The tools of his trade begin with white gloves and include specialty squeegees, a rivet brush, water soluble pencils and a perforator.
The eclectic collection travels comfortably on his hip and is a necessity for every professional mobile installer of vehicle graphics.
For nearly 25 years, Thomas has applied vehicle graphics as an independent contractor, and since 1995 he’s worked under the banner of Old West Graphics LLC. Owned and operated by Thomas and his wife Cheryl, the company started as a part-time venture while the couple resided in northern Colorado.
Only two years ago did it turned into a full-time gig, and in October he picked up his ninth contract as an authorized installer for a national graphics company specializing in public safety such as police cars and ambulances. Old West Graphics earned the right to install for Minnesota-based Grafix Shoppe across eight states in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions spanning Arkansas to Wyoming. Along with his mobile installation contract with Indiana-based Signature Graphics and a steady stream of work outsourced from Stripes & Stuff Graphic Signs in northeast Springfield, Thomas pegs 2013 revenues between $85,000 to $100,000 – approximately double Old West Graphics’ pace last year.
“It’s very feasible the way this year is taking off,” Thomas says, declining to disclose the 2012 tally and noting the mobile installation business gets limited by inclement weather. “Before we hit the slow period, we were really starting to take off. If we had stayed on track for the full year, I probably would have hit $100,000 last year.”
Thomas also works on spot assignments, such as fleet jobs for Boettcher Janitor Service & Supply in Republic and John Morris Equipment & Supply Co. At Morris Equipment, Thomas’ handiwork is on the walls – he installed a floor-to-ceiling washing machine graphic to give the impression of a laundromat inside the commercial laundry equipment dealer’s South Glenstone Avenue office.
Practice makes perfect Thomas cut his teeth in the industry in the late 1980s through a six-month training program by 3M in western Kansas. He worked in 3M’s nationwide network of installers for a couple of years during an era Thomas calls “BC” – before computers.
“Everything we had to do was before computers. We had to build everything from our minds and from raw material,” he says, recalling the challenges of placing stripes straight from the rolls and ensuring both sides of the vehicle were mirror images.
He says computers in the early 1990s changed the game in the printer software and design work, and vehicle print wraps began to emerge in the mid-2000s. “They had to get the technology down for the printers to print material that would be able to last through weather conditions,” he says, noting print shops now generally warranty vehicle graphics for five years, and technology has improved to add laminate coverings.
On a Saturday in mid-March, the Thomases spent 15 hours in Kansas City wrapping a 24-foot delivery truck for construction materials supplier ProBuild. The job was contracted through Signature Graphics, which also handles vehicle graphics for such companies as DirecTV, Grainger and A&E Factory Service by Sears.
“We’re probably going to get two or three more trucks from that account in Kansas City,” he says.
Across America The bulk of Old West Graphics’ work in 2012 arrived through Stripes & Stuff, specifically a job for the sign company’s largest client, Prime Inc. The Springfield-based trucking company ordered graphics on 44 of its trailers for participation in the Wreaths Across America Day, an annual volunteer program with the trucking industry to lay wreaths on veterans’ graves at national cemeteries across the country.
The job of covering the 53-foot trailers with partial wraps on the bottom third and wreath logos on the rear was ideal for outsourcing, says Jeff Grace, manager of the eight-employee Stripes & Stuff shop.
“There is some stuff that we just can’t get to,” Grace says of the nearly $18,000 job that was finished in six months – in time for Prime trucks to deliver wreaths to the Springfield National Cemetery on Dec. 10. “We knocked out about three of those a week. We’d just outsource the contract labor to him, and he helps us keep the customer happy. That’s the biggest thing.”
The recent contract with Grafix Shoppe hasn’t materialized any jobs yet – the sign season really begins in April – but Thomas says the company has aggressively issued about two dozen bids in his region. Recent attempts for police department contracts in Joplin and Tulsa, Okla., came up empty, but Grafix Shoppe is in the running for jobs in the northwest Missouri town of Cameron and Jefferson County outside of St. Louis.
Thomas also says the company plans to bid this summer and fall on vehicles for the Springfield Police Department and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
To drum up direct contract jobs, Thomas is eying the association trade show circuit. He plans to join the Firefighters Association of Missouri and set up a booth at its annual convention May 3–5 in Carthage.
“You can mail stuff out to fire chiefs all day long, and most of it is going to go in the trash if they don’t know who you are. They are a real face-to-face kind of business,” he says, noting the $50 membership and $175 exhibitor fee is a minimal investment for his expected return. “They want to know who you are.”[[In-content Ad]]
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