The Framers Forum

Dermot,

I seem to give given you the wrong impression which I don't fully grasp because I did use the word "box" and not "pack".

I have been in this business (very successfully) for 10years.

My usual supplier is Arqadia. If I order 20m - I may receive 24 or 30m or whatever the nearest pack size ...

I have recently started to order from a certain Irish moulding supplier who shall remain nameless for the moment.

My first order - everything was there but there just seemed to be more than I ordered. It was a very busy day and I didn't pursue my checks.

Second order - there was 50% more moulding ...

Oooh no!

I'm not gettin' caught again.

The last time a woman offered to show me a few tricks it cost me a bloody fortune.

Superb post Ormond.
Your point has so much relevance to the posts about standards, pricing, workshop practice, cutomer service - just about everything in fact.
I can't believe how little response you've had.

When we have a task to do it is human nature to find a method and stick to it. We are ...

Mark

Yes, I am concerned about standards in the industry as a whole but I think the attitude of the individual framer comes first.
If he doesn't care, standards won't change his attitude.

And then of course there is the tendency I've noticed already for some framers to blame the FATG for not ...

Does anyone really believe that the Fine Art Trade Guild should tell us how to frame everything.
I guess it's possible but I suspect the books would fill a library.

One very simple standard would prevent many problems:
When a customer leaves an item with us for framing it remains his/her property ...

Sorry to disagree but I've got a BFA too.

Mine is Best Framer Around ( including Angmering)

I lied about the (Hons).


Do you think Bob will put his prices up when he discovers he's a craftsman?

So before we can determine a fair wage for a framer it seems we have to decide if he is a craftsman.
Obviously we need to define the word “craftsman”.


From the Oxford English Dictionary:

Craftsman (or craftswoman)
• noun a worker skilled in a particular craft.

If we take that as the ...

Fair enough John.
For all the one man bands out there.

Imagine yourself framing (just framing) as an employee for someone else.

How much would you expect to be paid?

Hi John

Great to hear from you. I was beginning to think you’d gone on holiday.

I pay my framer £6.50 per hour. He’s 19 years old and has been with me 7 months so still learning. I intend to give pay rises on the basis of productivity and skill development.
In my opinion £7.50 per hour is fair pay ...

Mark

I think we are in agreement for the most part about the framing industry.

Where we differ is with regard to the FATG. I have a number of fundamental problems with the FATG not least of which is the fact that it claims to represent framers, moulding suppliers, artists, publishers and others ...

Mark

From my previous post:
As I said before, any framer can charge as little as he wants for his services and the rest of us have neither the power nor the right to dictate otherwise.

I'm sorry if I misled you but I am definitely not talking about price fixing.
If you take the accountancy ...

John
I would say £15000 pa is not a high wage for your location, considering cost of living and property prices etc.
Probably the equivalent of £12000 in N.I. , where I live.

The problem, as Sarah said, is that framers don't charge enough. However, that may be expressing the problem too simply. As ...

I agree with Sarah - advertising will not give you the results you need.

Still, it may be possible to turn the business around by other means but you have to be clear why the business isn't doing well before you decide on the recovery strategy otherwise you may be wasting both time and money ...

I was speaking recently to a builder friend. The lowest paid employee on his payroll is a labourer at £7.50 per hour.
I have had a quick look at online jobs and haven't been able to find a framer's job paying more than £6.00 per hour and most seem to be at minimum wage. The jobs I have been looking ...

Hi Roboframer

Sorry for delay in replying to your post from 15 May.
There is nothing in your post with which I would disagree - those 2 types of framers do indeed exist.

However, the framing job in Sarah’s example was a photograph and the point I was making was that we shouldn’t be at all ...

MarkW wrote: as for customers who want me to justify my price - the only justification I will make is the finished product and that speaks for itself.



Regardless of what business you are in, if you are not experiencing some resistance to your pricing then you are definitely not charging enough.

Sarah wrote: "The jist of this is I think people need to be educated as to the price of bespoke framing and all bespoke framers need to charge roughly the same price for the same job."


While we're price fixing why don't we make sure all restaurants charge the same price for the same dishes ...

Hi FN

Thanks for your response.

There are a couple of issues here.
Sarah in her original post suggested that she should be able to charge a higher price because she produces better quality work. My point was that maybe his standard of work is as good as hers but his overheads are less.

It simply ...

Sarah

It’s an ongoing complaint by framers that the customer doesn’t appreciate the value of the product.
For a modest capital outlay anyone can buy some equipment and start framing. The truth is framing is not difficult – in fact any idiot could do it and many are.
It is quite possible and indeed ...