Charging overtime

[Farrell]

I do. I WISH I was scheduling for next March! WOW! I AM jealous (I'm only
booked two weeks out)! (If you are that booked up, are you charging enough
for a regular service appointment?) Even still though, I have what I refer
to as a "special service request" (at least that is what I call it for
myself) charge for a service call that requires a special trip, or is only
to be done at hours I don't wish to work, and/or is just plain short notice
"I am getting married tomorrow and my piano JUST went out of tune this
morning!"

I have been charging $20 extra when a service request cannot fit into my
regular schedule. I might do one of these per month. The last one I did
required a drive to the other side of town (40 minutes, one way) for a $75
tuning. I typically average about $50 per hour when in someone's home ($40
per hour if many things go wrong). I think I am short-changing myself with
my $20 fee. I'm thinking fees for the special request appointments should be
tuning fee plus travel time @ $40 or $50 per hour.

The greater travel-time-based extra fee would have made my last call a $135
call, rather than a $95 call - it took me a good three hours total for the
call, or about $32 per hour - the higher fee would have put me up to about
$45 per hour - which is more in the average day range. But are we not
talking about extra charges here because we don't normally tune a piano at 7
pm on Christmas Eve? So maybe it should be tuning fee plus hourly travel
charge plus $20 (or plus 50% of tuning fee). Maybe at that stage the piano
owner's piano will start sounding a lot better as is.

I think the travel-time-based extra charge is a good way to go because I
really don't mind slipping in an off-hours service call for someone two
blocks over (remember, I am only booked two weeks ahead), but it becomes
quite a hassle and less profitable when the customer is way across town.

Of course if you live two counties over, have an old M&H BB, want it tuned,
and go on to say that I had rebuilt her daughter's piano and that she wants
only me to completely rebuild her BB (give her a price while I am there
tuning) - I might just drive out there with a big smile on my face, tune her
piano and only charge her $75!

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 6:44 AM
Subject: Charging overtime


> OK, I'll let you know what's been going through my mind these last several
> days.  Suppose all local piano technicians have all the work they need for
the
> next several months, and a new client calls and needs a tuning done within
two
> weeks.  All technicians say they can't do it because they are fully
booked.
> What is that client to do?  I have not checked with other local
technicians to
> see how busy they are, but I am taking new client orders for next March.
>
> I think if a new client were willing to pay more (an "overtime" rate so to
> speak), then I would just take personal time and go do the job.  I did
suggest
> this to one person recently, and I actually charged on this basis once,
when I
> was called on a Friday night to tune a piano before a Saturday wedding.
The
> clients were grateful they could find someone who would do the job on
short
> order even at a higher cost.  I charged 50% more than my normal rate.
>
> Thoughts?  Do any of you do this?
>
> Regards,
> Clyde
>
> Farrell wrote:
>
> > I've had the same thought in the past. I think that when I am too busy
with
> > service appointments, I will raise my price quite a bit for first-time
> > appointments, but then discount those that repeat at least once a year.
But
> > not until I am too busy. I'm sure such a policy will scare away some of
> > those first-timers. I think it is a great idea.
>
>
>