The Framers Forum

Does anyone have experience of this. Smudges Mum sat through a demo of it today and was prety impressed, but I'd like to get some opinions of people who have used it before we take the plunge.

I too had a demo today and think there are some plusses and minuses. I liked the way it calculates labour times for every stage of the operation but does it always take the same time to do something?

For instance my most frequently used mount colours are next to the mountcutter whereas the lesser used ones are somewhere amongst all the others and sometimes it can take an age to find that piece you know you have which is just big enough to do the job without ordering a whole new sheet. Difference in labour time could be ten times.

My software cost £250 with lifetime support and upgrades this one is £310 p.a.

I can see the value of this software and they will sell it because it is hard to argue against the logic of how it prices a job but I think the user interface needs tidying up.

When I started out I looked for a costing program, thought I had made a good choice and was reasonably happy with it.
Then I was introduced to Framiac (FramR) in August last year. I was however somewhat surprised at how far off base I was with my labour costs. Now I fully understand why Jim Anderson always goes on about knowing your overheads. I have not found another frame pricing program which gets into the nuts and bolts of your business the way Framiac does to ensure that everything you do is costed, charged and marked up correctly. I can honestly say that I thought I was making money with my old program but now I KNOW that I am making a profit.

I can clearly see what my big earners are and where there is room for improvement.
I regularly check my conversion rate from quotes to orders - helps to understand whether I am under/over charging or if there is any other reason which needs addressing.
Using the customer reports I can clearly track how effective promotions were, which customers were targeted and how they responded. This enables me to spend my marketing budget wisely.
I may suggest that there is unlikely to be a computer program that will be able to accommodate anomolies in how long it takes to do a similar task when the additional time taken (detail in previous post) could possibly be resolved by a little re-organisation
I can only speak as I find but I am very happy with the program, it does more than it says on the box. The support I have received since using the program has been second to none. Replies to questions are received the same day and when there has been a large degree of operator error on my side Mark has always given advice, clarity and guidance in a friendly, professional manner.
Personally I have never understood the term 'lifetime guarantee'. Is it the life of the item purchased, the life of the person/company who made it or the lifetime of the person who bought it?
Whilst I have never leased a programe before I am very happy to do so now because I will get free updates for as long as I use the system and with the developer's proven record of keeping up with changes in framing technologies and ways of working I am confident that the ongoing development in the framing industry will not leave me using an outdated system.
This program might be new to us here but it has been around in Australia for 16 years.

Hi there, I have been using Framiac since 2004 in my picture framing business in Sydney, Oz. In all this time I have found it to fit the bill in every sense. You are able to get a very realistic view of the costs related to the work you do coupled with the ability to review your pricing at any time. This allows you to be very competitive without the danger of pricing below the cost price! There is much to recommend its implementation - takes most of the "worry" away when you know you've always got it covered! Happy to answer any questions... Richard

Hi, We have now been using this program for 1 year.
It has been a good indicator of price and is a time saver with calculating the correct price much faster than manually.
It is also a good reference for returning customers who want to use the same frames.

Howdy PremierArt, RichardU, and countrystudio.co.uk, welcome to the forum, good to have you all aboard. We look forward to your participation in the full range of topics that the forum has to offer. Please feel free to get involved.

Jonny2morsos wrote: this one is £310 p.a.

Thats a lot of £££s pa. I'd want it make the tea and do the hoovering for that price.

If you use Framiac pricing software you will easily make enough money to pay someone to make the tea and do the hoovering for you.
Regards
Heather

Is that at the expense of your customers too.

When I started my framing business 15 years ago it took me all of 3 days to work out that the old fashioned paper charts should be retired off to a museum along with the Magna Carta.

Any computerised pricing system is going to be a million times better that that!!!

At that time I looked at all the computerised pricing systems that were available... but for me none of them really did what I wanted them to do. So, using the copy of Excel I had I made my own.
Over the years it’s evolved along with my business and I can pretty much change it as and how I please.
And knowing what I know now I wouldn’t even use Excel but use the Open Office Calc – which is free to use. http://www.openoffice.org/

I know this method is not for everyone as learning to use Excel is not something you can do in a couple of hours so an off the peg solution might be a better option. And the off the peg software is getting better and better... lots better than 15 years ago anyway!

Have a look at this http://www.getthepictureframing.com/gfaq/software.htm
It’s a table of all (? maybe) the computerised frame pricing software available.... Framiac is not the only one... shop around!
(i’ve been told that LifeSaver is good – though never tried it myself)

As I have said in another thread I use Estlite it is simple and easy to use and doesn't bog you down in complex calculations of gross profit fixed overheads number of cups of coffee you consume per frame you make. However there are times when pricing commercial jobs that I need to know how much a job is going to cost me precisely and how much gross profit I will make if I charge x amount as usually I have to work to a known budget or end price. For this I use a simple excel spread sheet. It is very easy to do just list each of the items how many full lengths of moulding are required (or used) how many full sheets of glass etc. This way takes into account your wastage etc and is very accurate.

I also use this to see whether I want to take a job as i can gauge how many days it will take to complete and how much profit I will make. I know from my accounts how much gross profit I need to make each day, I sit down with my accountant and discuss this and how best to achieve this. So I can see if a job is going to take three days to do and only make £50 then it is not bothering doing and I can gracefully decline the offer.

Now this isn't practical for most small jobs but it is a good way also to check my pricing on estlite to make sure I am using the correct markup and wastage on materials.

As I said I don't really have to know how many d rings I use or how long the lights are on etc as I know the markup I use is covering these hidden extras and I know that I as staying competitive in the market place.

All this talk of making coffee & hoovering up is making me feel like having a coffee - thankfully we have cleaners for the hoovering up...

...now if only I could find someone to make me a coffee

Steve Goodall wrote:...now if only I could find someone to make me a coffee

We've got proper filter coffee on the hand finished framing course. We could post a photo for you to enjoy!

Everyone is looking for something different in a piece of pricing software - i would recommend you click on that link that Jolly posted to have a look at the list Mike Labbe has created- it links to demos of all the software


I've tried quite a few of them, you need to sit down and decide what you want it to do for you.

We currently use Estlite, although we regularly review what software we use to make sure it is doing what we want it to.

I have always liked Excel and so it was a no-brainer when we started (well before actually) to build a pricing sheet like JGF does. It works out labour materials and adds on a profit in such a way that if someone only wants, say, a new glass then we make a profit doing that. Since my pricing program is driven by Macros, I had a hell of a game when I came to replace the stalled Vaio with a mac. I was going to partition the drive and use XP on the one side to price and then everything else on Mac, but since the new Mac wouldn't take XP and insisted on Windows &, I abandoned that and had to invest in Office for MAc. It works pretty much the same as the windows version, but I don't think its quite as slick.

For commercial work I have another model that works out cost prices, labour and material quantities and so I can then play with margins. The thought of £310 per annum is a bit daunting but then I like playing with Excel. Better than east Enders any day.

i bought est about a year ago.

its simple, quick. and basically does what i need

there are always things you would like extra in software. i wouldnt mind it costing prints based on area etc. but that something john may add now he is printing himself

Can anyone tell me if it’s possible to run Framr from a tablet. Something like a Microsoft surface pro. Or a Lenovo tablets.
TIA

If you can find one with 8gb of RAM minimum then yes.

Is that the minimum requirement? I’m running it on a 4gb laptop at the moment

Apparently