Window Film Manufacturer Scorpion Protective Coatings Reveals $999 Tint Business Starter Package

Scorpion CEO Clayton Tomasino outlined a low-cost path into the window tint business on the Travis Makes Money Podcast.

PLAINFIELD, IN, UNITED STATES, November 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Scorpion Protective Coatings, Inc., a family-founded Indiana window film manufacturer that supplies roughly 2,000 shops nationwide, today highlighted its $999 starter package for people who want to start a window tint business without a storefront. CEO Clayton Tomasino detailed the low-cost model during a recent interview with host Travis Chappell. The company is a five-time Inc. 5000 honoree, and window film now accounts for more than 60% of its revenue, according to Tomasino.

Opening a traditional tint shop often means a commercial lease, expensive equipment and sometimes a franchise fee. Tomasino says those costs keep many capable installers out of the trade. In his view, a shop does not equal success, and a solid middle-class living can be built installing film in a driveway, a garage or a mobile van.

"There's a lot of really good potential there, and it's really low cost, and you don't have to have a shop or something like that to do it," Tomasino said during his appearance on the Travis Makes Money Podcast. "You can do it out of your garage, or if you even have, like, a van or something, you can do it mobile."

Tomasino estimated that the material for tinting one car can cost less than $20, while the job can bring in more than $200. He said police officers and firefighters are among the most common side-business buyers, and that many full-time shop owners in its dealer network started the same way. He added that tens of new starter packages ship from the company most mornings.

The $999 starter package bundles a plotter, which is a computer-controlled cutting machine, with a coatings kit and Scorpion SCAN, the company's free pattern-cutting app. Instead of hand-measuring and hand-cutting film for each vehicle, an installer selects the make, model and year and sends an exact pattern to the plotter from a phone. Scorpion SCAN works with any plotter and any film brand, so installers are not locked into one supplier.

According to the company, Scorpion SCAN has passed 10,000 downloads and helps users cut film waste by up to 20%. Tomasino says the app can shrink a 20- to 30-minute setup-and-cut process to a couple of minutes. A $495 adapter lets a phone communicate with a plotter, and Tomasino said his own children earn $10 for each adapter they help assemble at home.

The low-cost approach traces back to 1996, when his father, Randy Tomasino, created a batch-mix system for spray-on truck bed liners. The system skipped the high-pressure equipment and franchise model of larger brands, with starter packages at $1,500 and $3,000, and Tomasino said the business brought in under $1 million in sales across its first decade. In Clayton Tomasino's view, that same idea, lowering the cost to get started, still guides the window film manufacturer today.

Clayton Tomasino joined in 2007 as chief financial officer after working in finance and accounting at the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii, and he was leading the company by 2010. The window film manufacturer focuses on what he calls micro businesses, shops that average about 3.5 employees. He said the company chose to keep the barrier to entry low instead of selling franchises, aiming to support installers whether they want a side income or a growing shop.

Under his leadership, the company has expanded into automotive and architectural window film, spray-on polyurea coatings and paint protection film, a clear layer that shields vehicle paint. The company's mobile-first approach to installation was recently covered by The Next Web. Tomasino also leads Scorpion Smart Films, a research effort with Purdue University's SMART Lab developing flexible film that can sense pressure and produce sound.

Aspiring installers and established shop owners can explore the $999 starter package and Scorpion SCAN through Scorpion window film and tint business starter packages at buyscorpion.com.

About Scorpion Protective Coatings, Inc.

Scorpion Protective Coatings, Inc. is a family-founded window film manufacturer based in Cloverdale, Indiana, and led by CEO Clayton Tomasino. Founded in 1996, the company supplies window tint film, paint protection film, polyurea coatings and Scorpion SCAN, a free tint cutting app that works with any plotter or film brand, to roughly 2,000 shops across the United States. The company serves window tinters, detailers and body shop owners and offers low-cost starter packages for people who want to start a window tint business.

Media Contact:

Clayton Tomasino
Scorpion Protective Coatings, Inc.
clayton@scorpioncoatings.com
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