Price check: dry mount?

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jim_p

jim_p

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Apr 8, 2007
Posts
2,151
Loc
Natick, MA
Customer came in to have something dry mounted. 24x30 poster. Our price came to just under $30. She claimed that she could get it done for half that at "some place in Boston". We held firm on our pricing and wished her a nice day.

So: what price do YOU come up with for a 24x30 dry mount?
 
jim_p said:
Customer came in to have something dry mounted. 24x30 poster. Our price came to just under $30. She claimed that she could get it done for half that at "some place in Boston". We held firm on our pricing and wished her a nice day.

So: what price do YOU come up with for a 24x30 dry mount?
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I'm with you Jim :)

edit: but I might comment that anything their savings in the mounting would get eaten up by the cost of gas.
 
jim_p said:
Customer came in to have something dry mounted. 24x30 poster. Our price came to just under $30. She claimed that she could get it done for half that at "some place in Boston". We held firm on our pricing and wished her a nice day.

So: what price do YOU come up with for a 24x30 dry mount?
Click to expand...


Same area as you.

I REALLY hate when they say stuff like that!!

"You can??? Well.. seeing as how Boston and I are in a major price war, I'll let you have it for $10. OK??":icon11:
 
I'm at $28.50 if part of a framing package. If they only wanted it drymounted and then they wanted me to trim it exact at sight edge and then put a zig-zag hanger on it, and they wanted me to fire up my press before I had other orders batched - well you can guess, I would charge even more.
 
$ 29.35
 
10 min on kool tac any small size... 15 for half a sheet and up to 32x40 20 dollars plus tax. IE 24x36 20 bucks
 
I don't dry mount unless we are also framing. It's just not a service I am interested in providing. However, if part of the framing package I would be at 22.
 
Quick...someone give us the average...the mean and the median!

We would charge $21.20 for a dry mount to Xboard and $34.30 if mounted to foam centered board. Me have created two separate line charges in our Mounting Charges - POS.

i-FRAMER said:
AUD$40 INC GST
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So that would be about $38.82 (US) for whoever is doing the tallying. :)


Kyle Henson said:
I don't dry mount unless we are also framing. It's just not a service I am interested in providing. However, if part of the framing package I would be at 22.
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Kyle - just curious if a customer of 3-4 years who brings in 3-5 major framing order every year, all of a sudden shows up next week with 18 posters he need only dry mounted for his child's school....would you turn this away or make an exception?

John
 
I usually use LJ's suggested retail price chart and that would be $29.65.
Pretty right on what you charge, Jim. I might round it down to $25 even just to be nice.
Pretty close to many others except those who want to give away their labor for free.
If you want to make the U.S. like China, good luck to you.
If it's part of a total framing job I might be a little more lenient.
If it's just the dry mount only, the price is the price.
 
John Ranes II said:
We would charge $21.20 for a dry mount to Xboard and $34.30 if mounted to foam centered board.
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Interesting on the 2 charges here John. X and tissue/film combined are as much as I pay for heat activated foam core but the time used for heat activated foam core is a fraction of tissue/film and X. Is this due to the brand of heat activated foam core you are using or are you using tissue/film with both.
 
John, more than likely in that scenario I would make an exception. But I would let the customer know it was an exception. I only have an old small beifang press and I don't like to dry mount. Usually the type of customer I turn down has never graced my door before and is looking for the lowest cost display option available. I also do not stretch canvas unless we will also be framing the canvas. Exceptions can be made to that policy as well.
 
neilframer said:
Pretty close to many others except those who want to give away their labor for free.
If you want to make the U.S. like China, good luck to you.
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Neil, we have been asked not to discuss our costs and mark-ups on the G, but my labor for this would be less than 5 minutes including trimming it out. At $19.24 I make plenty of margin.

Jim has also mentioned that his shop is having some hard times right now. See the Marketing Consultant thread. Maybe he does need to do a top to bottom revaluation of his pricing. If you're 1/2 higher than the next guy, you had better be one fine framer.
 
neilframer said:
I usually use LJ's suggested retail price chart and that would be $29.65.
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I thought so. I remember sometime back revamping some of my pricing to be more in line with LJ's suggested retail pricing (I was pricing Museum Glass WAAY too high, f'rinstance!). I wanted to double-check my pricing yesterday, and it seems as though the suggested retail price chart has quietly disappeared from LJ's site? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

Someone once said that if nobody is complaining about your pricing then you're not asking enough :) I have very few customers that walk based on price, but I do have a few...
 
Our price is about the same as yours Jim. Sometimes someone else will undercut your prices but sometimes customers recollections can be askew too. We sell art supplies too & of course hvae to compete with the internet & such these days but it's hard to compete with a customers perceptions which are their reality. Jsu yesterday I sold a can of super 77 spray to guy who seemed to be claiming hiway robbery at $21 for a can. He claimed he buys it all the time online from Uline for $8. I went right to the computer but of course he was in too big a hurry (begrudgingly paying the $21 because he was in desperate need) I found Uline sells it for $20 & you have to buy 2 cans. Shipping estimate $8.


In spite of that I suppose he'll forever remember us as the store that ripped him off on 77 spray & that online in always a better deal.
 
Dry Mount inc. foam board, $34.10 – in sunny, tax free New Hampshire.
 
I like the idea of pricing by the UI - but haven't done that in our shop yet. We have three sizes of presses, and we charge by the press size. $7.50 for the small one, $12.50 for the medium one, and $22.50 for the large one. That cost does not include the cost of the foam board.

For this size project, we'd charge $30.53 (which includes sales tax).
 
UI works well........ just not in Portland where the 3 most favorite
posters are 12x38, 46x6 and 6x60....

You can lose your asset real fast.
 
Baer Charlton said:
UI works well........ just not in Portland where the 3 most favorite
posters are 12x38, 46x6 and 6x60....

You can lose your asset real fast.
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Baer, the farther from square, the fewer square inches for a given UI. (I do have an override price boost if a 40x60 board is triggered.) :p
 
24x30 drymount = $22.14 plus tax. We use kooltack unless the work is heat sensative.

For a while we were having quite a large number of people opt for drymounting instead of using glazing because of the cost savings. Yet drymounting is much more labor intensive than cutting a piece of glass. I have probably increased my drymounting charges by 50% over the last 5 years so that there is both less incentive to choose that INSTEAD of glazing, and so that we are paid an amount more appropriate to the amount of time spent on these jobs.
 
FrameMakers said:
Neil, we have been asked not to discuss our costs and mark-ups on the G, but my labor for this would be less than 5 minutes including trimming it out. At $19.24 I make plenty of margin.

Jim has also mentioned that his shop is having some hard times right now. See the Marketing Consultant thread. Maybe he does need to do a top to bottom revaluation of his pricing. If you're 1/2 higher than the next guy, you had better be one fine framer.
Click to expand...
I gave retail mounting prices, like everyone else on the thread.
Where did I talk about costs or mark-ups? :shrug:
Jim's pricing is right in line with mine and most others.
 
neilframer said:
I gave retail mounting prices, like everyone else on the thread.
Where did I talk about costs or mark-ups? :shrug:
Click to expand...

What I am saying is that I am not supposed to put that info to tell you that I am making plenty of margin at $19.24 on a 24x30 mounting job. Your comments about people giving away labor like China are not appreciated. If I could use this information I could show how you could be considered to by gouging at your price point.
 
FrameMakers said:
What I am saying is that I am not supposed to put that info to tell you that I am making plenty of margin at $19.24 on a 24x30 mounting job. Your comments about people giving away labor like China are not appreciated. If I could use this information I could show how you could be considered to by gouging at your price point.
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Then I guess most of the rest of us are "gouging" according to you.
It's not my price point, it's an industry standard price point. I (as well as others) just use it.
Jeff charges $10.35. Are you "gouging" at $19.24?
If you don't appreciate my comment, don't read it or put me on your ignore list.
Just because you don't appreciate a comment doesn't speak for everyone.
 
I'm a gouger ........ but I'm awesome.... that's why I charge so much.....
It costs $$$$$ to get sass with your order!

Ive never had anyone complain I was too expensive on drymounting..... 40minutes away is a Michael's.....:shrug:
 
blackiris said:
I'm a gouger ........ but I'm awesome.... that's why I charge so much.....
It costs $$$$$ to get sass with your order!

Ive never had anyone complain I was too expensive on drymounting..... 40minutes away is a Michael's.....:shrug:
Click to expand...
A side order of sass is worth $$$$$ for sure. :party:
 
A side note. We have been going through the pricing these past
few weeks, so I was wrong . . . for about 20 minutes.....

After I explained about what was left of a 32x40 sheet....

She went back and bumped it back to the 30 it was before.

Jeff, no..... it's not leaning against the wall. I abhor stacks of
scrap . . . use it or get it out of your way.
 
I keep the strips for pick ups to protect the frames in transportation. I still throw a good bit away and give tons of it to the schools. By the end of every day after all that there are still a dozen or more strips. Today was just a normal day and I mounted at least 25 pieces so plenty of left overs.

The huge swings in mounting prices in this thread reflect a wide variety of techniques and buying patterns. It would be crazy for me to use tissue or film for dry mounting because my labor rate is $120 per hour but I move a lot faster than most. I buy foam core 100 sheets at a time for a huge discount and have 2 more levels of discounts available to me. I currently have 8 full cases and 4 open cases and need to order 4 more cases tomorrow to fill the gaps in flavors and sizes.

The comments about shops not charging enough for this job is based on shops that aren't busy enough to make a living dry mounting only. If I did nothing but dry mount this job all day every day at my price I would be a one percenter but then people here would dog me because I should be giving 50% of my income away in taxes.

There are those who only want to do museum quality framing but complain they are not busy. I frame a ton of home decor type art such as posters and prints that people buy from posters dot krap. Other shops in the area will only do full conservation on these jobs because they won't be part of devalueing a $10 poster so those customers come to me. Many of the shops turning away these jobs claim they don't want to race to the bottom but then they talk about not having work to do.
 
Baer, the left over from a 24x30 would be enough for a 16x20 and a 12x16. Realistically, I don't mount that close to the edge so it is more like 15x32 which is still a very usable piece.
 
Jeff Rodier said:
I keep the strips for pick ups to protect the frames in transportation. I still throw a good bit away and give tons of it to the schools. By the end of every day after all that there are still a dozen or more strips. Today was just a normal day and I mounted at least 25 pieces so plenty of left overs.

The huge swings in mounting prices in this thread reflect a wide variety of techniques and buying patterns. It would be crazy for me to use tissue or film for dry mounting because my labor rate is $120 per hour but I move a lot faster than most. I buy foam core 100 sheets at a time for a huge discount and have 2 more levels of discounts available to me. I currently have 8 full cases and 4 open cases and need to order 4 more cases tomorrow to fill the gaps in flavors and sizes.

The comments about shops not charging enough for this job is based on shops that aren't busy enough to make a living dry mounting only. If I did nothing but dry mount this job all day every day at my price I would be a one percenter but then people here would dog me because I should be giving 50% of my income away in taxes.

There are those who only want to do museum quality framing but complain they are not busy. I frame a ton of home decor type art such as posters and prints that people buy from posters dot krap. Other shops in the area will only do full conservation on these jobs because they won't be part of devalueing a $10 poster so those customers come to me. Many of the shops turning away these jobs claim they don't want to race to the bottom but then they talk about not having work to do.
Click to expand...

Amen! Well said Jeff.
 
Dry mount pricing

neilframer said:
I usually use LJ's suggested retail price chart and that would be $29.65.
Pretty right on what you charge, Jim. I might round it down to $25 even just to be nice.
Pretty close to many others except those who want to give away their labor for free.
If you want to make the U.S. like China, good luck to you.
If it's part of a total framing job I might be a little more lenient.
If it's just the dry mount only, the price is the price.
Click to expand...

where is this LJ's pricing chart for dry mounting? I have a client who needs dry mounted boards all the time. Now he needs some of them on 1/2" fc also and my brain is going to explode trying to figure out how much more it cost me and to charge him......
 
My retail for dry mounting a 24 X 30 on foamcore using dry mounting tissue is $30.00. That includes trimming and a hanger. I do have abit
of room to discount if necessary. There is a certain amount of liability
involved when mounting a piece. Thats my two cents from Vancouver,WA. :)
 
jim_p said:
Customer came in to have something dry mounted. 24x30 poster. Our price came to just under $30. She claimed that she could get it done for half that at "some place in Boston". We held firm on our pricing and wished her a nice day.

So: what price do YOU come up with for a 24x30 dry mount?
Click to expand...

$28.60 here in Alaska, and I paid dearly for shipping. I would typically use something like perfect mount for this.

Troy
 
$30 is about standard for Ottawa.
 
$29.40 on 3/16" white Speedmount.

I always warn them that Foamboard alway warp overtime with heat and humidity and there is no guarantee against that unless they put a frame around it.
 
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