Pricing help

[nolonstacey]

Just remember that my ambition is to assist. This is one of many things that is not always taught in art schools

I absolutely appreciate it. I think artists are renowned for being bad at this. I didn’t go to art school - I studied Maths at uni, where they teach you even less about this stuff!! I never had an issue with selling or pricing my art though - I draw it, price it, take it somewhere to sell it, and it sells! And I’ve always had a range of prices, from £2.50 greetings cards to £50 small prints and up to £1000 pieces. I guess the same mindset applies to framing - I put an original piece of artwork in front of someone and if they don’t like it or think it’s too expensive, they don’t buy it! I’ve never been offended by that.

[JFeig]

Accounting and economics here.
Remember this old adage "you have happier customers if you lower your price than to increase it".

[nolonstacey]

Remember this old adage "you have happier customers if you lower your price than to increase it".

That’s my next concern! I already have a lot of repeat customers! I’ll blame the government!!

[pramsay13]

I'm £77.63 for the first one and £139.11 for the second.

[nolonstacey]

I'm £77.63 for the first one and £139.11 for the second.

Finally someone close to my prices!! Can I ask, does that include VAT?

[theframer]

i would be £126.71 and £191.37 both plus vat

[pramsay13]

Finally someone close to my prices!! Can I ask, does that include VAT?

You can and no it does not.

[JKX]

You can and no it does not.

So you are VAT registered and VAT is added to those prices, or you're not VAT registered & that's the retail price?

[pramsay13]

I'm not vat registered so that is the final price.

[nolonstacey]

I might be wrong to ask this as a continuation of this thread, but I'm just trialing Framiac again to simplify things, but I wondered if there's anyone here who uses it, how you factor in your undermount? There doesn't appear to be a section for it. If you add it as a second mount, it will calculate the time as If you are cutting another window mount, which obviously you aren't. I thought I'd select it as a second backing board, but it doesn't allow that. How do people get around this? I would have thought the majority of framing jobs have an undermount?

[Justintime]

Under Extras, I have added one called "Hinging" which is for straight T hinging but includes the cost of the undermount. Obviously it doesn't allow for rag mounts though, so I lose a bit there. Alternatively you could add the undermount as another mount and by clicking on "Straight" you can change the cuts from default 1 to zero, but I got fed up adding it to most jobs. Incidentally, you can add every type of extra here, float mounting, rebate tape etc etc

[nolonstacey]

Under Extras, I have added one called "Hinging" which is for straight T hinging but includes the cost of the undermount. Obviously it doesn't allow for rag mounts though, so I lose a bit there. Alternatively you could add the undermount as another mount and by clicking on "Straight" you can change the cuts from default 1 to zero, but I got fed up adding it to most jobs. Incidentally, you can add every type of extra here, float mounting, rebate tape etc etc

Thanks for that. Interesting that it does need a workaround - I thought maybe I was just missing something. I would have thought the obvious thing would be to be able to select mountboard as backing boards. you could then just add an undermount and a backing board to that section

[Justintime]

Yeah I see your logic. I think I did the same way with Estlite so it made sense to carry on.

[nolonstacey]

Yeah I see your logic. I think I did the same way with Estlite so it made sense to carry on.

Framiac doesn’t seem to allow you to do that though. It won’t let you type a mount code under backing boards

[WannabeFramer]

Sorry to jump in, but how do you calculate the undermount on the Hinging settings Justin?

I have the default Hinging and it has this caveat message, but I've never worked it out.

"This charge is for standard T hinges. It does not include the cost of the Undermount. Undermount can be selected from Backings on the Job form. Edit as required."

[Tudor Rose]

You can either put in one of the specifically created boards - such as Larson Juhl's conservation backing board - which can be used as an undermount, eg code number LLL008950, or choose one of the jumbo boards if needed. All of those can be found under their listings for backing boards and have the bonus that they list on LJ's website which Level of mountboard they comply with, which makes life nice and easy.

Or you can create yourself as a supplier on your supplier list and then just create a generic board, priced to match say the sheet price of mountboard from your main supplier, and then pick that from the backing board list. It will then be charging out as a board, without any apertures etc. That's how we work it anyway and have listings for Level 1 and Level 2 boards.

For hinging - you can use the generic listing, or adapt to create your own.

[Justintime]

Sorry @nolanstacey, I meant I do the same as I did before.
@wannabeframer go to hinging in "extra charges" and add in the material costs of mountboard per size and add the undermount cutting labour onto the hinging labour et voila!(but like I said it doesn't allow for level 1 jobs, but I guess I could have different hinging for different levels... ) Maybe not the most straightforward method, but nobody has ever accused me of being straightforward!
If in doubt, do what Jo says, I'm sure that your methods are far more logical than mine Jo!
The point of it for me is that I can personalise it as much as I like and add things as I need to and ensure that I'm charging for absolutely every process. Win win. Like banging on an extra half hour labour on a complicated job that you know you're going to under estimate. It usually works out fine for me, but if there's the odd occasion that I have over charged, then I can give a partial refund, it always goes down well, but I'm covered.

[nolonstacey]

You can either put in one of the specifically created boards - such as Larson Juhl's conservation backing board - which can be used as an undermount, eg code number LLL008950, or choose one of the jumbo boards if needed. All of those can be found under their listings for backing boards and have the bonus that they list on LJ's website which Level of mountboard they comply with, which makes life nice and easy.

Or you can create yourself as a supplier on your supplier list and then just create a generic board, priced to match say the sheet price of mountboard from your main supplier, and then pick that from the backing board list. It will then be charging out as a board, without any apertures etc. That's how we work it anyway and have listings for Level 1 and Level 2 boards.

For hinging - you can use the generic listing, or adapt to create your own.

Many thanks for that. Both of those make sense. I forgot about that larson board

[JKX]

To save time I created a dual backing board called (referenced) "undermount" in a few varieties. 1-6 or so. A combined undermount and backing, (not stuck together, just for pricing) each had its own description on the order form e.g. "Alphamat artcare 4 ply plus artbak" I did have to increase prices manually, could/should have done the name-mysef-as-a suppiler thing, but it was fine.

[Tudor Rose]

If in doubt, do what Jo says

Can I use that in all my arguments Justin?? Alec might disagree