Why I started Tint Perth

It’s funny how Tint Perth came about really… considering I had just taken close to a decade off window tinting to work in the field of health…but I’ll come back to that later. Oh and this is also kind of like my journey of window tinting throughout the years so you might need some popcorn for this read!

It all starts when I was just out of high school and studying art at Tafe in Perth city…I actually wanted to be a chef but my mum wasn’t too keen on me surrendering myself to work night shifts, weekends and getting yelled at by power tripping chefs. So I completed my TEE exams and decided to focus on my art which was another passion of mine. After a few weeks of having to work most of my spare time to pay the bills I decided that there was no point in continuing with my course as I had no time to focus on producing any art and was rushing everything, so I decided to get a job for a while. After scouring through the classifieds in the back of the paper I saw an add that said Window Tinter Traineeship, junior wanted! I really had no idea what being a window tinter would entail but I knew at the end of it all I would have a trade and being that I like physical work and am somewhat of a tomboy my curiosity got the better of me and I applied for the position.

On my first day I got to tint a window and it felt good to be based in a workshop…plus I got the job. Brock the owner was a quirky south african and Danial who was training me was a younger guy who loved race cars. During my year of training I tinted a lot of cars, pulled apart alot of door trims, heat shrunk a lot of rear screens and did plenty of paint, rust and fabric protection packages for dealerships. We had a lot of cars that were straight from the dealerships and then we had our daily flow of cars from retail customers which were usually a bit more interesting. Being part of a traineeship I was on minimum wage for the whole first year which wasn’t easy but once I had completed my trade and got my certificate it was time to move up a bit in the ranks. 

After working for about a year and a half at Solace Midland I decided to try somewhere new and ended up working for about 6 months tinting cars at Tint a Car Maddington. After a while I felt a bit bored just tinting cars and being based in the workshop for the entire day so I applied for a job at High Performance Window Films in Osborne Park. It was definitely the change I was after and for the first time I was working as a flat glass window tinter.

I had a new work partner called Mick and a plus was that we liked the same music so working mobile and tinting all over Perth city and its surrounding suburbs was a fun change. I learnt how to install decorative frosted prints, signage and apply solar film to glass. I was enjoying this new scene of tinting and after about a year was sad to say goodbye to tinting for a long while. 

One night coming home after work I had a car accident that made it very hard for me to use the tools I needed to tint without being in pain. Even sitting or trying to turn my head was a pain so I started working on fixing myself and even lived in the Whitsundays, Townsville and Cairns for a long while, working in hospitality and the health and wellness industry. After about 8 years of being out of the tinting scene I moved back to Perth and met my partner Shannon who just happened to be a Glazier. 

One day It dawned on me that it could either be a really good or a really bad idea that I start tinting again and somehow combine our skills…I mean it seemed like a match and job opportunity made in heaven..what could go wrong…right?! So I called around for a refresher course or something that would pretty much remind me of how to tint again so that I could feel confident to re-enter the workforce and call myself a window tinter once again! Quickly and quite surprisingly, word got around that I was back in the game and I was given a few places to call for an interview. One of those places was DMS…now called Paragon. I kind of felt like i was faking it somehow but went for the interview anyway and was offered a job with a company car plus benefits. I was both excited and scared shitless it all seemed kind of crazy to me…but I accepted and boom! I was back working as a flat glass window tinter in Perth City once again. The bulk of Paragon’s main workload was commercial which meant alot of office fit-outs, decorative frosted films, signage, vision strips, solar and security films. After a few weeks I started to know my way around the city and my window tinting skills were getting better by the day. I started to really love being a window tinter again and was grateful to be working alongside a couple of younger guys, Tiit and Denham…it was a good mix! Even though I was loving what I was doing I started to notice things that I didn’t like so much…like working in building sites filled with fumes, lack of parking in the city, rushing to get to the next job etc. After about 6 months I thought maybe the time is now to jump all in and start my own window tinting business and even though it was a hard decision and everyone at Paragon were really great I resigned and started Tint Perth. 

Since starting Tint Perth I can honestly say that I have learnt a lot and still have a lot to learn.. but it feels great that it’s on my own terms. I can now focus on the aspects of window tinting that I excel in and enjoy most. I can build my business around my personal core values and beliefs and I can now take the time I need to prioritise customer relations and offer a quality window tinting service throughout Perth which I am proud to call my own!

My partner Shannon has helped so much along the way… from helping to build my website, giving me the push ive needed at times, offering loads of business advice that I am forever grateful for…god knows what Tint Perth would be like if he was not a part of the whole process, manually helping me on the job when I have needed it plus more. We have even collaborated on a few niche projects together which I have really loved and it’s been interesting for me to work more hands on with glass, mirrors and all stuff glazier related. What a ride so far.. I am excited to keep creating and building Tint Perth into the vision I hold and for everyone to truly enjoy there now slightly darker windows!!! = )