tech fees

[A440A]

Greetings all, 
      It seems that there is some reticience about talking money.  
 Wellllllllllllll,  I ain't afraid, so here goes. 
    Tunings at the University are $65, but I tell myself it is worth it for
the credibility it offers.
    Tunings in the recording studios are $88 each, even if I go in every day
for a week. 
    Normal tunings for customers that tune at least once a year are $94. 
Labor such as Pitch raises, repairs, minor adjustments, etc are  $60 per hour,
( this works out to $1 per minute, so a 3 minute damper pedal adjustment is
$3.00 added to the bill).  
Travel time is $30 per hour, plus expenses. 

    Keep in mind that if a refridgerator repair man comes to your house and
spends and hour on your fridge, you will probably spend close to $100. And
this is for an appliance that costs perhaps 1/10 as much as a piano.  
   Wim Blees gave a good seminar here about how much a service person needs to
charge to make a middle of the road living, and if you count all your hours
that you have available to work, and then count your expenses, you will see
that $30 per hour is about the absolute minimum you can get by with.  
    It is also worthwhile noting that you cannot stay at one price very long,
or you will be moving backwards, and the longer you are in the trade, the more
expensive you should be.  After all, the more experience you have, the less
time it will take for most jobs, and the quality should be correspondingly
higher.  
     In the final analysis,  a service persons worth is usually set by their
reputation, and reputations must not only be built, but they must be
maintained.  There is no quick, easy way to do it.  It takes time and
attention to quality.  
Regards, 
Ed Foote