Public School Systems

[Doug Hershberger]

Avery,
   I would think $65.00 per piano would be more like it. That is the rock
bottom price I charge, plus an hourly rate for repairs. I charge $45.00 per
hour for repairs. I don't think I would do it for any less than that. The
work is not that good nor are the hours. It seems like lonely thankless work
to me. I had two districts, one with 40 pianos and one with 80. I gave the
80 piano district up and kept the 40. I only do them once a year unless a
request comes in.
  This is great work for the newer people who are just starting out IMO.
Doug Hershberger,RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: Avery Todd <avery@ev1.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, September 10, 1999 4:57 PM
Subject: Public School Systems


> List,
>
>     I was asked today about a school system in the Houston area that
wanted
> to start a program to have their pianos tuned and "repaired", i.e.
whatever was
> needed. They're not looking necessarily for "cheap". They just want to
know
> what would be reasonable.
>     They have app. 250 pianos and they wanted to know if $12,000.00 a year
was
> unreasonable. Of course, for that many pianos you can imagine what I said.
> :-) Two
> tunings a year would be almost double that figure!
>     But what "would" be reasonable, both for them and for the tuner? As
far
> as I'm
> concerned, $40.00 per piano, twice a year, would be rock bottom. Plus
extra
> tunings for Christmas concerts and end of year concerts. Plus the cost of
> repairs/rebuilding work. But what would be a reasonable way for them to
budget
> the cost of this type of thing? To decide how "much" money to budget?
>     Any help/suggestions that I can pass on to them would be greatly
> appreciated.
> I've tuned for school systems before, but never one of this magnitutude.
>     Thanks for any help you can give.
>
> Avery
>
> Avery Todd, RPT
> University of Houston
> Houston, TX