Cousins Sean and Mark McIntosh of Kirmac know collision repair is a matter of community, culture and compassion
Story by SARAH PERKINS
In the collision repair industry, nothing is more important than attention to detail. Noticing a dent or scratch in a vehicle can be the difference that makes or breaks a quality repair. Attention to detail is not only a marker of technical skill, but signals a drive for growth and a sense of compassion for both employees and customers alike.
For cousins Sean and Mark McIntosh, respective president and vice president of Kirmac Collision and Auto Glass in British Columbia, a lifetime journey in the collision repair industry has meant learning how an attention to technical, personal and communal details can create big changes. Collision Repair magazine sat down with the cousins to discuss how when it comes to the industry and the inner workings of a shop, the “culture is everything.”
Leaders of the second generation to take over the Kirmac Collision reins, Sean and Mark both professionally joined the family business during and after high school, but can remember childhood weekends spent with their fathers at the shop.
Originally started by Sean’s father, Ian McIntosh, and Mark’s father, Ken McIntosh in 1973, and today, a 20-store outfit with more than 275 employees, Sean recalls going to the shop with his father and sisters in the early days “and just hanging around” as a child. “I’m sure on top of getting many things accomplished for the business, it was probably an effort, to give my mom a break too,” Sean jokingly noted, “but being there, I would get to see the inner workings of the shop without completely realizing it.” Despite this front row seat to the industry, Sean remarked that “at that moment in my life, if you had asked me what I wanted to do, it wouldn’t have been autobody.”
Instead, Sean’s position for the industry began with an initial foray into the world of racing where Sean spent the early part of his career living in the United Kingdom racing formula cars throughout Europe. In between racing seasons, Sean would return to the business where he would begin learning everything from parts to production and customer service, and following his racing career, he began attending BCIT for business management.
Mark meanwhile, began working for the family business right out of high school and, like Sean, worked the front desk before continuing to develop his skills in other areas. He commented that learning in this way was a good experience because it allowed him to get an intimate understanding of each level of the business.
“You don’t really realize when you start that you have a passion for it, and then as we started to learn the business, we realized that it was interesting and then it grew into what it is today.”
Mark also noted that he never experienced any pressure from his parents to work for the business and instead, was allowed to come to see it in his own time as an opportunity for something bigger.
The cousins further discussed how their fathers did a good job at preparing them for their current roles by developing a plan of strategic succession. This plan included a balance between focusing on the small things, as well as working on seeing the bigger picture. “We reported to the president of the company at the time, John Kerschbaum. Before joining Kirmac, John worked for Future Shop and The Brick in finance. He brought experience and the disciplines you need running much larger organizations. As we progressed through the company, we never had direct reporting relationship with our parents and had to prove ourselves, which I think is healthy,” Sean said.
Mark said that John taught the cousins “things we never would have been able to learn from our fathers alone. We got the best of both worlds, financial management on one side from John and the relationships and the business side from our dads.” In 2014, the family sold its 12 shops in Seattle, Washington, to Service King, something that for Mark was another step in the succession plan for Kirmac.
As a result, in 2021, along with Sean’s sisters Elisa—a member of Kirmac’s Leadership Team and its Director of Information and Technology and Lindsay, and Mark’s sisters Leanne and Laura, the second generation purchased Kirmac from the first generation, marking the official transition. This is when Mark and Sean assumed their current roles at Kirmac.
“When we announced the transition to our stores, there wasn’t a huge change because we were already leading the day-to-day operations in the locations. We still have a lot to learn, but the strategic succession plan made the transition much smoother.”
As their families heed the business, Ian and Ken are enjoying retirement, but are always available to consultant on strategy or transfer a key relationship. They also drop in occasionally to visit with team members at the locations—something that is more than easy to do as Kirmac Collision continuously makes an effort to develop a positive sense of community culture.
With the company having the number of locations it does across British Columbia, Sean stressed that “success comes from trusting and relying on the team around us.” “Sometimes we have to go into the weeds to solve a problem, but for the most part, you have to rely on your team.”
Many of Kirmac Collision’s current executive team members have also grown up in the industry alongside Sean, Mark and Elisa, moving through the ranks from apprentices or manning the front before climbing current roles as regional managers or trainers. “A lot of effort has been spent trying to build a culture in the shops centred on an employee community,” Mark said. “You spend more time at work than you do at home, so it’s important that you enjoy the people you work with.”
In focusing on these interpersonal details, Sean and Mark similarly encourage their shop teams to do events together as well as monthly lunches, and work to recognize birthdays and anniversaries. Just look to the Kirmac Collision’s Facebook page and you’ll see team members going to paintball, concerts, bowling and more.
Incredible value can also be seen in Kirmac Collision’s strong charity presence, with Kirmac Cares For Kids having donated more than $5 million to support children throughout B.C. since its inception in 2010.
Because the business is spread out across Metro Vancouver, the McIntosh family decided that they wanted to start a focused charity initiative that would allow them to help the various communities where their shops operate.
“It was important for us to focus on helping children because they’re often an undefended group. The initiative has grown into something way bigger than anyone thought in the beginning. Our primary brand is Kirmac Cares for Kids to many people,” Sean said.
Kirmac Cares for Kids primarily supports the B.C. Children’s Hospital but has also branched out and donates to the Surrey Memorial Children’s Health Centre, and the Boys Club Network.
“Supporting these great causes is our family’s way of making a positive impact on the communities that have supported Kirmac for more than 50 years,” Sean commented. When asked where they see themselves heading in the next five years, Sean and Mark discussed, that along with growing location count, they always keep a close eye on changes in the industry because “you have to invest to stay ahead, especially in our industry’s rapidly changing environment. We’re always looking for new ways to assist our teams in delivering safe repairs to our customers.” This mindset is especially true for Kirmac Collision when it comes to technology, with each of the company’s 20 shops being outfitted with Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) calibration tech.
“It was a journey starting out,” Mark said. “We have changed our calibration strategy quite a few times. It is so new; you have to be agile and adjust on the fly. I’m sure as ADAS technology develops, we’ll have to continue to look at how we do things.”
One of Kirmac Collision’s newest locations in Vancouver was also the first in the province and the second in Canada to feature a PPG Moonwalk paint mixing system.
Here, Sean noted that the system “automates the paint mixing process, allowing our technicians to focus on other value-add activities.”
In addition to a longstanding partnership with PPG since 1991, Kirmac Collision also has long-term partnerships with Lordco Auto Parts, 3M, GFS, Car-O-Liner and Bellini, among others.
As a result, while speaking about the collision repair technology and trends of 2011 in a previous issue of the magazine, Ian McIntosh, featured in the volume ten printing of Collision Repair, originally said that “I’m really happy to be where I am right now. I wouldn’t have spent 38 years in the business if I didn’t love it.”
In this way, while technology may have continued to advance and the industry itself may have radically shifted from that first interview over 13 years ago, the sentiment of Kirmac Collision remains the same. By focusing on the details of the industry from technology and partnerships to community and culture, for Sean and Mark McIntosh, one detail has come to stand out above the rest, and it is one that strongly echoes the Collision Repair conversations of the past: “Ultimately, we love the industry and it’s been very good to our family. No matter what happens, we’re honored and happy to carry Kirmac on.”
