Just wondering how many licenced or apprentiship bodymen / painters are on here

I'm on my secound year for my apprentship doing auto body

 

Are you in school, or learning on the job? Stick with the trade, it's gratifying, and pays very well.

 

Im moving up Im car prepper but the painter occasionally lets me shoot some cars and small **** like moldings and stuff. ive been doing it for almost a year now

 

I went to WyoTech and graduated with honors in 2005, have 18 I-CAR points, worked as a detailer out of school (boo!), quit, got a job as a body man, worked my way into prepper/back up painter, then got a job offer to be an estimator for a Dodge/Kia Dealership. So I have my appraisers license and work in the office as an estimator. It's not quite as gratifiying as repairing a car, or laying down a nice coat of clear, but it's ok.

 

i started almost eight years ago at the bottom the the food chain now i own my own shop and we have done quite a few cars for mags i wouldnt trade it for the world

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Automations &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i started almost eight years ago at the bottom the the food chain now i own my own shop and we have done quite a few cars for mags i wouldnt trade it for the world </TD></TR></TABLE>

That's my ultimate goal, I want to own a custom shop. I don't want to deal with heavy hits, I just want to do minor cosmetic damage and do custom paint work. Someday maybe...

 

currently working on my Icar certifications at the moment. i graduate in 9 mo. platinum certified. i already have 11 icar points and hope to move outta ohio and work at a nice shop somewhere spraying if at all possible.
dont know if i want to look into a dealership or a normal body shop.
anyone have any suggestions ?

 

Been working at it for about 4 years now. Have an ASE certification in Structural Analysis and damage repaire. I started out as a prep man and slowly started doing body work. Then I got massive training on a frame machine. Fell in love with the pulling of metal and now that is what I do. But my ideal goal is to own my own shop one day. And hopefully I can do it without DRP's

 

i have done a couple Icar courses too,

 

I'm Icar cert. ASE cert. and BASF factory trained and certified. Just because someone has certifications doesn't mean much though, its all about the quality of workmanship. I've never paid a dime for school, I started at the bottom at a dealership. I quit the dealer as a tech to take a paint apprenticeship years ago, it was such a good move. I too would like to start my own custom paint shop, I helped my buddy at his custom shop for a while on side. I need to start my own soon. I'm lucky to have a few friends who have been painting for 15-30 years, the guy who trained me had been painting for 12 years and has awesome skills. Its gratifying to have years of painting experience and be able to lay clear out masterfully. mucho props to automations dude

 

I've been in the biz for 12 yrs now......Start off with a little bit of school.Im now have my Ase certs,Icar and im a silver PPG cert.I've done some work for some of the members of this board.Nothing beats on the job training.The shop im at now i spray 3-7 gallons of clear a week.Pratice makes you so much better.

 

i'm not licensed in any sort of way but like many others i started at the bottom about 5 years ago doing prep work. rapidly worked through to doing lots of suspension/mechanical work on big wrecks and total loss's, starting getting into body work and sheet metal work. and now i do heavy collision, lots of plastic work on things that should never be fixed, and pretty much put total loss's back together from scratch. My last big job that just left a month ago was an 2006 Jetta, the guy whacked a tree at 40mph, broke every single drivetrain mount, smashed the tranny, smashed the turbo, smashed the rack and pinion, smached all the subframes upfront, took out the left frame rail, and had to replace all the main harnesses in the front of the car. The guy bought the car for 18k and change, when the car left the final estimate racked up to 18k and change, lol and it still has a clean title.

 

Congrats on all your guys I-Car points. Too bad it's just a piece of paper. I don't like where the industry is going with I-Car and all the big insurance companys sleeping in bed together.

The only reason I got certified is because certain automakers require it in there big shops. Who here has sectioned a frame rail out of cardboard and got points for being a "frame specialist"

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by powerflow &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm Icar cert. ASE cert. and BASF factory trained and certified. Just because someone has certifications doesn't mean much though, its all about the quality of workmanship. I've never paid a dime for school, I started at the bottom at a dealership. I quit the dealer as a tech to take a paint apprenticeship years ago, it was such a good move. I too would like to start my own custom paint shop, I helped my buddy at his custom shop for a while on side. I need to start my own soon. I'm lucky to have a few friends who have been painting for 15-30 years, the guy who trained me had been painting for 12 years and has awesome skills. Its gratifying to have years of painting experience and be able to lay clear out masterfully. mucho props to automations dude</TD></TR></TABLE>

BASF FTW..............did they fly you to germany lmao

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sc4dr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't like where the industry is going with I-Car </TD></TR></TABLE>
Yeah, I agree, there is some really good knowledgable instructors. But almost anyone could walk in off the steet and pass those tests at the end of the class.

 

Yeah. it's funny because in most body shop ad's they want I-CAR or ase certified techs, but when it comes down to it they'll take anyone with some experience. It's getting hard to find good techs, so if you're good at what you do, no matter what certifications, you've got the job.