Skills Canada 2013

I am so excited to share this today.

We have always known that our painter Cecile was a dedicated and valuable employee.

Recently though, she got the chance to prove her skill to the auto body world.

First, the provincials for car painting were at the NAIT Patricia Campus a week before the skills competition at the expo centre.

 "In the provincial competition, there were four of us competitng..me being the only girl...we had to prepare a fender with a scratch in it to be painted (featheredge, prime and sand) and  prepare a new bumper, seal and paint it." 

She won gold, as well as the safety award for her field. 

Not to mention the opportunity to represent Alberta at the national event at BC place in Vancouver.

"There were seven of us competing in post secondary (only girl again!). On the first day, I had to make a turquoise color without a formula, tint a blue color to match with a formula, polish half a hood(removing all the defects) and mask up a car door without removing any trim panels, handle or mirror. On the second day, we did a tri-stage spot repair on a fender(it was laser red) following the tech sheet and we had to prepare a new bumper for sealer and paint. The judges were concerned with the process and safety..and of course final product."  

Again, it was gold for our girl in Post Secondary Car Painting.

Her trip was completed with a little down time.

"In Vancouver, Team Alberta was treated to a boat ride up False Creek and into the English Bay. We got to see the Southwest Coast, downtown Vancouver, the Lions gate bridge, Lighthouse Park and Snug Cove."

 "It was a great experience, meeting people from across the country and winning gold was just the cherry on top!"

We are so proud of you Cecile.

Paying Off

I just had to share this photo of Jeff and Jason hard at work.

Rockin' the PPG swag.

We've been missing Daddy lately since he's been working many late nights.

I'm happy to say though that this was our biggest month yet.

We hit 150% of our old record.

It feels good to know that the changes we've made lately have paid off.

The best change we made was taking on Jason as a partner.

Now we need to solidify our staff so these guys don't have to work so many hours.

Jeff also sent me this photo of a recent paint job.

They painted this racing stripe in black matte.

It's even clear coated with a technique that keeps the matte look.

We're all taking a well-deserved weekend off. 

Have a great one!

Now That's a Taping Job

We recently got in a cube van that needed some corrosion fixed.

I wanted to share not because of the actual fix.

I was just so blown away with the prep work that went into this job.

There's a reason I'm on the book end of this business.

I do not have the patience these guys do.

When I paint {walls} at home I don't prep despise prepping and do an awful job at it.

They got this done in 3 days.

{Even though it meant that 2 of them stayed until 9 and the other 2 until 11 Tuesday night.}

The entire thing needed to be masked, even the roof.

The second pic shows the paper door that they fashioned since the actual door had to be open for paint.

Paint was also an issue since this bad boy didn't fit into the booth.

Instead, two air lines and a portable duster were brought to the van.

The customer was impressed and happy.

Once again, that made all the work worthwhile.