How to hire a frame technician: sourcing, screening and what to offer

The frame seat is the structural stage of your collision workflow. After a major collision, BLS notes, a vehicle’s underlying frame can be weakened, and body repairers restore structural integrity to manufacturer specifications.

BLS lists the duties body repairers cover, and the structural ones define this seat: inspecting vehicles for structural damage, realigning frames and chassis, and fitting, attaching and welding replacement parts. The same duty list runs from reviewing damage reports and planning the work through removing damaged parts and patching dents — decide how much of that tail belongs to this hire versus your body techs.

Draw the boundary before you write the posting. BLS notes repairers may complete whole jobs alone or — especially in large shops — work in an assembly-line team where each person does a specialized task, with painting generally done by painting and coating workers. Decide which model your shop runs, then write the seat to match:

• Structural only, or structural plus body: a dedicated tech on the frame machine and measuring system, or one hire who carries panel and dent work after the pull.
• Steel, aluminum, or both: aluminum-structured work has its own I-CAR welding certification — Aluminum GMA (MIG) Welding — separate from the two steel certs.
• Modern joining: squeeze-type resistance spot welding, rivet bonding and MIG brazing — I-CAR runs dedicated hands-on courses for each, so treat them as skills to name, not assumptions.
• Where the seat hands off: at body-ready, at paint-ready, or through the mechanical and scan work that rides along.

Name the equipment in the seat definition, because it is the job: the anchoring or frame system, the measuring system and the welders your tech runs. BLS lists pneumatic tools, plasma cutters, heavy-duty hydraulic jacks and common hand tools among the equipment body repairers use. Which machines your tech runs — and which they may not touch — belongs in the posting.

Two realities shape the seat beyond the duty list. At a shop holding I-CAR’s Gold Class recognition, Structural is one of the four required role representatives, and every Structural Technician at a Gold Class shop must be welding-trained. And BLS projects more body-repairer demand because repair work takes more time to work around the increasing number of cameras and sensors on new vehicles — on an ADAS-equipped car, expect measurement and documentation to sit alongside the pull.

This page is the employer side. For the worker’s view of the trade — the tools, the settings and how people enter it — see what a frame technician does.

Our sources carry no BLS occupation line for the structural specialty, so source from the occupation that holds it. In 2025, 60 percent of automotive body and related repairers worked in automotive body, paint, interior and glass repair shops, 16 percent at automobile dealers, 8 percent were self-employed and 6 percent worked in mechanical and electrical repair shops. That is where experienced techs sit — the collision shops around you and dealer body departments — both your recruiting competition and your referral network.

The new-entrant pipeline is small. TechForce Foundation’s 2026 Supply-Demand-Opportunity report estimates collision repair demand at 14,671 new entrants a year, with supply covering only 42 percent of demand. That is the foundation’s own estimate, built on the federal 2024–34 projection and education data — not a federal count — and it is why waiting for applications rarely fills a structural seat on its own.

The school channel exists, and it is worth building before you need it. TechForce counts 5,462 collision and autobody postsecondary completions in academic year 2023-24, up 14.2 percent year over year, from about 325–329 institutions offering collision programs nationally; 94 percent of those completions are certificates rather than degrees. BLS describes the programs themselves: trade and technical school collision programs typically award certificates after 6 months to 1 year, and some community colleges run 2-year collision programs. A school completer arrives with fundamentals, not line speed — the ramp numbers below belong in your plan.

The outlook also sets expectations. BLS projects employment of automotive body and glass repairers combined to grow 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as average, with about 13,900 openings per year on average; the combined group held 185,800 jobs in 2025. The body-and-related-repairers line alone ran 163,200 jobs in 2025, projected at 169,300 by 2035. Steady demand against modest projected growth is why the plan is to compete for techs who already hold a seat.

When you are ready to post, browse frame technician jobs to see the listings your post competes against, and work the channels collision techs actually read. Our guide to where to post shop jobs covers the boards; your painter and body techs, your estimator and your parts vendor are all people to ask who pulls frames well nearby.

Cover five things in a structural post: the structural scope, the equipment, the pay plan, the schedule, and the credentials you expect. Cover all five and the post pre-screens for you.

Structural scope. Say what the seat owns: measuring and documentation, pulls, welding and sectioning, structural panel replacement, and where it hands off to body and paint. State the vehicle mix — steel unibody, aluminum-structured, or both — because aluminum-structured work brings its own welding certification with it: I-CAR’s Aluminum GMA (MIG) Welding, separate from the steel courses.

Equipment, named. List the frame or anchoring system, the measuring system and the welders the tech will run. BLS lists pneumatic tools, plasma cutters, heavy-duty hydraulic jacks and hand tools among the equipment the work uses; your own machine list is what makes a structural post concrete.

Pay plan, with the base stated. BLS says the majority of repair shops and auto dealers pay automotive body and glass repairers on an incentive basis: a set amount for completing tasks, on top of a guaranteed base salary. Earnings therefore depend on the work assigned and the tech’s speed. Whatever structure you run, state the base, the per-task terms and what a slow week looks like — and expect questions specific to structural work: who flags setup and measuring time, and what happens when a pull reveals damage the estimate missed.

Schedule and conditions. BLS says most automotive body and glass repairers work full time, and that overtime — including evenings and weekends — is common when shops have a backlog. The work is physically demanding and sometimes done in awkward, cramped positions, indoors in body shops that are often noisy, with most shops well ventilated so dust and fumes can be dispersed. State your weekly hours, Saturday rotation and backlog expectation; an honest post reads as competence.

Credentials, phrased as your shop’s requirement. Ask for what the seat needs in your own words — “I-CAR Steel GMA (MIG) Welding certification required by [your shop],” or “aluminum welding experience preferred.” Frame them as shop requirements, not legal ones: BLS notes certification for body repairers is not required but is recommended, and can be required for advancement beyond entry level; many vehicle and paint manufacturers also run their own product certification programs. Name the specific certifications you expect — I-CAR offers three welding certifications: Steel GMA (MIG) Welding, Steel Sectioning and Aluminum GMA (MIG) Welding. If your shop holds or is pursuing OEM network certification, check that network’s structural requirements and list them in the post, and confirm current program requirements with I-CAR or the automaker before you publish.

Structural skill shows up in records and in demonstrated work. Screen on both, in that order.

Verify the welding credentials directly. Ask the candidate to open the My Training page of their myI-CAR account on the spot — it shows their training status, progress, renewal dates and certifications, which turns a resume line into a verifiable record. I-CAR’s three welding certifications are Steel GMA (MIG) Welding, Steel Sectioning and Aluminum GMA (MIG) Welding. Welding certification may be renewed every 3 years. A recertification course lets a tech who passes the skills test skip the full training course, so a lapsed cert is a question to ask, not an automatic no.

Run a weld check on your own machine. A coupon test on scrap material tells you more than any interview answer. I-CAR’s own Steel GMA event checklist shows what a working setup looks like: one GMA welder of 140 amps or more for every three participants, ER70S-6 wire in .023–.030 inch, 75% argon / 25% CO2 gas and a heavy-duty vise. Participants bring photo ID, a NIOSH-approved welding respirator, gloves and leather boots. Borrow the setup, watch the candidate establish machine settings, and judge the welds they produce.

Probe judgment, not just hands. Listen for candidates who describe measuring before pulling, documenting damage as they find it, and following the OEM repair procedure. Ask how they handle a vehicle whose structural damage overlaps camera and sensor work. BLS expects repair work to take more time around the growing number of cameras and sensors, so the answer shows whether they plan for that work or discover it late. Modern joining is fair game too: squeeze-type resistance spot welding, rivet bonding and MIG brazing each have dedicated I-CAR hands-on courses, so a candidate who has done them can describe the specifics.

Weight the other credentials on the resume. ASE’s collision series runs B2 through B5 for collision repair and refinish, plus B6 for damage analysis and estimating — worth noting on any frame tech’s resume, and directly relevant if the seat also writes structural estimates. I-CAR’s technician learning paths include a dedicated Structural Technician path, and Structural Technician is one of the nine roles I-CAR Platinum recognizes — Platinum training runs ProLevel 1 through 3, and finishing ProLevel 3 earns Platinum.

Screen against your network’s structural requirements. If your shop holds or is pursuing OEM certification, the hire changes your roster math. I-CAR’s summary of Tesla’s approved collision program lists I-CAR Aluminum GMA (MIG) and Steel GMA welding certifications, with two technicians certified in each course at facilities doing structural repairs, renewed every three years. Ford’s certified collision network requires at least one technician per location to complete Ford’s Aluminum Body Structural Repair course and I-CAR’s Aluminum GMA (MIG) Welding course. Requirements change, so confirm the current program with the automaker or I-CAR before you hire against it.

Then watch the work. A short working interview — a weld coupon, a measuring exercise on a shop frame — closes the gap between what a candidate says and what they do. Our guide to working interviews covers how shops structure them.

Anchor the offer to the published benchmark, then compete on structure. The BLS median annual wage for automotive body and related repairers (SOC 49-3021) was $54,890 in May 2025, with the lowest 10 percent earning less than $36,910 and the highest 10 percent more than $87,940. That series is the closest available group for frame technicians — our research found no federal pay line for the structural specialty — so treat it as the occupation’s frame, not a frame-tech rate. Employer type moves the median: BLS’s May 2025 figures were $55,920 in automotive body, paint, interior and glass repair shops, $52,040 at automobile dealers and $50,450 in mechanical and electrical repair shops.

Then design the plan. BLS describes the majority of repair shops and auto dealers as paying body and glass repairers on an incentive basis — a set amount per completed task on top of a guaranteed base salary — with earnings depending on the work assigned and speed. Structural seats add questions your plan has to answer explicitly, so answer them in the offer:

• How are setup, measuring and pulling hours flagged against the estimate’s structural lines?
• What happens when teardown reveals damage the estimate missed — who writes the supplement, and who gets paid while it is approved?
• What is the guaranteed base, and what does a slow week look like?
• Which tasks pay incentive and which pay hourly — clean-up, sublet waits, shop chores?

Our research found no benchmark for how shops split those structural-pay questions. They are decisions for your plan, so set them deliberately and put them in writing — and if your plan pays per task, review it against wage-and-hour rules with counsel or the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division guidance before you post it.

Benefits are where a shop competes without outbidding on the rate. Decide yours and state them in the post:

• Paid certification training on shop time. The role’s credentials renew on a schedule — I-CAR welding certification every 3 years, and Platinum held with six training course credits a year — so funding both is a visible, role-specific benefit.
• A written tool and equipment policy. State what the shop provides versus what a tech is expected to bring — the big equipment, the hand tools and any allowance terms.
• Schedule terms. Backlog overtime, Saturday rotation and start times, in writing, so the Saturday surprise never happens in week two.
• A growth path. I-CAR’s learning paths include Structural Technician and Production Manager, and Platinum training runs ProLevel 1 through 3 with ProLevel 3 earning Platinum — say what the next seat at your shop looks like.

Set the ramp honestly. BLS says new body repairers usually start by helping an experienced repairer with basic tasks; some are trained in as little as 1 year, but they generally need 2 or 3 years of hands-on training to become fully independent. A frame-tech milestone plan turns that ramp into visible progress: teardown and assists first, then measuring and pulls under supervision, then welding sign-off and independent structural repairs.

Put the training calendar in place during week one. I-CAR welding certification may be renewed every 3 years, and Platinum is kept with six training course credits each year by the renewal date. At a Gold Class shop, role representatives at ProLevel 3 and non-role staff each complete six course credits annually. I-CAR’s Gold Class renewal policy — effective February 7, 2022 — also sets lead times. Required welding and hands-on course requests must be submitted at least 90 days before the Gold Class renewal date, and live and virtual courses must be purchased, scheduled and completed 60 days before renewal. Book the credits on shop time and pay for them, so a certification never lapses for lack of either.

If you are in an OEM certified collision network, map its structural requirements onto this hire before their first week. The two examples from the screening section — Tesla’s two certified welding technicians per structural-repair facility, Ford’s aluminum structural repair plus aluminum GMA welding requirement — both attach structural and welding course requirements to specific seats, and the shop keeps them current. Confirm your network’s current requirements with the automaker or I-CAR.

Keep them with the same things that closed the offer. TechForce’s 2026 report lists collision as the highest-turnover of its ten technician sectors, at 60.7 percent — the foundation’s own measure, separations over total jobs. Our research found no verified benchmark for what a departure costs a shop, so measure exits in your own records and let that number set the training and pay-review budget. The levers are unglamorous: a pay plan a tech can predict, certifications funded on shop time, backlog overtime assigned fairly, and equipment that works.

For the wider playbooks — pay plans, onboarding checklists, referral programs and retention — see the rest of our guides on hiring for your shop.

Employer information, not legal, tax, insurance or safety advice for your shop; confirm certification and program requirements with the bodies named.