I quoted 2,400 for a 40x50 portrait and the client asked if that included the frame
I quoted 2,400 euros last month for a half-length portrait, 40x50, oil on linen, three sittings in my studio. The client wrote back within the hour: "Et le cadre, c'est compris?"
I said yes. Of course I said yes. A decent frame for that size is 180 to 220 at my framer on rue d'Aguesseau, and I said yes before I had even done the arithmetic, which is the whole problem. So the quote is really 2,200 for the painting and I will spend two hours choosing a moulding with a woman who has strong opinions about gold.
What I actually wanted to say was that the frame is a separate object made by a separate craftsman and no, it is not included, but I heard my own voice saying "oui, bien sûr" and that was that.
The frustrating part is I know better. I raised my price from 1,800 to 2,400 in January and I have been flinching ever since, waiting for someone to laugh. Nobody has laughed. They just ask what else comes with it.
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the "of course I said yes" before the arithmetic even landed is the whole thing, isn't it. I've done it with framing more times than I'd like to admit and I've never once regretted the money half as much as I regretted how easy it was to say.
my own version of your framer is a man out west here who'll hold a moulding up against a print, sigh, and say "no" with great feeling, and I've learned to just let him at it. two hours choosing gold with a woman of strong opinions sounds like a fair trade for 200 euro, honestly. you're getting a free education.
but aye, the frame is a separate object and a separate trade and the only reason it never gets said out loud is that it feels stingy to mention it, which is exactly how it ends up coming out of your own pocket. the ones who ask are usually the ones who'd respect a straight answer anyway.
A framer who says no with feeling is worth listening to. Mine mostly just goes quiet and holds up a second option, which is its own kind of no.
The money I regret less than the ease of saying yes, that's the honest version. Putting it in writing in the quote is the only thing that has ever fixed it for me, because then the yes happens on paper, slowly, before anyone is in the room.
The silent second option is a no in a nicer coat, yes. Mine does the same with the third one, which is the one I actually want and he knows it.
On paper, slowly, is exactly it. I have started writing the frame as its own line in the quote, with a price, and the strange thing is nobody has argued. The yes gets said in advance and it is a smaller yes than the one I was giving away in the middle of a conversation.
"A free education" is generous of you, but you are not wrong. She has taught me more about sight lines than some of my teachers, and she is right more often than I want to admit when I come in with my own idea.
The framer who sighs and says no with great feeling, that is the one to keep. Mine does the quiet second option, which is a no with better manners. Both do the same work.
And yes, the frame is a separate object. Which is exactly why I should have quoted it separately instead of swallowing it in an hour, but here we are.