The big picture: Is this the one trade you didn't know you needed?

When Jennifer Wilson returned from a trip to Paris with a vintage poster, she got more than she bargained for.

“By the time it was framed, it was two metres tall,” says Wilson. She didn’t know what to do with such a big picture, thinking that if she mounted it herself, the weight would pull the plaster off the wall. Finally, it was the framer who recommended she call a professional picture hanger.

Picture hangers will mount your pieces of art you own safely in the optimal position. Any tradie can hammer a nail into a wall, but is it in the right spot? Will the picture fade? A picture hanger will carefully consider the dimensions of the walls before they mount any artwork. Aspects of what they do cross over with interior design, because they need an understanding of design principles to hang pictures at the right height and in the right space.

Greg MacInnes, of Hanging Around, specialises in “Salon hangs”. This is when pictures of differing sizes are grouped together to look appealing.

“It’s like building a stone wall,” says MacInnes. “You have to use what you have to look natural and not directly underneath each other, like laying bricks.”

Good picture hangers work in consultation with the client. Russell Unitt, of Picture Hanging Solutions, says much of his work comes from retirees who are downsizing, and suddenly don’t have the same amount of wall space to hang their family pictures. The wedding photo looked great in the guest room, but where do you put it if there is no guest room?

“The pictures have been sitting on the floor for two years, and that’s when we come in,” says Unitt.

• Related: The art-filled home of stylist Liberty Biggins
• Related: How art is being made accessible to the masses
• Related: The Australian galleries to purchase art 

After the expense of buying a property, furnishings and the odd touching up, hanging artwork is the final thing that needs to be done. Art and pictures draw the eye and can make or break the feel of a room. Unitt acknowledges, however, it is the one thing people don’t want to spend money on.

“They will use the existing hooks in the room, it’s lazy, but a quick fix,” he says. Many people will not think twice about calling an electrician or plumber, but a picture hanger is not someone they usually consider.

One of the strangest things that Unitt has hung was a 3.5-metre crocodile.

“The crocodile was killing local livestock in Queensland, and had to be shot,” he says. The client got the skin and head taxidermied, and Unitt mounted it on the wall.

Picture hanging is still considered a niche industry, and has grown largely due to word of mouth.

MacInnes was the first professional picture hanger in Sydney in the late 1980s. He has seen the industry grow steadily to 12 picture-hanging businesses in the greater Sydney metropolitan area today. Most of his clients are in the northern, eastern and inner-western suburbs, and, on average, he charges $150 an hour for labour. He can usually hang eight to 10 pictures in an hour.

Since she called on a picture hanger to mount her vintage poster, Wilson has now used the trade for other pieces of art at home and in the office. She sees the time saved, the interior design knowledge and the safety of getting a professional picture hanger is far superior than asking a tradie to hammer a nail into her wall.