Doug Fattic gave an excellent presentation at NAHMBS on frame painting. I learned that the top painters perform several more steps in the painting process than I had previously been aware of. I asked Doug how many hours would be required to paint a frame with elaborate cutout lugs whose color contrasted with the rest of the frame. I believe he said it could easily take 30 hours or more. If the painter charged $600 for such a paint job, he would be making $20 an hour. At a standard 2000 hours per year, that would bring in gross revenue of $40,000. But you have to pay for materials, say $3000 per year, even assuming your shop is at your home and you don't figure the extra utilities for the shop. So net income would be $37,000, with no benefits. Most companies figure benefits cost about 30% of salary, so $37,000 without benefits is about equivalent to earning $28,500 salary with full benefits. And we are talking about people who have spent 20 yeras or more becoming among the best in the world at their profession. Of course, most of the top framebuilders/painters work closer to 4000 hours per year than 2000. As a matter of survival, they probably have to. My comment at NAHMBS was that some people complain about paying $500 or $600 for a paint job, but when you realize the time involved, the amazing thing is that anyone is willing to do a top quality paint job for less than $1500.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
Edward Litton <edlitton@earthlink.net> wrote:
This posting is to thank Mr. Deeter for his thoughtful response to Bruce Gordon. As the wife of a framebuilder, who is extremely passionate about his work, I can assure you that we do think about bicycles as a business. It is the business that puts food on our table and clothes on our children.
Litton cycles does not have a 401k, a pension plan or an IRA, we do have health insurance because we qualified for a reduced rate through Kaiser because of our "low income." That low rate ends in July of this year and we will then be paying over $700.00 per month for health coverage alone. Sounds like a lot of business is going to have to happen to pay for that.
People think nothing of stopping by my husbands shop to say hello or show him their latest new purchase. Ed never tells people that he needs to get back to work because he hasn't made the rent on the shop yet. I always tell him to be firm with people, to tell them that he's not at work on Saturday and Sunday because it's so "fun." He feels that the people that he is kind to today might tomorrow order a frame or at least bring their old one in for refurbishing. Happily that is sometimes the case. Ed almost never posts to the list because there are not enough hours in the day for things not related to his business or his family.
I'm the first person to think that bikes are cool and so are many of the people who make them but if people want the KOF's to be around they need to support them. Having an early 80's Ed Litton or Bruce Gordon frame might be neat but is sure doesn't help with Bruce and Ed's current situation. Ed does what he does because he loves what he does and is extremely proud of his work.
Finally, thank you to Bruce for buying Eddie lunch today, he wouldn't have eaten otherwise.
Julie Litton
I still need to check my lottery ticket
El Cerrito, CA