The Framers Forum

As this topic is probably worthy of a new post....

Question :

" Do you use a chop service for mouldings, and if so can you quote the price and postage costs if available " ?

Apologies to all who answered in the other topic.

For only metal (what a bore) -

Nielsen - and carriage is free for four frames by carrier.

I think chop service from Neilsen and Arqadia is about 30% more than buying by the length.

At least 60% of our business is chop frames, the rest is substantially hand-finished work on plain woods, mainly from R&H.

By this means we can have a stunning display of mouldings on the wall - something for every need - and tie up very little money in stock. No wastage either, if it doesn't sell - we don't need to buy it. No second guessing the latest trends.

Nielsen's current deal is free carriage on 5 frames.

Dave

0% of our business is chop. we like to cut all our wood from scratch, it means we can vouch for the quality of each piece of moulding and also means we aren't eroding our profit by paying more for our materials!

Grahame Case wrote:0% of our business is chop. we like to cut all our wood from scratch, it means we can vouch for the quality of each piece of moulding and also means we aren't eroding our profit by paying more for our materials!

The suppliers I use - and those I've used in the past all have state of the art cutting machinery. Their business is supplying high quality chop lengths and they know that failing to do so will cost them dearly - the slightest blemish, warp or inaccuracy and the stuff goes back.

I dont hold stock - yet my customers can choose from a vast range of mouldings. I dont have any wastage costs - yes I pay a premium - but I am paying for a service that has huge advantages to my business.

You do have to be very accurate when measuring - and if your doing this using a pricing program such as EST then you have to be accurate when you take the order (I send my chop order directly from a report generated by Est). You also have to be very careful when assembling - you dont get a second chance if you cock up.

I used lengths for years before I went over to chop - racks of mouldings - buying in packs when I would only use half a length - lengths of mouldings damaged or warped - the frustration of having enough length but not being able to produce the job because all the flaws in the moulding made it useless. Yes I still pay for all that in the premium price of chop - I just dont have the hassle.

I can tell you that I am the most difficult of customers if I don't get the quality and service I demand - I expect good stock levels - that chops are inspected for quality before being wrapped carefully and that they are delivered on time. I get that and more from my suppliers and couldn't be happier that I am getting value for money.

Roughly 80% of our business is with chops. We carry about 850 corner samples so that keeping all of them in inventory would be cost prohibitive.

I think in a perfect world, we would all like to be able to order length for each project we have. In general, chops cost us about 50 - 60 % more than does length moulding.

The problem over here is that many distributors have a minimum order of 30 feet of length moulding. So, what if I need only eight feet of the stuff? I’m stuck with 24 feet of moulding that I may never use. If I am able to use it in a reasonable amount of time, it is a whole lot more profitable than a chop. But, if it languishes on the shelf for a few years, I may end up losing money.

The corollary to that can be just as bad, though. If I need twenty-four feet and end up ordering thirty, I am left with just 6 feet of scrap. The next time I am called upon to use that moulding, say another eight feet, I have to order another thirty feet all over again. And, the way moulding is produced these days, this new batch will most likely not match the six feet that I already have.

Our price structure for moulding is based on the wholesale chop price regardless if we are able to purchase it in length. After applying the mark up, we add an “average” shipping charge to the retail price.

Many of our distributors simply place our chop orders on their delivery truck, so freight charges are avoided, so the loss due to chop vs. length is somewhat ameliorated.