Even as teenagers, the Meadows brothers

enjoyed working with each other. They

spent hours in their mother’s garage,

tearing apart junkers and bringing them

back to life. To no one’s surprise, they both

ended up in the collision business, even

punching in every morning at the same

dealership—Kevin specializing in frame

and metal, Doug in paint.

 

Of course, they had bigger aspirations

than just working in the same garage.

They wanted to open their own shop, and

by 2005, it was slowly coming together,

piece by piece. They bought land in their

hometown. They looked into financing

and equipment. Then, without warning,

the dealership’s staff was called into a

meeting. The body shop was being closed

down. In one month, Doug, Kevin, and

their co-workers would be out of a job.

 

“It was the ultimate shove,” Kevin said.

“We decided to make the best out of a

bad situation."

Within 24 hours, the Meadows shifted their

dream into overdrive. They arranged to

buy as much of the dealership’s

equipment as they could. Instead of

opening a storefront in their hometown,

however, they rented a 5,000 sq. ft. facility

in Beckley, W. Va., a much larger

community. They also hired two of their

co-workers that were also laid off.

Incredibly, just thirty days after receiving

their pink slips, Doug and Kevin opened

2Brothers Collision to the public.

 

In the beginning, it was tough going. “The

first year we were open we worked seven

days a week,” Doug said. “Seven to seven.”

 

Finances were so tight that they didn’t

have a business sign in front of the shop

for the first year. In fact, the only

marketing they had was word of mouth

referrals from satisfied customers, but

that, as it turned out, was more than

enough to jumpstart the business. The

reputation of 2Brothers Collision grew

quickly, and soon the shop was booked

to full capacity.

 

When the long hours and financial

sacrifice began to pay off, Doug and Kevin

wisely reinvested in the company. They

staffed-up to meet the growing workload,

then expanded their space not once, but

twice. Upgrading and modernizing the

equipment was also a top priority. Three

years ago, when they installed three new

paint booths, they also decided to retire

the solvent paint system and make a

switch to waterborne basecoat.

 

“We had heard a lot about water,” Doug

said. “We’ve always wanted to be a leader

in our area—with technology, equipment,

facility and manpower. We just wanted to

be the best.”

 

Researching their options, the brothers

narrowed their choices to two companies,

then planned a two-week shoot-out in

their booth. As it happened, it only took

one week to make the decision. They

chose Envirobase® High Performance, and

the Meadows couldn’t be happier with

the results.

 

 

“We have seen an increase in better color

matches,” Doug said. “Additionally, in

combination with the new paint booth,

Envirobase High Performance has

improved throughput. It has enabled us

tospeed up our production and improve our

cycle times.”

 

Even though he works mostly in metal,

Kevin was impressed with Envirobase

High Performance and its ease of use. “I

have to do some painting, from time to

time,” he said. “I was amazed. It’s really

user-friendly.”

 

Another deciding factor in choosing PPG

was its PaintManager™ software. Both

brothers agree the paint management

system enables them to do more accurate

matches while improving profitability.

“The management side of it is really

good, with the tracking and the charging

out materials,” Doug said. “It was a

nice change from what I’d been using.”

 

Seven years after opening their doors,

2Brothers Collision is still booming. The

facility has tripled in size to over 17,000

square feet, including a brand new

building with an office and three state-of

the-art paint booths—two running fulltime

and a third to cover spikes in the

workload. The Meadows brothers now

employ 21 full-time employees, and are

prepared to add more in the future.

 

Best yet, their father works in the

accounting department and Doug has two

sons working in the shop-Ryan as a full time

painter and Jordon as part-time car prep.

So what was once a brotherly outfit is

transforming into a multi-generational

family operation. “Doing it together makes

it all that much sweeter,” said Kevin.

Article taken form REPAINT REPORTER  v1.1-Pages 28 thru 30