BIV reporters examined British Columbia's frugality reality – and how local businesses are navigating skills shortages, inflation, chronic COVID complications and supply chain dysfunction.
This is one of eight articles that capture acute corporate concerns. Read on to explore different business owners' survival plans and strategies.
Align Dent Repair
The Metro Vancouver area mobile business provides on-location paint-less auto body repair.
Marketplace cost challenges
For a one-man shop like Align, the cost of labour – one of the biggest challenges for businesses in the inflationary environment – isn’t an issue, said owner/principal Ray Tran.
But Align travels to dealerships, body repair shops and clients’ homes to “pop-out” dents and repair other damage to vehicle bodies without requiring the repainting that conventional auto body repair requires. So, high gas prices have become Tran’s biggest challenge.
Inflation otherwise has been good for Align’s business, because it has resulted in more people repairing cars rather than buying new ones. Supply-chain disruptions have also created a stronger market for used vehicles, many of which also need body repairs in order to fetch their maximum potential price on the market.
“People are keeping their cars longer, and they just want to fix it up instead of trading it in,” Tran said.
“Even if they are trading it in, the dealerships are now more willing to spend a little bit to refine their cars, just because cars are now costing more to buy – and the dealers want their customers to be happy about their purchases. So the product has to be nice when the prices are higher.”
He also noted that dentless repair is faster than conventional bodywork because a vehicle does not have to be left overnight for paint to cure. That increases demand for mobile dentless repair during inflationary times.
Marketplace frugality solutions
Switching to an electric vehicle isn’t realistic for Align because there is an acute shortage of electric vehicles, especially trucks, which Tran needs to carry the repair equipment his business needs.
So, Align has had to turn to optimized scheduling and other operational efficiencies to reduce his pain at the pump, Tran said.
For a workday that would normally involve driving all over the Lower Mainland, Align is now scheduling jobs that are geographically close to each other on the same days.
“There is definitely more planning involved than just winging it, which happened more before [inflation]. If I am going to be in Burnaby for one job today, I try to schedule jobs nearby on that day as well. Same with downtown or North Vancouver, just because the gas prices are so high.”
Read more:
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- Grappling with global lumber market volatility
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- Launchpad leaning on outsourcing to cut costs
