Big Sky Country is providing a vast amount of personal and professional satisfaction for Bruce Halcro, owner of Capital Collision in Helena, Mont.
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At a Glance: |
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Location: Helena, Mont. |
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Owner: Bruce Halcro |
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No. of shops: 1 |
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Years in business: 16 |
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No. of employees: 14 |
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No. of DRPs: 4 |
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Shop size: 14,800 sq. ft. |
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No. of bays: 23 |
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Average cycle time: 6 days |
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Average repair order: $2,950 |
| No. of customer vehicles per week: 25 |
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Average weekly volume: $63,000 |
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Annual gross revenue: $3 million |
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Paint supplier: Spies Hecker waterborne |
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Frame machines used: Car-o-Liner |
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Estimating system used: CCC |
| Website: www.capitalcollisionmt.com |
“I have that view right out of the window of my office,” he says. “Helena’s economy is very stable. A lot of people work in state government—they aren’t getting rich, but everyone’s making a living and it’s beautiful. I love living here.”
Originally from Great Falls, Mont., when it came time to open his own shop Halcro deliberately chose the state’s capital as the most suitable location after conducting a significant amount of demographic research regarding a base of potential customers.
“I looked at economies that weren’t as hard-hit. I thought that was important,” he recounts, venturing into an uncharted territory of-sorts. A friend from high school had settled in Helena, “but other than that I knew nobody.”
Halcro embraced his new community with great enthusiasm, sponsoring local athletic teams and getting involved with numerous civic and charitable activities. “It’s important to give back when you can,” he explains.
“I’m in a town of 45,000 people – you have to build a customer base.” An ambitious ongoing media campaign has proven to be an effective method for getting the word out. “I do a lot of radio and television. That’s worked really, really well for me.”
The radio spots, aimed at listeners aged 20 and up, are re-recorded and updated quarterly to ensure fresh and current content. They air on a variety of formats ranging from country music to old-time rock ‘n’ roll. Halcro additionally negotiated an exclusivity deal with the local sports station to be the only body shop beaming ads over its airwaves.
His 10- and 12-year-old grandsons have generated a following of their own as stars of the TV commercials. “The viewers want to know how they’re doing and they’re watching them grow up,” says Halcro.
“The big thing conveyed in the advertising is the training and equipment and the service they get when they come to our shop.”
In a region populated with a sparse pool of experienced candidates willing or able to become technicians, Halcro’s latest project is setting up his own in-house training program to reach and motivate promising high school students.
“We have our own team system that puts an apprentice with an A tech to help bring them along – it also allows our A techs to concentrate more on the A tech repairs and have the apprentices doing more of the lesser-skilled work. We try to make sure all the employees know we value them and provide a good benefit package along with a good wage,” he says.
“We are very big on training – continued training is a condition of employment and this is discussed with all new hires; it is not optional,” Halcro emphasizes.
“We not only pay for the training but we also pay the employee for the time while attending any training. One of our other conditions we discuss when they come to work for us is to keep their work area clean – cleanliness is very important to us. We oftentimes take potential customers for a tour of our facility, and it has worked as a very good sales tool,” says Halcro.
“Making sure the technicians have the training and equipment to properly repair today’s complicated vehicles is one of our top priorities. Customers should always know that we work for them and they have a very strong ally working for them during the repair process. We believe our experience in the collision industry is a huge strength at our company – from the office staff and estimator to our technicians and paint department. We also have implemented several checks and balances to assure proper repairs throughout the repair process.”
Halcro’s wife Lorrie works part-time in the office providing critical support. His son Kasey and daughter Ashley Kovick are also employed at the business.
Accuracy and efficiency
Procuring the proper components in a timely manner is an ongoing challenge. “I have some good competitors and I’m friendly with the competition – there aren’t a lot of dealerships with parts, so we all use the same suppliers from out-of-state.” Spokane, Wash. and Salt Lake City are the prime points of origin. “They’ve figured out how to get deliveries to me overnight.”
These long distances, of course, severely limit the availability of hot-shot drop-offs commonly utilized by other industry businesses in areas with denser development and higher populations. “It absolutely slows us down,” says Halcro, “but what really slows us down is the aftermarket parts that don’t fit.”
Parts-ordering is precisely accomplished via email after careful consideration to ascertain exactly what is needed for a particular job. “When you’re working in a rural area like us and you’re ordering parts you have to eliminate any mistakes that you can. We work on that in-house. We try to diagnose accurately, and then we deal with the vendor.”
And although it brings a certain amount of discomfort, over the years Halcro has dismissed suppliers that fail to measure up to his standards of appropriate accuracy and efficiency. “That’s kind of tough because you have personal relationships with a lot of these vendors.”
While national weather reports frequently cite Montana as experiencing the worst in wicked winter conditions, Halcro dismisses such scenarios and neither seeks nor offers any sympathy. “This is Montana! We work through that; we don’t have ‘snow days’ at school – it’s humorous to see what happens in other areas.”
Pickups and SUVs are a popular vehicle choice among the customer base. “Winter weather obviously impacts our workload, as does animal hits.”
A strong point in dealing with insurance carriers is Capital’s documentation and quality of repairs. “They know we are going to do a complete and thorough repair and we will have accurate and complete documentation to support our final bill. The fact is that when the car is done they can close the file and know the repair has been properly done.”
The company “made the commitment to be environmentally friendly long before any regulations requiring us to do so.” It started spraying waterborne paint in 2011, “not because we had to, but because we are committed to doing what’s best for the environment.”
Assessing the business
Halcro began his career in 1978 upon graduation from a trade school in his hometown of Great Falls. After serving an apprenticeship at a small independent shop, he moved on to a larger operation, Flawless Auto Body, which was owned by Pat Tracy at the time. “Pat was a very forward-thinking shop owner and was a guy that wanted his shop to be properly equipped and his techs to be trained. After a couple years I went to work for a Chevrolet dealership in Great Falls as a tech and about a year later when the shop manager position came open I was given the job as manager. There I got my feet wet writing estimates and dealing with insurance companies,” he recounts.
“The owner of the dealership, Bob Oakland, is one of the smartest businessmen I have ever been associated with and I learned a lot from him – using some of the lessons I learned from him in my business today. I was there for seven years and decided to move to Billings, where I worked a short time for a dealership then to another independent shop. In 1998 I decided it was time to look for my own shop, so in 1999 a partner and I bought the shop in Helena where I am today. In January of 2007 I bought my partner out, Bob Perrin, who was a very talented painter.
The location on Euclid Avenue had been in business as a body shop for about 20 years. The original structure was 9,800 square feet. In 2011 Halcro purchased the property and building next door, and after some remodeling and upgrades it added another 5,000 square feet to the footprint. The newer facility houses the collision repair area. The older portion includes the office, detail and refinish departments.
“As I began to assess my shop and business I realized I needed to get better at what I did as a shop owner/manager. I had always felt it was important to train my techs, but for the first time I decided to focus on training for myself. I began to attend more estimating classes.”
The Montana Collision Repair Specialists (now the Montana Collision Repair Association) provided training during the organization’s meetings. Halcro started to become more involved in 2004 when Max Yates, a shop owner from Butte, assumed the MCRA’s presidency. “Max became a great mentor and has become one of my best friends and a guy I have huge respect for.”
In 2008 Halcro himself became the MCRA’s president, serving six years in the leadership position. In the meantime Yates and Halcro were attending events conducted by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists, with Halcro consequently being asked to fill a vacant position on the SCRS board of directors.
“That began my time as an SCRS board member – I cannot even begin to say how thankful I am to SCRS and all the outstanding board members who work so hard to help make a difference in our industry. I would love to mention them all individually but I am sure I would forget someone – but my gratitude to them is enormous. I am still an SCRS board member and on the MCRA board as the past-president, and I am very proud to be associated with both associations. I owe a great deal of thanks to all of people who have helped and guided me on my journey in this crazy industry.”
