Making a Go on Your Own Worth It

Jan. 1, 2020
Boerne Collision Centers
Also Read: Going the Distance, Driving the extra miles Starting from scratch is daunting, but hard work, support bring Texas collision repair shop success
SnapshopNames and Locations: Boerne Collision Centers in Boerne, Texas, and San Antonio, and BC Collision in Kerrville, Texas.Owners: Max and Jean Bordelon.
Size: 15,000 sq. ft. (Boerne); 20,000 sq. ft. (San Antonio); and 16,000 sq. ft. (Kerrville).
EQUIPMENT: Downdraft spraybooths; frame rack with computerized measuring system; and computerized estimating and management systems.Gross annual sales: Bordelon expects $7 million this year for all three shops. 
Monthly repairs: About 200 vehicles per month in Boerne, about 120 in San Antonio and expects an average of 120 in Kerrville. 
When Max Bordelon started his collision repair facility seven years ago in a small, dilapidated old car dealership, it didn’t even have a toilet for customers. After running body shops at several car dealerships, Bordelon decided he wanted to be his own boss. “I don’t like to be under anyone’s thumb,” he says. Plus, decisions are made more quickly at independent facilities and Bordelon likes that pace. So nearly seven years ago, late one night at the dinner table, Bordelon told his wife he was quitting his job and starting his own shop. His wife, Jean, was pregnant at the time with their third child (they now have four) and in remission from lymphoma, so life wasn’t exactly carefree. But Bordelon took out a piece of paper and showed her how the business would work. “I said, ‘This is how we could do it, and she said OK,’” he says. She not only gave him her blessing but helped get things rolling. “She still has the original piece of legal notepad paper of how we could make it work,” he says. “She saved that.”Together, they applied for credit cards to finance and maxed them out to get things started. After spending a year at the ramshackle building, they moved to a new location and rented out the back of it. There was no sign on the building, so Bordelon hand-painted an $8 car wash sign and stuck it out front. “We got most of the town’s folks to come in, and we got started from there,” Bordelon says. “That’s how we got known.”Since then, he and his wife have built a successful collision repair business with three body shops. The third shop opened in early March. Boerne Collision Centers (pronounced “Barney”) now grosses just about $7 million for its three facilities, and there are plans to open up two more shops within the next four to five years. However, it has been a hard road. But it’s fear—the fear of not succeeding—that has driven Bordelon. “Was I scared? Yes,” he says. “But I didn’t show it. Fear is one of the best motivators.When I was driving home at night, I didn’t let anyone know it, but the fear was there. I wondered what the heck I was doing.” 
He says that it’s a shame that more repairers with entrepreneurial spirits don’t take the risk of starting their own shops. “I wish there were more independents out there,” he says. “I say they should go for it. If they are unsuccessful, they always have that trade to fall back on.” But many repairers are nervous about “stepping off the cliff alone,” he says. There are a lot of people with good ideas and that would be great body shop owners, Bordelon says, “but they are so tied down to insurance and leaving the security of mid-level wages. They just can’t jeopardize their families…they can’t be put in a position in which they might fail.” 
Making it in the collision repair industry is always a struggle and always will be, he says, adding that with the current milieu of insurer-owned body shops, it’s even more difficult. But these challenges have never discouraged him. “We had some really good support…some friends who really supported us,” Bordelon says. “I don’t mean monetarily, but by referrals and having a beer after work…talking to us and saying everything is going to be OK.” Now that his business has become a success, he says those are the people he looks back on and appreciates the most. His strongest supporter, though, is still his wife. “There is no way I could have made it without my wife,” Bordelon says. “She has never looked back.” She has helped out with some of the crucial aspects of the shop—the business and human resources side. “She has corrected me on a lot of things—a lot of hires—because she can read people a little bit better than I can.” And if it weren’t for her, he says, the taxes probably wouldn’t get paid. “She knows what has to be done and takes care of the financial matters.” Although times aren’t as tough as they were when they first started from scratch, Bordelon looks on those times with a special fondness. When asked if it was worth it, he quickly replies, “Oh yes! It’s been worth the struggles. Those times were the best, when it was me washing cars, writing estimates and tinkering in the shop with just three employees.”But just because the shops have reached profitability doesn’t mean times are easy. Bordelon says with the addition of a 20,000-sq.ft. body shop in San Antonio in October and a 16,000-sq.ft. shop in Kerrville, Texas, in early March, keeping things running smoothly both financially and production-wise can be challenging. “I think it’s difficult especially with the San Antonio shop not really in our plans,” he says. “It hurt our cash flow, but we are bouncing back.” The shop “just sort of fell into our laps,” Bordelon says. “A friend of mine gave me a call and said he wanted to get out of the business for personal reasons so we acquired that shop.” It’s a tough market to make it in, he says. “In San Antonio, nothing makes you unique. There a lot of good shops there. You have a lot of people competing.” But he continues to forge ahead.However, he says he owes this success to his employees and their dedication.“I’m not an easy guy to work for,” Bordelon admits. “But the people who know me and who have been with me for a long time know that I try to be as fair as I can.” Sometimes he’s faced with tough personnel decisions. “There are some people who I’ve hired that aren’t with us,” Bordelon says. “They didn’t fit our mold. We need everybody to go that extra mile.” And those who work for him all do just that. “We are scheduled to close at 6 p.m. Our people stay late—well after that. We’ll do whatever the customer needs.”

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