The Framers Forum

Hi there,

last week I posted re a certain frame supplier and I couldn't find anyone who sells it. I found the material supplier though DJ Simonds. Is there anyone local to me Ruislip or North London who can make a frame from this material/supplier? Also, it should be affordable to my client. I found a framer in Soho and their price was multiplied compared to any online seller and my client said NO.

Thanks,
Peter

You might be on a hiding to nothing, if you and another framer are both trying to get a worthwhile profit out of the same framing job. Trying to get enough money out of the deal to pay both a framer and yourself a reasonable margin, will naturally push the price to your customer up more that likely above the price that an on line supplier would be quoting for the same job. Very often prices that are offered by internet framers are not really worth trying to compete with. You may not be aware of this, but the labour component of the price quoted to the customer is almost always much greater than the cost of the materials required to produce the frame. Add on to that the cost of the left over waste after producing the frame and the cost of carriage on the materials, plus the VAT on the materials and carriage and that's probably a larger amount of money than you were expecting.

I think that it would help you to understand how jobs need to be priced, from the outset to understand, how to make this sort of business, both worthwhile and viable for you. If you are sub contracting the work out to someone else, you are going to be in much the same position as some shops which are selling ready made frames directly to the public. Such shops are only adding on a very limited mark up and rely up on selling large volumes to make their money from such items. I would strongly advise that you consider going on a one day training course to learn a bit about how to do the framing yourself and consider investing in some basic equipment to get you started. This does not need to be new equipment, but could easily be some worthwhile items of secondhand equipment instead.

I have bought some equipment myself from Framers Equipment in Northampton, who specialise in supplying refurbished and reconditioned equipment. They also provide various one day training courses as well. There are of course other companies who do much the same thing as well, so you may choose another company instead, but this might be a helpful way to take this forward. Expect a bit of a learning curve as you take this forward, but it's a sensible way of taking this forward. I hope that you will find this helpful.

Peter

You asked if there is a framer who can help you near Ruislip

Try this link>>>
These are framers all members of FATG, so hope it helps you

https://fineart.co.uk/Directory/Categor ... ountry=234
If the link doesn't work simply go to FATG and do a search for Members near Ruislip.


Do please let us know how you get on.

If your customer is a regular, or might become one, someone who'll come back to you for your services, then it might be worth losing the "commission" on this sale, for the sake of goodwill (unless they have many more offspring, in which case Mark's advice would make even more sense).

When I was a teenager growing up in Cambridge, there was a HiFi store on the corner of the market square. Sign in the window said, if we don't have what you want, we'll tell you where to go. I've followed that throughout my adult life. Customers/clients wanting something I can't or don't have capacity for, I point them to the people who can service their requirements.

Then they come back.