Does size matter? 12/04 Poll

Size/SF of your retail space, including work area


  • Total voters
    113

Mike Labbe

Administrator
Forum Support Team
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Posts
20,436
Loc
Lincoln, RI
Business
Get The Picture
No, it's nothing dirty. Now that I have your attention...


DECEMBER 2004 POLL & DISCUSSION - HOW BIG IS YOUR FRAME SHOP?

Your input and discussion are greatly appreciated!


A light December survey to compare our square footage, years in business, and staff.

RESULTS from previous surveys: www.custompictureframing.com/poll_results.htm

Mike

Note: One question asks how many part time and full time employees you have. Part time are noted as 0.5, and full time as 1.0. Just add them up for a total.
 
Mike,

Another pertinent question may have been gross sales.

Dave Makielski
 
Great idea

Unfortunately, I can't change the poll once someone has voted.

I can, however, post a second poll. Although confusing, it would allow folks to give this input.

If you think we should do this, what ranges/answers would be appropriate?
Mike
 
Although I an "homebased" I have a separate shop with 1200+ sq ft - so that is how I voted.

As of now, I see that I am one of 3 businesses that is 11-15 years old!

Betty
 
Just curious as to why square footage isn't listed as an option for homebased framers? Unless I didn't see it, seems you choose either homebased or square feet?

We operate with about 400 in the workroom/design area, and utilize a larger space for display as it's part of the finished lower level and thus makes the completed artwork show better. (and gives me much more room for those pieces.)
 
Number of employees for us is self and spouse so I put down 2. Actually should probably be 1.5 at our age and movement.
 
My business has been in existence since the early 70's so I voted that way.
I am the third owner and have owned it for 4 years in January.
It wasn't like starting a new business since I did inherit some customers (and clutter) but there have been enough changes to make it seem that way sometimes.
 
I'm impressed with the longevity that many of you have. I didn't expect to see so many older shops in the results. It's encouraging.

It's interesting how many are "less than 1 year old", then theres a "pot hole" in the "8-11 years" range, and then a huge spike from 11-30 years. This must have some economic basis?

Next year i'll be sure to include a question for shop income.

Mike
 
Mike you might change your ranges for the next pole. I had a hard time deciding if I should check 8-9 or 9-10 years when I have been in business 9 years. I went to 9-10 because it will be 10 the first of Jan.

Mitch
 
It was hard for me to pick the amount of employees. Its relative to my workload. Sometimes I have 1, me. But when I'm busy I do the work of 10 men!

Carry on.

Good poll too.
 
I want to know who has been in business for 76-100 years!

Mike, great job on the compilation of previous poll results. Interesting stuff.

I'm not sure what I am more surprised about, lack of wireless security, or the % of people that don't do backups at least weekly. Wow.
 
I was surprised too. Being a computer geek, this was my favorite poll and I probably went overboard a bit. Hopefully the results will generate some thought and encourage off site backups, regular backups, virus protection, computerization, web sites, and wireless security enhancements.

I received several private emails from folks looking for a suggested spyware scanner, and asking how they can "fix" their wireless networks.

In case anyone is shy to ask, here are some resources for these issues:

AD-AWARE SE 1.05: http://download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

SECURING YOUR WIRELESS ROUTER: http://www.thegrumble.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000725 (search google for additional opinions on this)

SYMANTEC NORTON ANTIVIRUS: http://www.symantec.com

WINDOWS SECURITY UPDATES: http://www.windowsupdate.com
 
(QUESTION MOVED FROM ANOTHER FORUM)

Question from CEILIDH:
CEILIDH:Along these lines I've been seriously wondering if there any stats on what the crew to income ratio is? By that I mean - say the shop is pulling in 450 to 500 hundred thou a year - what is the average crew for that kind of volume?

I was a solo small time owner for years and years who was recently lured to the big time (what's it going to take and when I told them, they bit so here I am. The stories I could tell! It's way, way different here). I've got 2 full timers and 2 part timers under me (25 - to 30 hours a week) plus one owner who is not only useless she is actually counter productive because she is beyond neurotic but I won't go there.

I have to say that the location is key plus the business has been around for over 10 years but it seems like we are always buried. Buried to the point where I can only hope to come up for air sometime next week. But next week never comes. Never ! ! !The stress is shocking. I won't go there either.

But getting back to the original question - pulling in 500 thou a year what do you guys think the staffing requirements are?
 
I would also be interested in what the different Revenue/Staff ratios are.

Of course if you just ask revenue and then staff the data won't give you true ratios, so we need to ask the ratios. I would suggest either what is the annual income of your operation per full time employee [ Annual_Gross/#Employees ] or average weekly income per employee hour [ Weekly_Gross/Total_hours_paid ]

Note, I would treat salaried people as 40 hours even though we know many work more hours per week than that. ;)

I like the first form, but either would get us to the info.
 
And some of us (me) prays for this problem every single night.
 
It seems to be a very delicate balance. You need the work in order to pay the people, but you need the people in order to bring in the work.

Training someone takes time, but you have to be prepared. You can't just wait until you are "covered up" with work to find help.

In the past, I have shied away from advertising and certain promotions because I knew I couldn't handle any more work. But then, you can't afford to pay new employees until you have the work to back them up.

This may be where more experienced business people would talk about using "lines of credit" and things such as that. Me, I've just always tried to "pay as I go" which may or may not be the way to grow.

Betty
 
We do somewhat over 500k with 4.5 people - 3 full time and three half time. Bigger certainly does not mean more efficient as administration, scheduling and people issues tend to grow faster than than sales.

Process is everything. We have 262 pieces to finish this week. 10 minutes per piece translates into one full time person and ten minutes is easy to lose on any piece and hard to gain on a hundred.

Things like CMCs, computerized ordering and well thought out flow systems make a huge difference for us. Over the last couple of years we have shaved a bunch of minutes and can do more with less.

We are in our second year of flat sales and this shop currently runs very smoothly. Organization and staffing are the hardest when you are growing fast - when the systems that worked well for 25 pictures a week start breaking down when you jump up to 50 pictures a week.

As long as we are suggesting polls for Mike I would also like to see sales volume to square footage, sales volume to staff level and sales growth since 2001. Edie the FG mentioned in another thread that she was experiencing flat sales after 13 years of steady growth. We opened in 1988 and grew at least 10% - some years considerably more - every year until 2003. I would be interested in the growth pattern of other business that have been around for 10 years or so.

Peter Bowe
Saline Picture Frame Co.
 
I'm game for doing a Sales Volume/Sq Footage/Staff/Growth survey in January, but i'm not sure how to present it. What format would be useful, considering we only have a multiple choice system at our disposal?

Maybe we could ask the questions individually, and then present the survey taker with a formula that they calculate manually? (with results compared in another multiple choice question) Whatever we do, it has to universal for everyone.

I don't have the experience to know which questions to ask on this one, and any help is appreciated. Is there a formula we can use that applies to everyone, and has meaning?

Mike
 
Gross sales $126,000
Square footage 987'

126,000/987 = $127.66 per sq ft.

2 full time persons $63.83 annuall per person
or
3.2 cents per foot per hour or about $31 per hour for the whole shop.

($126,000/4,000 hours)/987sq ft = cents per foot per man hour.

so if each are getting paid $12/hr, you're going broke.
 
Bumped to top. Final week for this poll.

If you have poll ideas, please send me an email. I'm running out of ideas! :(

Mike
 
Back
Top