Bill Fonstad has seen a lot of changes since he opened Ideal Autobody back in March of 1985.
It goes with the territory, since he鈥檚 had his own business for 34 years, and he has more than 40 years of experience in the autobody industry.聽
Fonstad said he always wanted to have a business of his own. After he graduated high school, he worked for a year while trying to decide what he wanted to do for a living. The one thing he did know was that he wanted a trade.
鈥淚 looked at a few different things, and I just thought it would be kind of fun to take wrecked cars, and make them look new again,鈥� said Fonstad.
Fonstad went to the provincial trade school for autobody repair, and then went to work at Holmgren Motors, which was the Ford dealership in Estevan at the time, for eight years. The desire to have a business of his own lingered.
鈥淚 had the opportunity, and I started in 1985,鈥� recalled Fonstad. 鈥淭hat was a location on Edward Street, and then I built this place in 1996.鈥�
Fonstad said he still likes to take something that looks horrible after a wreck or another incident, and bring it back to its pre-accident condition. Some damage is much worse than others.
鈥淩ight we鈥檙e still doing hail repairs from last June,鈥� said Fonstad. 鈥淭hose are big jobs. Huge jobs. And then there鈥檚 the little nicks and scratches in the bumper. We do the whole thing.鈥� 聽
Ninety per cent of the work is collision repair.
鈥淚n the old days, body shops did a lot of paint jobs and nowadays, not so much. It鈥檚 just cost-prohibitive. Probably 85-90 per cent of our work is insurance payouts.鈥�
Hail damage is included in their collision-related workload.
They also do some windshield work.聽
Fonstad said the design of vehicles and the work his company does have gone through a lot of changes.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 notice it in your day to day work, but then when you stop to think back about cars back then, they were all mild steel. Now you don鈥檛 even know what steel is in the car.鈥�
It could be high-strength or ultra high-strength steel, or it could be something like magnesium or boron.
Additional technology, such as lane assist and blind spot assistance, also contributes to the challenges associated with their work.
鈥淐ompared to what we used to do, you needed a hammer and a dolly and a torch and a hydraulic jack,鈥� said Fonstad. 鈥淎nd now it鈥檚 a lot more replacement parts, a lot more plastic aluminium.鈥�
The work still brings a sense of satisfaction for Fonstad and his staff. Six people work at Ideal Autobody. He has had as many as eight working at the business, but he believes the current staff count is a good working number.
A lot of his friends are people that he met because Ideal Autobody fixed their car 20 or 30 years ago.
鈥淣ow I鈥檓 fixing their kids and grandkids cars,鈥� he said with a laugh.
