The Framers Forum

Jamesnkr wrote
"How can you quote for something without knowing how you will make it or what the cost of your raw materials will be?"

I tend to agree with Jamesnkr on this, don't get rushed or pressured into giving a quote/price on the spot, if you are not sure of the prices or how you are going to do the job, tell the customer that you will get back to them in a couple of days with quote, you need to get quotes yourself for materials, I normally get my museum glass cut to size, so after the custome has gone I will phone Weesex for a quote for cutting to size, then add my mark up
Also you need to work out how you will do the job, if you are painting the frames, how much room will thattake up while dring, will you have enough room to get on with other things while they dry etc and so on..........

@kuduframes - you beauty!!! I owe you one. Big thank you. Not dealt with Lion yet. The artist did say "ideally" so if it ends up slightly narrower it shouldn't be a problem. She did give me a minimum and this moulding is within the range, just. It's deeper than planned, but I can pack it and I think she'll be fine. I said I'd do one, let her see it.

@not your average framer (Mark). Given I costed for a moulding of similar size to the one I drew, plus a fillet, the work cutting and putting it together, plus painting and this moulding comes in at less than that without the need for painting - my risk taking has paid off this time. Phew. It'll wash its face. She did let slip she rarely has so many to frame at once so I told her it was not a price I could do for a lesser quantity and I'd have to charge her more per frame, which she was all knods at. I'm hoping she'll come along with a lesser quantity several times over We'll see! And I beleive you're right - I'm seeing these frames a lot just now. They seem to be trending among artists.

@jamesnkr & @steve N "how could I quote?" - see above. I spent a while talking this lady through this order, making sure I understood what I was getting into (because as you say... big jobs fill a workshop, etc.,). While I'm not going to make a lot on it, it will inject something into the old cash flow and should secure a potentially regular customer who'll pay more in future (see above again) and perhaps her artist friends will follow (I swore her to secrecy). May not work, but worth a try.

Thank you everyone. I'm off to crack-on now.

I'm glad that this has not worked out too badly for you. I hope you will find some more customers for this same moulding and hope you may get the chance to get some more money out of some of the left over bits from this job too!