It Started With One Car
Every company has an origin story. Ours starts with Rick Lerma wanting to tint his own windows.
He installed the film on his own car first. Then friends asked. Then family. Before long, Rick was the guy everyone knew to call, and it was clear this was more than a weekend hobby. He was sent to tint school to learn the craft properly, and he came out the other side a certified window film installer.
In 2001, that turned into A Designer Film. More than two decades later, we are still local, still family-owned, and still run on what Rick learned in those early days: take the job seriously, take the customer personally, and never treat film like it is just a product you slap on glass.
We started with cars. We did not stay there.
Over the years, the work grew from automotive tint into residential, commercial, government, retail, and healthcare projects across San Antonio and well beyond. The same care that went into a friend’s sedan now goes into office buildings, storefronts, medical facilities, and family homes.
Some of that work has taken us places most people in this trade only dream about. Rick is one of the only window film installers who has worked on the U.S. Capitol more than once through his work with Lerma Film Crew. He has been part of three different projects there. Our team has worked on airports. We tend to get the call when a project is unique or specialty work that requires experience you cannot fake.
We will be honest: we do not lead with that stuff, because that is not why we do this. But if you are wondering whether your project is in capable hands, it helps to know the hands.
Commercial or residential, our specialty is protecting your space from vandalism, extreme weather, and other dangerous events. We use high quality safety and security film for our installations, and we even train our industry peers on the best installation techniques for security film and wet glaze applications.
We have been trusted by prestigious clients and government agencies to enhance the safety and security of their windows and glass. That trust was not given. It was earned, one project at a time.
Good work travels. Through Lerma Film Crew, our installation team has been invited to consult and train other window film professionals well beyond our own backyard, including Amsterdam, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including St. Croix and St. Thomas.
Lerma Film Crew was created in 2016 by Rick and industry peer Glen Yocca of US Film Crew. It is a determined, skilled team of installers whose expertise is trusted by other film companies around the country and abroad. When other installers want to learn how to do this work right, they call our crew. We are proud of that. We just try not to be loud about it.
Contact us for more information on hiring Lerma Film Crew for subcontracted commercial work.
A Designer Film is an authorized 3M dealer. That matters for two reasons.
First, the product. 3M window films are backed by one of the most trusted names in the industry, with warranties to match. Second, the standard. 3M does not hand out dealer authorization to just anyone. It means our installation and our business practices meet their bar, not just ours.
Here is the part that is hardest to put on a website, but it is the most true thing about us: we love what we do.
We are friends with our customers. Not in a marketing-slogan way, in a real way. The people we work for become the people who wave when they see our truck, who call us years later for the next project, who send their neighbors and their parents and their business partners our way.
That is by design. Our philosophy has never been about shining on a project. It is about doing the work for the customer, so it builds a relationship and they call you back over and over. Awards and landmark projects are nice. A customer who has called us four times over twenty years is nicer.
Whether it is one window at home or a full commercial building, it starts with a conversation. Get in touch for your free quote and we will take it from there.
