Six hour job

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janetj1968

janetj1968

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Oct 16, 2007
Posts
5,935
Loc
Buena Vista, VA
A frequent customer wanted me to do a 'quick' framing job for him (time from order to delivery was three days). He started off with a 'what if' on framing an Eagles tour program (that I suggested we display whole and not cut). He elected to not have a separator in the image, so its mounted folded together with 'page seams' showing. I told him I could make the piece a lot more interesting if he could bring me some other memorabilia. I found him the 45 nearby on ebay of "Desperado" which was the last song played at the concert. Mixed in were his backstage passes and other tickets from concerts past.

From the time I had the last of materials in hand, it was actually completed in six hours including designing, cutting the materials and 'walking away' a few times. There was no extraordinary mounting, so the actual 'labor' time was kept to 1/2 hour standard...keeping his cost way down.

The pic was taken before it was actually completely finished. It doesn't have glass yet and the ribbon on the right was fine tuned. The top mat is black with red core followed by a foamcore spacer and a bright yellow mat for contrast. There's the standard piano key frame and a black square profile turned to become a shadowbox extender. Finished size was around 32 x 36. (pardon the blurry pic)

Final cost to the customer (we're using it as an advertising promo), including the 45: $299
 

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Looks nice ...I'm sure your customer was thrilled!

:beer:
 
Great looking job, and amazing turnaround time.
Are you sure you're not underpricing your labor? Even if the mounting was not "extraordinary", there are a variety of tasks there, plus the time to design, layout, and cut the multi-opening mat. Plus those BriteCore boards aren't cheap. Hard to compare pricing without knowing the materials source.
What is that moulding? I love it. (My wife is a piano teacher, so I could make good use of that!) If it's one of those Italian inlays sold by Bella, Global, Guerrini, I guarantee you my price would have been quite a bit more...especially w. materials and labor for an extender box.
You should have one devoted customer there!
:thumbsup: Rick
 
I just hate to see framers undervalue their labor. If six hours is the normal time for a job like this, then one would charge an hourly rate and stick to it and then add materials marked up appropriately. When I see pricing like this I understand why many framers can't make a go of it. We are not chains with the buying power of Ms or even a smaller outfit like Northwest Framing. We are independent frame shops making a living on quality work and we respect ourselves and are paid for our time.

Having said that, I do not mean to be harsh, just realistic. And, yes, I have discounted work for say, a neighbor, so I could use her piece promotionally.

Nice work, but I'd be very careful about the price. I'm much less upset about the price of that piece in Decor you are all worried about. Complex projects can easily run to the $1600 that seems to outrageous to some of you. That one might be priced incorrectly, but I am just saying that there are projects out there that do run into the higher numbers. If I get a chance I'll post one today.
 
Thanks to all for the compliments!

Rick...yes, that is Bella's "Beethoven" pattern. It's one of my favorites.

As far as pricing, my regular price would've been around $800--but because he is a frequent customer and because he's working with me on an ad, I cut him major slack. No worries...I have to pay the bills just like you do!

I did forget to mention my husband worked with me on this one but our combined time was about 6 hours.
 
I've never heard of Bella "Beethoven". It doesn't appear in their catalog, price list, or web site. We have the Liberaces, but they are just alternate stripes- not true piano keyboard layout. How long have you had this, and what is the mldg. number?
:kaffeetrinker_2: Rick
 
Nice Job

I wish I could get more music and entertainment jobs and a few less sports jobs. Although I'm not really complaining, work is work.

I took the liberty of pricing the piece as if I were doing it and came to $510.00 with NO frame. I don't have that frame and so of course I don't know what the cost of it is.

Had I been doing the job I would likely have used a black profile that I use often and adding the box for depth. Assuming this were the case, my price would have been $850.00. Plus the 45 of course.

I don't generally give discounts to new customers, but a regular customer will get an automatic discount on the more expensive jobs. I also mail out discount flyers to my regular customers for special events like Christmas, Fathers day etc.

We have two framers in our area that have had a "25% off all framing" sign out for about three straight years. I don't see the point in doing that.

Anyway, back on track. Nice job, now get back to work.

Brad
 
Nice job must been good friend.

My guess is you charged net materials & about $28.00 an hour
 
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