The Framers Forum

I've just had a bit of a shock! The cost of the main oak moulding which I buy has already gone up quite a bit since I last bought any, which was about three and a half years ago and next month my supplier is further increasing their prices by another 5 percent. Speaking to my main customer for these old frames, who is already a trade customer and gets a trade discount appears to suggest that this price increase is going to be a deal breaker and he does not think that his customers will be willing to pay his resulting increased prices.

I use the wastage left over from making his frames for making other oak frames and this would stop me making those as well. I have always liked making oak frames and customers generally like oak frames, but the cost increase is just a bit to much. I am really not too sure what to do about this, whether to swallow some of the increased costs myself and still to have the potential to at least be still making money using the off cuts and left over, or just stop ding oak frames all together. Any thoughts?
Mark.

The price 3 and a half years ago is completely irrelevant. You need to charge based on today's prices (even if you have old stock!). And your customers need to be realistic - customers will pay it if they want it because that's what it costs.

I sold an order last week using some Magnolia Y series moulding that I have had in stock for maybe 20+ years. I have no idea what I paid for it, but pennies. I priced it based on what it would now cost from my normal supplier, which is £5.07 + VAT per meter. That's my storage fee for all those years!

Hi Jeremy.

That makes sense! Unfortunately for me my customer is not much interested in bothering with any ncreased prices, he's already finding that demand for them has been tailing off a bit and I've either got to reduce my profits, or loose the deal. Not much fun for me!