Looking to take on extra help

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Whitewallframers
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat 16 Jul, 2016 8:13 pm
Location: Bolton
Organisation: The White wall gallery and framers
Interests: Collecting memorabilia and framing

Looking to take on extra help

Post by Whitewallframers »

Hi Guys,
we took over a small family run framing business in Bolton last year and fortunately we are nearly 3 times busier than the shop has ever been.
My problem is its becoming a struggle to keep up with the workload and to try and see my young children grow also.

Ive been told to look at employing somebody for the extra help and also just to relieve me of some pressure. Although im fairly new to the industry im young enough and determined to make a long and happy life from framing.

Do any of you more experienced framers have any tips or advice regarding taking on staff? for example part time or full time or even apprentices?
My main problem would be the size of my shop, its quite small and can get quite cosy at the best of times.

Many thanks Matt
Jamesnkr

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by Jamesnkr »

1. Put your prices up. That should increase your profit and reduce the workload.

2. Is the extra work that this person does going to take your turnover above the VAT threshold of £85,000? Don't forget that above this level you are effectively paying an extra 17% tax on your profits.

3. Get your accountant to deal with PAYE. Don't forget you will need provision for pensions too.
poliopete
Posts: 798
Joined: Mon 04 Apr, 2016 7:13 am
Location: The Wash
Organisation: Annie Lou Fine Framing
Interests: Caring for my wife, Picture Framing and Natural History

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by poliopete »

Hi Matt

I faced the same problem many years ago. Work load increasing and time available to spend with the children decreasing. :(

We decided to do two things firstly, as James suggests, increase prices to increase profitability and lesson the work load. Secondly, take on a part time worker. :)

We were VAT registered by then anyway. The thing about raising prices is it does not always follow that the amount of work coming in will go down :shock: In fact it can have the opposite effect. :wink:

The second decision to take on a part time worker turned out to be a great success. He was a fireman in King's Lynn with plenty of spare time. He worked with me for many years until my retirement and we are still good friends. His first task when he came to work was to maintain/service our equipment, morso, pneumatic underpinner, compressor etc. It was then we developed our system of working (mainly) in batches. We found it more efficient and less wasteful.

I realise it can be difficult to find the right person but I consider myself very fortunate to find this chap. He had the work ethic and took care/pride in his work. Also, our shop/workshop always had a very pleasant atmosphere - very important if when you work together. :P

My only concern for you is your lack of space, you may need to give that some thought.

Peter
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by Not your average framer »

I would suggest that your lack of space issue need addressing as an urgent priority. You need space to organise your workload, also as your workload is increasing you will need more space for an increased volume of materials. You should think about how an extra pair of hand will increase the space and time required to unpack, check and store away a greater volume of orders as they arrive.

There are various different ways of finding more space out of the space you already have. Possibly the most obvious is if you are currently cutting up sheets of glass on a bench, to switch to a wall mounted glass and board cutter. You may find that you will need to keep less left over materials and off-cuts.

This may sound hard, but I can tell you from my own experience that two framers need more space than just double the amount of space needed by one. The extra space must be part of the plan, for everything to work out properly. You will also need to consider how much time will be required to train and organise work for your extra member of staff.

I no longer have any members of staff working for me. I enjoyed their company and we had a great time working together, but getting older and trying to stay on top of all that needs doing as you are getting older is becoming too much. I too am in the process of addressing space issues in my own premises and this includes limiting the range of mouldings and the range of mountboard colours that I will stock in the future.

I hope that you will find the best and most convenient way of implementing the changes that you are now looking at when taking on an extra pair of hands. Best wishes.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Royall
Posts: 92
Joined: Fri 01 Jul, 2005 11:24 am
Location: Bristol, England
Contact:

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by Royall »

Finding an experienced framer locally who could step in and start framing for you straight away could be a problem. If you can't find one then you'd have to take on a novice and then spend some of your valuable time teaching him/her how to frame - time that you could be spending on getting jobs out of the door!
The way that I get around this problem is to teach them how to frame but in stages rather than in one go. However more importantly teach them in reverse order - in other words you'd start them off by teaching them how to do the easy part of framing (i.e. final assembly and finishing off) and for you to do all of the difficult/technical stuff. Then after a couple of weeks assembly plus cutting the backing board, then after another couple of weeks assembly plus backing board plus glass cutting and so on until you eventually teach them the more difficult aspects and they can do a complete framed picture
By using this method you'll not only maximise your own framing time but more importantly should your new employee not quite live up to expectations then you can "stop" them at one of the earlier stages.
Mike Royall GCF
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by Not your average framer »

That makes a lot of sense!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Whitewallframers
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat 16 Jul, 2016 8:13 pm
Location: Bolton
Organisation: The White wall gallery and framers
Interests: Collecting memorabilia and framing

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by Whitewallframers »

Thanks for the much appreciated input guys, as far as the space issue is concerned i may be able to come to an agreement with the lady who lives above our shop to cut short her agreement and move out, she seemed quite happy to do so.

Im still looking to find extra help and by the sound of it maybe apart time role to start with. im hoping to get all the training done (slowly) ready for the christmas run in where as you all know is pandemonium at times.

Again thank you for your Knowledge and wise advice and im certainly going to take it all on board.


Regards Matt
Jamesnkr

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by Jamesnkr »

Jobs like taping up frames can very easily be done by wives, girlfriends, nephews. That might be all you need.
red
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat 14 May, 2016 8:30 am
Location: manchester
Organisation: none
Interests: woodwork

Re: Looking to take on extra help

Post by red »

when I bought my morso earlier on this year, it was only for sale because
the gallery owners framer at 75 years retired, she could not find another
framer, she even offered me the job! the gallery was in the lakes so
there is less people than in the Manchester area. I would take you up on
the offer but I'm off to northern Ireland to live early next year
you have done amazingly well to increase your trade.good luck with getting
extra help
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