[pianotech] Piano Technicians and Populations

[wimblees at aol.com]

Floyd

A long time ago, Kimball did some research on this. They claimed that if you take a given geographical area's population, and multiply that number by 19%, that's how many pianos there are in that geographical area. (That doesn't mean that 19% of the population has a piano, but between schools, churches, bars, etc, that's how many pianos there are.) Considering that?one piano technician should be able to make a comfortable living with approximately 2000 pianos, you can figure out how many piano technicians are needed in a given geographical area. 

When I was RVP, I gave that information?once at a chapter meeting, where there were 13 tuners in attendance. The next day?I learned that one of them had decided to quit the business, because he figured out that there just weren't enough?pianos in the area?to make a living.?

Of course, as you indicated, this is not an ironclad rule, and some areas might need more, and some less. But it's gives you a starting point. 



Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Mililani, Oahu, HI
808-349-2943
Author of: 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Floyd Gadd <fg at floydgadd.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 4:45 am
Subject: [pianotech] Piano Technicians and Populations



Where can I find industry data to answer the question of how much of a
population base it takes to support a piano technician?

I was talking with a locksmith friend the other evening, and he recounted
that as he was setting up his business a number of years ago, research led
him to understand that in his industry, a population of about 15,000 per
technician was necessary to make business viable.  His experience in a
center with a population of 12,000 that grew to just over just 15,000
convinced him that the data was useful.

I'm sure that whatever figure emerges, there are variables, such as the
scope of the tasks a technician is prepared to undertake, but I would be
interested in knowing what data is out there.

Floyd Gadd
Manitoba Chapter



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