Moulding Suppliers Questions

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iorek
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Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by iorek »

Hi Folks

I'm looking at Moulding suppliers and trying to find an effective way of going about it.

Do you generally use one supplier? Or do you use a number of different ones? Or perhaps use a specialist for the occasional fancy job? In my head it seems easier and cleaner to use a single supplier, but that may not be the case.

Also in terms of product offerings - does anyone offer the full range of their suppliers mouldings. Or do you have a selection of 50 (?) that you offer your customers? Photography is my background and I offered a limited range of frames for my customers and it worked very well. However I'm not sure if this approach would translate over.

Any thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated.
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David McCormack
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by David McCormack »

I'm perhaps not the best person to answer your questions as I only use barewood mouldings and have a small customer base. So I will come at this from a different angle you may not have thought of!

When choosing moulding to stock and sell you should think of how well it cuts and joins and what size is the rebate?

Some mouldings will cut and join beautifully and others will be a nightmare! There is only one way to know how a moulding will cut and join on your equipment and that is to try a sample first. The worst time to find out a moulding is a nightmare to work with is on a rush job you have promised your customer just before christmush!

When you look at the anatomy of a picture frame, you will soon see that a sheet of glass, single window-mount, under-mount, back board and room to fire in your points, requires a rebate of 10mm to work comfortably. Go for a double window-mount and you are already running out of room with a 10mm rebate.

So for me, anything with a rebate of less than 10mm doesn't get a second look :evil:

One thing to say about suppliers; try and find one that has their own van service in your area... couriers and mouldings are not a good mix!
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by misterdiy »

We had accounts with all of the main suppliers and some duplicate with other suppliers. That means if you cannot get a specific moulding from one supplier then you may be able to get it from another.

As always, although we purchased from all of the main suppliers (and some smaller ones) we did tend to graduate to around three of them. Bit like the 80/20 rule.

We had over 500 chevrons on display in our workshop, but only ever kept a small number of those in stock. We still had too much as on the last stocktake we had over 600 metres of moulding, which is not good from a cash flow point of view.

I guess it depends on your clientelle but ours was a varied cross section who required all sorts of different moulding so our offering was varied. Sometimes (not often) we would go through the supplier catalogues if a specific style of moulding was required and then order that.
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by prospero »

Good Advice. :D

As you go along you will discover which are the 'magic' mouldings (versatile, easy to work with and the right price). These are
the ones to keep stocks of. All the rest you can order as needed. It's very easy to buy mouldings on a whim. You have to try to keep
a lid on it. :lol: Bear in mind that a huge display of chevrons looks the biz, but will overwhelm people and you can end up spending
hours helping them make up their minds.

I think most framers will tend to have a default supplier but still have accounts with others as no-one does everything. :roll:
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iorek
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by iorek »

That's brilliant, thanks very much.

So would I be correct in the following assumption

Customer selects moulding after consultation THEN framer orders moulding (apart from a few popular ones in stock) THEN build frame

Rather than having a large stock? Would it be standard practice to do an order once a week to cut down on delivery costs?

I like the idea of having a smallish range (a few modern, a few minimalist, a few traditional etc) - in my previous experience paralysis by analysis leads to lower sales. Do suppliers have price free catalogues for awkward customers? :) I don't want to do a disservice to my customers (or myself) by not offering things that they may want, but I want the experience to be straightforward and simple for them, so that it's easy for them to come back. Or am I way out in my expectations?
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by David McCormack »

Some framers use a "chop" service from suppliers.

F. W. Holroyd in Glasgow have their own van service and offer a "Just Enough Moulding" service.

http://www.fwholroyd.com/about-us/

A supplier with their own van will also be good for your glass and sheet material supplies.
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by pramsay13 »

I have around 100 samples on the wall.
I usually get my orders and then I get the moulding.
I have three shelves of moulding so I have a few full or almost full lengths just in case a rush order comes in but generally I say 2 - 3 weeks and then I order the moulding.
I'm quite near Holroyd so I pick up once a week, but I can recommend their van service.
I wouldn't bother with the just enough moulding service unless it was a particularly expensive moulding and your order would leave you with most of a length.
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by kartoffelngeist »

I'd also recommend F.W. Holroyd, the van service is really handy. Friendly bunch too. They've also special ordered mouldings from Arqadia and Lion for us, which saved us setting up an account etc for a one off.

We also get moulding from Ashworth and Thompson in Edinburgh. Same deal as the others, samples of the stuff we think will do well and we do an order weekly. I aim to alternate which week I order from each supplier.

Where abouts in Scotland are you based? If you're near Aberdeen you're welcome to pop in and I can show you round how we do things to give you some ideas. Just drop me a PM and we can sort something out.
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by Steve N »

All the above have given brilliant advice, wish I could say that I do the same as they do, but I'm learning :oops: (after 29years :sweating: ) i do tend to over order in case the moulding I have order is crap or is damaged or gets damaged in transit, I'm scared to do a stock take :sweating: so over the next 18 months I'm doing a Clearance Line Sale to get rid of the overstock :oops: :oops:, which I need to do before I sell up/close down in 2 1/2 years :ninja: :ninja:
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by Not your average framer »

I manage very nicely with most of my mouldings coming from just two suppliers, these are Simons and Rose & Hollis. Most of my stock is bare wood mouldings for hand finishing / stacked mouldings. Be careful not to get to much stock in the early days of your business, picture framing is quite a learning curve and it will probably take a while before you have enough experience to choose the right mouldings that will be your main stock items.

Try not to copy what other framers tend to stock, every business will be different in what it's customers tend to go for and you also will in time develop your own reputation and clientel. This will determine much of what you need to stock and you will get a good feel for this after a while. It's not particularly good to be just following the rest of the crowd too much, so don't be afraid to be a bit different and get yourself noticed by customers.
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iorek
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Re: Moulding Suppliers Questions

Post by iorek »

Thanks so much everyone.

That's given me some good ideas on how to approach it - don't overface myself with stock and be prepared to adapt to what my customers are looking for over time, there is no correct approach kind of thing. Good tip on the rebate size too.

Thanks Kartoff - I'm actually at the polar opposite end to you - Dumfries & Galloway, I really appreciate the offer. If I'm heading up that way I'll definitely drop you a line. It would be very useful to see how different people do things.

I get the feeling I'll make mistakes on this front, but as time passes then experience will allow better decision making. Hopefully...:)
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