"On a Wim"

[Wimblees@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-11-13 21:22:20 EST, you write:

>Dear List and Wim,
>     With all due respect....do we not as a group of professional service
>people search for the "happy medium" in terms of providing adequate
solutions
>to a customers dilema of requiring tuning and repair on an instrument that
>has a "built in" degree of difficulty in aquiring parts and specs for proper
>regulation.......and still put caviar on   duh table?
>    Would you expect to take your 1949 Ford Coup to a local garage and
>say......"Whuppa Toon-up on 'er"........ and not not get a raised eyebrow
and
>subsequent estimate for custom work in terms of repair?????       Gimme a
>break!!!
>     I will admit that there are certain individuals that do piano service
>work "for the Luv uv it" but I for one would like to keep from loosing my
ass
>on a "Bird Cage Job"
>      I would be more than welcome to refer you my clients number if you
want
>to help her out of the kindness of yer wallet.......eh??
>Regards,
>
>Dale Whitehead, RPT
>
>

Don't misinterpret my comments as saying you shouldn't be compensated
properly for the amount of work you do. If you take an hour to tune a
"normal" piano, and 2 hours to tune a birdcage, then by all means, charge
twice as much. If it takes you 3 times longer to regulate the dampers, and
spend another couple of  hours making new action parts, you have the right to
be compensated for that time, and the materials. But where do you draw the
line between what you consider "difficult" work, and "easy" work. Do you
charge more to tune a  9' grand than you do a console, even if it takes you
just as long? On the same piano, do you charge a different rate to regulate
the dampers, and another rate to adjust lost motion, just because one is more
difficult to do than the other?

Vivian Brooks gives a class on how to figure how much to charge just to pay
for your overhead. I teach a class that goes one step further and figures out
how much to charge for your work in order for you to make a comfortable
living. What it comes down to is that if we offer a service to our customers,
and we charge them a fee based on the hourly rate, then it shouldn't make any
difference what work you do, whether it is tightening screws, or doing a
concert tuning. The rate per hour should not change, just becuse one job is
more difficult than the other.

To charge a different rate for different jobs, in my honest opinion, is not
ethical. If you don't want to do the work on a certain piano, just be honest
with the customer and say so. But I don't think it is honest to charge them 3
times as much, to pay for your "aggravation", of having to do the work,
unless the customer is willing to pay the extra money, knowing ahead of time
what your "normal" charge is.

Willem Blees  RPT
St. Louis