Brian writes: >Of my local guild chapter, there's only two other people who are doing >serious rebuilding work, neither of which particularly wish to talk about >prices. >So basically, I'm left with a situation where I'd like to find some input, >but don't particularly know where or how. >Any figures, thoughts, ideas, or other remarks you'd like to send my way? > I'd be open to any and all of them. Greetings, You have to know what you are worth, per hour. Determining your hourly rate is the first thing you have to do. (Wim Blees has a lot of good perspective on this). Then you add the expenses involved in doing the job. With experience, a tech learns what jobs were not profitiable, or what prices are too low. In beginning, the tech must compete on price, since there is no other basis for customers to compare. Quality work will build its own reputation, which will allow your prices to rise as demand surpasses time. A technician that is swamped is not charging enough. It is essential, for the long haul, that your prices be low enough to be acceptable to sufficient numbers of customers and high enough so that you are satisfied with doing this work. A person that is feeling underpaid will rarely do the same quality of work as one that feels well compensated, however, in beginning a business, faith is required that quality will bring its own rewards and the lower prices necessary to attract business will only be a temporary thing. Regards, Ed Foote (who still remembers tuning practise room uprights, at night, for $7.00 apiece and thinking it was pretty easy money!(1976)
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