Chat GPR: Big Dent Dave Schaulat
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[00:00:00] Hey, what's up guys. Gene Fetty with AAI back with another one of our chat GPT series. Today we have the Dave Shaulat. A K, a B, DD, big dent. Dave. Uh, Dave has been in PDR for a long time. He actually went, uh, in the class with my mentor. It was at class one or two with Dent was early on. Well, it was early on, but it was one of the original classes.
Yeah. One in Florida after they started in St. Louis with the, with the very first class. Nice. One of the very first dent classes. Right. Really in og uh, Dave was also crucial. Uh, and my journey into teaching GPR with KECO, uh, and sort of led the way and fed the way. Right. We, we've certainly dined at some great restaurants.
So Dave, welcome to, uh, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming in. Uh, A little bit of background on you, right? We know you've been around for a long time. How did you get started and where are you at today? Okay, well, I got started, uh, I was in the plumbing business, uh, [00:01:00] as a young man. It was my family business, uh, my family's business, I should say.
And, um, I kind of, as a, as a young man grew tired of working for the family business. It was all day, every day, holidays, weekends. And I wanted to do something different. Right. And so I had heard about through a, through a fellow family in the plumbing business, heard about this painless dent repair and that people were doing repairs without conventional body work and repainting.
And so as soon as I had the chance and got an interview, I was off to the races. Right. And, and more so it was just. At that point, as a very young man, I didn't, I didn't know what to expect from the industry, but it's obviously morphed and I love it and taking, you know, taking to it like a fish to water.
Sure. And, and, you know, I was trained by Lito, who, uh, the founder of Dent Wizard and Natalia Balderrama who just passed, um, and he saw something in me at 20 years old that I didn't see in myself. That's awesome. He took a chance on me quite honestly, even though I was the one that was anxious and impatient as a young man to get out of the family [00:02:00] business, so to speak.
Uh, but that was, that's kind of my intro into it, right? And so I worked my way through the, through the ranks with Dent Wizard for 23 years, and then finally separated employment with them and branched on my own. But, uh, that was back in 1991, so I've been around a long time. Wow, that's awesome. I was still in high school in 91.
Not that you're old. I'm living at your heels, but No, that's good. Uh, so 23 years with Dent Wizard. Uh, once you left there, where, where'd you go? What's, what's the next chapter in Dave's PDR? Well, during that 23 years, there's some good stories as well. I know there are. But, uh, then I, then I moved to Phoenix.
I think a lot of people know that my house got acquired for a highway project in the Chicago area. And, uh, my wife and I made the decision at the time with our kids to separate employment and move and, and like physically move. change our lifestyle a little bit, and choose a new base from which to explore this great big country we live in.
Did quite frankly she didn't want to shovel snow ever again. Sure. So we chose Phoenix, [00:03:00] Arizona. So in 2015, we moved to Phoenix I've been there almost 10 years now 10 years coming up in January It seems like it was last year that you moved there. You know, I mean time really flies time time goes so fast, right?
and And so I've been there started knocking on doors As you alluded to your mentor and I went to school together And I actually went to Phoenix to start working for him and things didn't work out quite as well plan, but that's all right, minor issues. Right. So then I kind of reinvented myself and rebranded and, and moved forward, uh, you know, as an individual.
Perfect. That's beautiful. Now to the part of the story that, uh, that I don't know that I've ever heard. We, we spent a lot of time at Chico, uh, teaching, training, flying around, uh, How did you get hooked up with Chris and the KECO crew and, and start training, right? I know that Jonathan, right, obviously helped design some of the tools and they put their heads together and it was all created from there and then Right, keeping an eye on you, you start doing some training for KECO.
How did, how did that come about? How did you [00:04:00] Start your journey into what today we would call GPR. How did that start for you? Well, the irony is we're here at Anson and I don't know for the people that are there that are watching, we're filming this at Anson at the open house. In 2016 or 2017, I'm not sure of the year, I can't remember, Kevin Andrews introduced me to Chris White, the owner of Chicco.
Kevin Andrews, for those of you who don't know, great technician in the UK. I helped mentor him during my time in Europe and then he was with TDN for quite some time before Chicco acquired them. Long story short on that, Kevin introduced me to Chris because Chris was looking for somebody who could walk and talk and do the, uh, do the physical demos, do the technical side of things.
Right. Right. But then still not be afraid to speak to customers and articulate and that kind of thing. And so you're saying you're not afraid to talk. Well, you know, I'll tell you a story of the guy on the plane next to me this morning. Um, but, uh, Chris had inquired with Kevin and said, Hey, I'm looking for somebody here, stateside.
Do you know anybody? And Kevin said, you know, [00:05:00] first name that came to his mind was me. And so we were at Anson's open house. Again, this is going back now. Uh, where are we? What, what year is this? This is the seventh, is this the seventh or eighth annual open house? So, I went to the one in 2018 and I can't remember if that was the first or second.
That was first or second. That might have been the second. So, I think the first one, and again, it was at the old facility, not the new. Not here, right. Not Taj Mahal. Um, Chris had introduced me, excuse me, Kevin had introduced me to Chris. I hadn't seen Kevin in a very long time. Um, and then Chris was there and Kevin introduced me and Chris and I spoke and he gave me, uh, you know, a little overview of what he was planning on doing, right?
And what he wanted to accomplish and the direction he wanted to go with glue pulling. Sure. And, and so we hit it off and, uh, a couple of weeks later, Chris called with the idea and he kind of prefaced it to me at the time when we first met, called and said, could you please meet me, uh, for our first demonstration at a body [00:06:00] shop.
In your neck of the woods, well, a little bit east of you in the Philadelphia area, but in Pennsylvania. And, uh, we're also going to have representatives from LKQ there because we wanted to develop a distributor network through them. That was your, kind of, the original base plans, right? Yeah. So that was the introduction into Chicco.
And so I flew to, flew to Philadelphia. Uh, as you know, a lot of what we do, we're one day, uh, uh, training. Yep. And, and, you know, you're. You come in, you fly in, you do the demonstration, do the training, and then you leave, right? And so that was, you know, to me, uh, starting out early, that was a very accomplishable, is that a word?
Yeah. Accomplishable. It is now. Feat, right? It was, it was easy to do. I could manage my business and take a day off. And as Chris had envisioned, it was going to be four or six one day trips a year. Right. To get this thing off the ground. And that quickly changed. That quickly changed. Yes. There's my sarcasm.
Yeah. Four to six trips. Uh huh. And then we end up living on an airplane at 35, 000 feet. Right. Yeah. So that was my introduction into Chicco and into, in with Chris. [00:07:00] Nice. So Dave, for those of you, most of you probably don't know, Dave was actually my introduction, uh, to, to KECO and, and actually to Chris.
Right. Uh, so we were at a hail expo and, uh, I think that was early 2019 in St. Louis. Yeah. And, uh, I was starting to think about, Branching out of PDR and doing some training at body shops and teaching glue pull, right? I had seen KECO's videos with Jonathan and saw that you were out and right there was video of you guys going to body shops And like man, this is cool.
We were at the expo I was speaking and Chris was speaking and I don't know if you remember this but right It's one of those pivotal moments in my life We're sitting in the back and you said man, you really need to stick around And listen to Chris's speech. I've heard what you're thinking about, and you need to pay attention.
Well, Chris gets up on stage and talks about a program that never really jumped off the Kikko core. And, uh, I was like, man, that's I like it, but I got some advice. Or you know, or, or Not [00:08:00] advice, uh, some thoughts to interject, right? Later that night, we're at the bar. Melissa's here, right? We're hanging out with the guys.
I get up to go to the restaurant, restroom. Dave and Chris, you two, are sitting there enjoying a bourbon. And I'm like, Dave, you gotta introduce me to your buddy Chris. And that conversation went till I don't know, three in the morning or we definitely closed down the bar. We drained that bottle of hate.
Yeah, that was, uh, I believe knowing me, that was good. Uh, and then, you know, good drunken discussion. Yeah. Cheers. A good drunken discussion till the wee hours. Uh, and I went back and talked to Chris the next day and I said, Hey, I know we were drinking last night and having a good time. We scheduled a call for the next Monday.
And before I knew it, I was at the first training at KECO at the lodge where you and Jonathan were leading the class. And the rest is history. So if it wasn't for you, you know, I may not have ended up down that road. So that's a, that's a pivotal moment for sure. That was a good time. Good. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:09:00] Uh, so we know that travel was tough with training. What was your favorite part about going out and spreading the, the, the word of, of GPR to these body shops? What was your favorite part of that? Well, the favorite, you know, the favorite part of what, what, what registers in my mind is being able to solve.
Most of the, most of the questions you can very easily solve. Yep. Number one question, why doesn't it stick? Yes. Right? Right. And so then that became a very easy one. And so that became kind of my, my happy place because I knew the system worked, right? Right. I knew the process worked and I knew there wouldn't be a problem with adhesion.
Right. Right. And so once you, once you overcome that hurdle. Then it's kind of downhill from there, right? And so, you know, that's the one thing that really sticks in my mind, right? Yes, we can talk about the dinners. We can talk about the travel. We can talk about the place. Oh, sure, sure. Opportunities to see and meet great people, right?
And, and bring that message out. But that's the one thing that really [00:10:00] sticks in my mind. And I guess then in a way without sounding cocky about it, It was easy. It was, it really was. Right? We didn't have to sell anything. I mean, there were those that were tough, right there. You had tough customers, you had tough body men, tough guys that didn't believe in the system until you showed it to them.
Once we did that, everything then was downhill, so to speak, right? It was easy. Yes. And so, yes, the travel is difficult, but if you paid attention and you did everything process wise. The rest fell into place. Right. And on top of it, I'm still doing what I love because it's a part of the PDR industry that's morphing now towards the collision side.
Yeah. And I still love to get up and bend metal every day. Right. I'm fascinated by it. I enjoy it. It really is. It's not work. It's almost therapeutic. Therefore, it's easy. Correct. Does that make sense? That makes perfect sense. I'm right there with you. Absolutely. If you can give one piece of advice for, say, body shops, technicians thinking about heading down the path [00:11:00] of learning gluteal repair, adding gluteal repair to their, uh, arsenal.
What's the, what's your one piece of advice, uh, that you would give to a shop thinking about adding, thinking about bringing it in? My one piece of advice, I think, would be You need to encompass a program and a system that's all inclusive, meaning you've got all the equipment and all the tools, all the training, all the experience, everything necessary to make you successful.
Great advice. And it sets you up for success. And in that same breath, if you don't mind, as many different tabs and different glues and different companies that offer products when it comes to glue itself. Less is more. Now what I mean by that is, you have a myriad of colors and glues that are formulated for different conditions.
Don't cloud your mind with that. Keep yourself focused and follow the process because [00:12:00] the glue itself is the, is the binding agent in the simple part of all of it. Right? But if you keep it simple and you choose a couple of glues in your area or region that work, Stick with those. Yes. Don't get yourself confused with all the, the, the rainbow of colors of glue.
Correct. So therefore less is more. I agree. I agree. And actually you, you weren't here for the earlier interview, but right. Even Craig Dyer, right at Anson, the glue guy, he said, if you have a glue that works, when you find a glue that works, stick with it. Right. Right? That's the same advice. I have that same opinion, right?
It is less about chasing the, the glue or chasing the new this or the new that. Right. Pick a glue or a couple of glues and master them. Right. And that's where that success lies. Absolutely. Absolutely. I had that conversation earlier today at breakfast. Yes. Same conversation about learning that particular formula and.
Temperature, pull time, set time, that kind of thing, right? Right, identifying the [00:13:00] glue itself, for sure. Uh, what's the, what's the biggest mistake you would see when you were out teaching? Where's, where does everybody go wrong? What was the biggest flag or the biggest problem you had to correct? And I think it sort of ties into your early answer, but Well, it, uh, it coincides with the same.
The, the big problem was the adhesion, right? And not following a process, not cleaning the panel. Period. End of discussion. Right. And, and then the attitude that comes with that, well, this doesn't work, and you've seen the videos. Remember I showed you the video? The guy told me I could suck it. Yep. That was phenomenal.
I remember that. Yes. And, and I made a believer out of him in about, I 30 minutes. Exactly. Right. He was just like, I'll be damn. Anyway, but you know, but again, you, you, you, you follow the process and you get the panel clean and then you keep it warm. Right. If you're in a cold weather market, yeah. Ambient, ambient temperature.
You don't run into cold panels very often in Phoenix. Not in Phoenix. Now I have to cool them down. Um, [00:14:00] but that seems to have been the biggest obstacle, right. Along with, you know, what was gratifying. where it was solving that adhesion issue. And then, you know, those two kind of coincide, making it work.
Yeah, absolutely. That's, uh, back to that, the guy who tells you to suck it, that was my, my favorite part of training was watching the light bulbs go off and these guys learn it. Right. But like secretly, I love to turn that crotchety old body, man. He's like, that doesn't work. This won't work. And you get that big tab and he gets something to hook up.
And it just goes, and that same guy goes from this grumpy old, uh, stuck in my ways. And he just, his face lights up. And suddenly he's got interest. And then he goes from, he couldn't brush you off fast enough to one of the most engaged people in the class. It's, that was, I always loved when I got the crush on the old guy.
The old dude got a new squeaky ball. Exactly. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That, that, that happy tail came back. Yeah. It's perfect. Perfect. Yeah. Good deal. Well, Dave. [00:15:00] Thank you so much for coming on and sharing a little bit of your story. More importantly, thank you for being a part of my life and helping me to get to where I am today and and for being a great friend as well.
So, thank you so much, man. Sure, sir. Thank you. We appreciate you. You bet.
