knowledge and trust. A person has to trust you. Quality and service is the easiest part of the business if you treat people with respect. If you do the job right from the beginning, you can’t not grow.”
The ability to engender trust and confidence also helped the partners establish direct repair programs with two key insurance companies. “It’s more of a relationship than a flat DRP,” notes Todd. “I know the people and think like they want me to think. When they come in, it doesn’t feel like an outsider coming in.” Direct repair programs now comprise about 40 percent of Bracken Collision’s business.
Todd advises shop owners not to become too removed from the daily operations of their business. “Some managers never go in the back and don’t know who’s being nice to the customers,” he notes. In contrast, he feels that because he and his employees work so closely together, they have all begun to think alike. “They kind of self-manage,” he says. “The manager at most shops cleans up messes. But if people don’t make a mess, there’s nothing to clean up. We all work together.”
Because Todd likes to work so closely with his employees, however, he has not wanted the shop to grow too big. “A business can only be so big and run efficiently,” he says. “You can get to a certain point where people are walking on top of each other. I like to keep a smaller, leaner staff.”
When Todd decided to expand, therefore, his preference was to open a second location, so that each operation would be of a size he would be comfortable handling—although he does expect the second location to eventually surpass the first in the amount of business that it generates.
Planning the new location became a family project, with Beverly handling the decorating, selecting a customer-pleasing Western motif. Todd’s brother, who works as a pipe fitter on big projects such as huge refineries and schools, has offered advice about how to layout the shop floor in order to make the flow of work through the shop more efficient.
Opening the new shop provided Todd with an opportunity to purchase some new equipment. The new location uses heated paint booths, shortening the time required for drying and providing more flexibility in how jobs are scheduled. “In the new shop, we don’t care if we don’t paint a car the night before because we know we can paint it in the morning and get it out the door,” Todd notes.
In preparation for opening the second location, Todd hired additional employees in advance and had them work at the original shop. Because his employees have such a strong tradition of teamwork and managing themselves, Todd hasn’t needed to hire a dedicated manager for the new shop. Instead, he divides his time between the two locations.
