Repair guide

[Helen Pengelly]

Tim, I noticed that you mentioned Joe Garrett/ Randy Potter's repair labour
guide book. Where can one get a copy? much appreciated.
John Pengelly.

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> From: Tim Keenan & Rebecca Counts <tkeenan@kermode.net>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: tech fees
> Date: March 26, 1998 9:15 AM
> 
> Don, Carl, and list:
> 
> Also sprach Carl:
> 
> > >1)  There are legal ramifications.  Something about being
> > >anticompetitive by trying to influence others which can look like
price
> > >fixing.
> > >
> 
> I hardly think that discussing hourly labour rates constitutes price
fixing.  Don--have you considered what 
> NAFTA might have to say on the subject? ;-\
> 
> > >2)  Remember 76 trombones:  ".....but he doesn't know the territory."?
> > >My piano service market, and the niche that I have carved out of it,
is
> > >bound to be very different from yours.
> > >
> > >There may also differences between shop rates and field rates, and
> > >certainly differences between gross and net.
> > >All true, no arguments--but it is interesting to know what the range
is, especially for those of us with 
> somewhat newer hats.
> 
> I, like Conrad, set my basic rate at somewere around half of my basic
tuning fee.  I am still new enough at 
> this business, however, that I sometimes take longer to do something than
I think it should take.  For shop 
> work, I generally use Joe Garrett/Randy Potter's "G" Piano Works Repair
Labor Guide to give me a ballpark idea 
> of the time a job should take, and base my estimate on that.  If the job
takes me longer, I charge the book 
> hours, if it takes me less, I charge actual time.
> 
> I know there is a wide regional variation in tuning fees in the US, but
given the cost of living, I think our 
> American colleagues do somewhat better on average.  I am new to this area
(Northwestern BC), but at $75 CDN + 
> 7% sales tax, my tuning fee seems competitive.
> 
> In the much bigger market of southern Ontario, that fee was about the
middle the range, with some as low as $60 
> and some as high as $85.  For those who don't know, a US simoleon costs
me about $1.42 today.
> 
> Tim Keenan
> Terrace, BC