I used to do batches of 25 frames for a customer. Just the rims with glass/backs. That doesn't sound to drastic but when you come to
pick the bones out of the job you get a few surprises. 25 frames = 100 rails to cut. 100 corners to join and touch up. I temp tacked the
glass/backs in. Not a long job on one but on 25? Then I had to place each frame in a poly bag and pack them all in a box. It all adds up.
I once had to frame about 40 pictures for an exhibition. Again 40 is not a big number if you say it quick, but when I was fixing the hangings
I got to thinking.... Stringing one frame only takes a short time and we tend to dismiss it. Doing 40? Say 2 minutes per frame = 80 minutes.
In practice it will take a lot longer. I could eat a ham sandwich in a minute. I couldn't eat 40 in 40 minutes. These are the sort of factors that
get dismissed when pricing 'production' jobs.
I remember a thread on the Grumble where a framer was invited to quote to supply mirrors for a new hotel in Dubai. Tasty job - on the face of it.
I think he submitted a quote for about $800,000.00. The mirrors were quite big, maybe 4'x5' + frame.He didn't get the job, but consider this. If you
crated up all those mirrors and the crates were say, 6" deep - you would have a stack 800ft high (or long).

If you have a smallish shop, you
don't need many frames to block it up. And shipping that lot out to Dubai would likely consume most of his budget. The elegant solution would be
to take temp charge of a few of the unfinished hotel rooms and have the moulding/mirrors delivered there. Buy all the equipment and set it up there
and when the job was finished, abandon all the equipment. And have a nice little holiday while you were there. :clap