Recently Gavin held a quick 10 Minute Q & A with Colin Stevenson from HC Stevenson Consultancy who offers remote estimating services for collision repairers.
Give me the two-minute Colin Stevenson work journey?
All right. 1978; left school, went into an apprenticeship as a painter, stayed painting in the one shop for 13years, went repping for a paint company. Went and managed a big shop and in 30 years I had three jobs so I was quite stable. I got laid off from my last position & I moved around for about 10 years, picked up a lot of different skills, predominantly in estimating, but also in networking and working with manufacturers as well. Now I’m out on my own. Have been for the last six and a half years doing what I do, which is the consulting & estimating and that sort of thing.
What inspired you to go it alone?
To be honest with you, as I said, I was with one repairer for 13 years, and I got laid off. I moved around a lot because it was very hard to find home after you’ve been in one position for so long. I struggled quite a bit, but I learnt an awful lot along the way. So, I went to a couple of different repairers and I worked as a contractor for Toyota Australia. I worked in the largest supplier of smash repair equipment in Australia. I shuffled around a fair bit…. I couldn’t find what I was looking for and struggled to find home. One of my friends actually suggested, “Hey Col, you’ve got all this knowledge, you’ve got all this experience. Why don’t you get out there and go it alone and see if you can make a bit of a difference out there in the marketplace?” I wanted to get my life back because I was having dramas with anxiety and just struggling along those lines. so, I did, I networked myself and here we are today, six and a half years down the track still growing.
What Services does HC Stevenson Consultancy offer?
To the smash repairer, predominantly is the estimating. So basically, I will look at images online or log in to the repairers estimating package, look at it, discuss it with the repairer, then quote the vehicle. If necessary, I will negotiate with the assessor. Obviously help them with the additionals, so on and so forth. So that’s predominantly where we start. I don’t go into the area of the business that you go into, drilling into numbers and things like that. I did do that for a paint company there for a while, but I don’t do that currently. I basically impart my knowledge and experience to the repairer if they’re so inclined to accept it.
And a lot of these repairers, as you would know yourself, the small repairers specifically out in rural Australia, they don’t have anyone to network with. They don’t have anyone to talk to. They don’t have anybody to bounce ideas off. When they’re struggling with a particular insurance company or an assessor or whatever, they don’t know where to go so sometimes you become that ear if that makes sense. And I’m sure it does in the line of stuff that you do, just to be there.
Who would you say you learned the most from, in relation to writing your estimates? Who would you classify as your estimating mentors?
I thought I could quote, and you just pick bits and pieces up along the way. One of the repairers I spent about 18 months with in Sydney was a very small shop in Mortdale, and they were Portuguese. They were next level. It was very difficult to learn because it was just stuff that I’d never seen before, but it opened my eyes to a whole different world. Sometimes I still question how far we went, but yeah, I learned a lot from them. From that, you then go to different repairers and learn what they’re doing and how they’re doing it and what level they’re at. So yeah, from this small little Portuguese repairer in Mortdale, that had a staff of four.
What benefits does remote estimating provide to a repairer?
Well, there’s a few things. A lot of these repairers, and probably more of the smaller repairers don’t necessarily need a full-time estimator. The owner tends to write a lot of the estimates himself. When does he do that? He generally does it after hours because he’s busy with his day-to-day stuff. He gets interrupted with phone calls, on the floor, customers etc. So that’s where I can come in, and basically, even if I get interrupted when I’m doing a quote, you lose your flow of that estimate. So it’s hard enough for me, but at least I can control that environment. Whereas in a panel shop, it’s very hard to control that. It’s amazing the things you miss when you are interrupted. The other thing is the amount of stuff that you pick up over the years because I’m not just isolated within four walls. So I’ll quote for Billy Blogs etc. And not just different shops within a region, but different shops within different states. So it’s actually amazing little things you pick up from different repairers that can be passed on … “Wow, I’d never even thought about that.” But it just frees up the time of the owner and it brings extra experience into the business.
How do you manage the different management programs and the estimating requirements for different work providers and repairers? For instance, some are on average repair cost models and then you’ve got the range of different work providers across different states with all different processes?‘
I’ll be honest. Initially, that was the hardest thing to come to terms with because as I said, I came out of a repairer who was ruthless. Every nut, every bolt, every clip. But when work with repairers that are on average repair cost models, they don’t want that because they must meet targets. So, what I do initially is; I have a discussion with the business owner and find out at what level they’re at. What level they want me to quote at because I can have a million ideas. But if the business is not at that point and doesn’t want to upset the work provider, then there’s no point in me even looking at doing that. On the other perspective, there are repairers out there that want me to quote exactly how a vehicle needs to be repaired. So, it’s having those conversations first thing to enable us to move forward and at the needs of their business.
What challenges do you sometimes come across when you begin working with a repairer?
Understanding where they’re at and what their expectations are. So understanding where their expectation is and trying to make positive change and try to take them to another level with me, with the estimating, without offending them or without criticizing them and without them feeling threatened. You are a a tool to be used, you’re not a teacher as in, you are to a point, but you don’t want to be dictatorial to their business. Well, that’s probably the hardest thing.
Well, it’s an interesting concept and obviously it’s working quite well for you. You’ve got yourself working with a few repairers, so you’ve got some opportunity there to work with some other repairers. How can people contact you?
Either by mobile number, which I can give that now, which is 0458566400 or my email address colin@hcstevensonconsultancy.com.au
There you have it. We’ve had 10 minutes with Colin Stevenson and Colin offers remote estimating services for collision repairers. He works with a variety of repairers in different states, utilizing different processes, different management systems. If you’re in need of a part-time estimator, Colin could well be your go-to man. Thanks, Col. Thank you for having 10 minutes with Gavin McGahey. We appreciate that and all the best with your ongoing growth of your consultancy services and remote estimating.