Since day one Gary Laschuk and his team have been focused on delivering the best service for their clients.
Located at 5365 93 St. NW in Edmonton, CSN–Reflections is a 12,000 sq ft facility with a reputation for delivering quality repairs to happy customers.
Shop owner/operator Gary Laschuk first got into the collision repair business out of high school and by 1987 had taken the step of opening his own shop. “We started out very small with myself, my brother and another guy,” he says. Yet slowly but surely Laschuk’s business grew, aided by a solid reputation for quality work that spread through the Edmonton community via word of mouth.
Expansion
The current location was built and opened in 1999 with an extension added in 2015. “We added 3,000 sq ft to the building,” says Laschuk. “Approximately 2600 of it was additional shop space, while the rest was used for storage. We moved a lot of our parts carts into this area, which allowed us to add another workstation in the shop.”
At present, CSN–Reflections has 15 full time staff, with five working the front office and the rest out in the shop. “We have three body technicians and two painters,” adds Laschuk. The shop also has a number of apprentices working under the back-end staff in different departments. “We rotate the apprentices in order to give them training in different areas and develop different skills sets,” notes Laschuk.
Investments to the facility since opening include a Nova Verta double wide downdraft spray booth, prep station, as well as Pro Spot resistance spot welders, plus an aluminum repair room was added when the building was expanded. The shop is also fully equipped to perform pre and post-scanning on vehicles that come in for repair. The business has also expanded to included tire servicing and even windshield repairs.
Systematic operation
“We run a very lean shop,” says Laschuk, whose facility processes [on average] about 100 vehicles per month. “It’s a very systematic process for the vehicles,” he says. “Each stall within the shop has its own purpose.” Additionally, the repair plan process and the shop’s management tools ensure that vehicles are repaired, completed and ready for delivery as quickly and efficiently as possible. “If a vehicle comes in with minor repairs, it will be fast tracked through the system,” explains Laschuk.
In 2009, Laschuk came in contact with CSN Collision Centres. “I got to meet the management team at CSN and I felt it would be a good fit for us in joining the network.” CSN–Reflections was the very first shop in Alberta to join CSN and in 2016 was named CSN Shop of the Year. “That was a very proud moment for us,” says Laschuk, who also noted that becoming part of CSN opened up new opportunities.
“When we started out, we grew our business by doing a lot of dealer work, so insurance and DRP wasn’t something we were very familiar with.” Since then, things have very much changed, but what hasn’t is the shop’s mantra of first and foremost, taking care of customers, whether they happen to be sent to CSN–Reflections via their insurance company or are paying out of pocket for repairs. “Since day one, it has always been about delivering a world-class experience for our clients,” says Laschuk.
