Shop: John Harris Body Shop Owners: John Harris and Campbell Harris Location: Greer, S.C. Staff Size: 16 Shop Size: 21,000 square feet Number of Lifts: 3 Average Monthly Car Count: 100 ARO: $2,500 Annual Revenue: $3 million
1. Repurpose with Purpose
The John Harris Body Shop in Greer, S.C., didn’t start life as a collision repair shop—prior to the MSO taking over the building, it housed a big box retailer of office supplies.
“We were able to repurpose a space that was used for a completely different purpose to ours,” says John Harris CEO Zach Taylor.
The 21,000-square-foot shop is the fourth largest in the John Harris portfolio, coming in at a size that Taylor says, “wasn’t far off our ideal footprint.” He says the cost per square foot for the brown field site was pretty attractive, too.
Getting the space body shop–ready involved a full renovation of the interior and beefed up electrical and fire suppression systems, along with a larger gas line. Says Max Bazan, John Harris voice of the customer, “It’s unrecognizable as [a former] Office Depot.”
2. Sight Usually Unseen
Modern but still comfortable—that’s how Dawn Gray, John Harris client relations, describes the lobby at the Greer shop. It’s clean and complete with coffee, workstations, Wi-Fi and a television.
Taylor says the aim is comfort for all, where anyone can “go down to the bathrooms and not be grossed out.” Perhaps more uniquely John Harris is that, from the lobby, the shop floor is visible.
“Most shops would prefer you not see the inner workings,” says Gray. “We pride ourselves on our process and it’s very easy to see how the process goes.”
3. Every Place Has a Thing
The shop floors at John Harris Body Shops are organized to a T, and the Greer location is no exception.
“Everything’s thought out—everything has a place, and every place has a thing,” says Bazan. That means floors are marked off for trash cans and every tool has a home. Says Gray, “Our take on efficiency through process leaves us with a higher quality.” John Harris shops are so process-oriented, she says, that they’re the only collision repair chain in the country to be certified by the International Organization for Standardization.
4. Straight Shot
The layout of the Greer shop is process-driven, designed to efficiently move vehicles toward their ultimate destination, which is out the door and back to their owners.
“Once [a car] comes in the door it’s a straight line from body to paint, to build to the wash bay, then out the other side of the building,” says Bazan.
The end goal of John Harris Body Shops’ process, he says, is that each vehicle only backs out of the shop one time: when its repairs are complete.
