Valuing ourselves

[John Formsma]

On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 12:12 AM, David Andersen <
david at davidandersenpianos.com> wrote:

Thanks, bud, for your reasoned reply...I'm just thinkin'....are you tuning
> pianos for less than $100? Hope not.
>

I wish I was, and I'm moving up steadily.  As of right now, my fee is $85
and $40 for a pitch correction.   And, most of the guys in our chapter
(Memphis) are around that figure.  I have been raising my rates steadily.
 But keep in mind that cost of living is much lower than in Cali.  My little
home is an older one ... 1150 sq. ft roughly on < 1/2 acre.  It would be
pushing it to expect $65K if I wanted to sell it.  I would guess that a
similar home there would not go for less than triple that.  The problem is
that people want to live in Cali, and they don't want to live where I am.
 <g>  Here is not a bad place ... just Mississippi, and rural MS to boot.
 But it's pretty cheap to live here.


> Anyway, let's say you do four appointments a day, and each appointment
> averages ... <snip> ... makes a cool two grand. Is that way, way far off?
>

The numbers don't lie.   But I seriously doubt I would get enough work at
that price.  It's a balancing act, and I'm never quite sure what my market
will bear.  I admit very readily that while I love what I do, but I'm the
world's worst businessman.


> Or---look at it another way. What's your hourly rate? I hope it's at least
> $65 an hour, and I hope you work 30 billable hours a week if you're working
> full time; that's $1950. Are those numbers too high for your area?
>

I do charge $60/hour if I'm doing non-tuning stuff.  I'm choosing not to
work full time, though.  I'm widowed, and have two boys (6 and 4 1/2.) it
takes a ton out of me to do piano service and then come home to do my "other
job" as a father and housekeeper.  It is rewarding, but I don't make any $$
doing it yet.  <g>   But ... since I will be totally debt free in a few
months, I'm slowing down this year to home-school my boys while I work more
selectively (hopefully).  We're starting this in March, so right now it's
all on paper and not in practice.  I'm going to try to do two days a week,
six pianos a day.


> What does  the highest priced guy in your area get for a tuning and for an
> hourly rate?
>

The last I heard in Memphis the store that offers piano service was getting
$90 per tuning.  I have a friend in Memphis that charges $60/hour.

Real life example and I'll quit.  I just got back from my dentist to have a
> cavity filled.  Cost was $58.00.  Now, my dentist is on the low end, but a
> high end price might be a bit less than $100.00.  What's it cost out your
> way?
> For amalgam (mercury)---the cheapest---it's around $125.00 at a good
> dentist; for composite, which is not deadly poison---what a concept---and is
> actually chemically and electromagnetically neutral, which biological
> dentists think is crucial, is $175-200.
> Jus' tran ta heyup, y'all.....
> DA
>

Hey, that's a pretty good accent, Mr. D!  <G>  For what it's worth, my
dentist did the composite thing.  He is on the low end, to be sure.  I'm
kinda thankful for that when I have a cavity.  A friend of mine took his son
to a different dentist to have six cavities filled.  The cost was $750.
 That's the market here for the higher end of the price spectrum.

Any advice for me now, knowing my market better?  I've been thinking about
offering a more "full-service" option.  Selling my services in 3 hour chunks
for around $250.  Tuning, regulating, voicing, etc.  Anyone care to share
their prices for such service?  Or, their story on how offering that service
greatly improved their bottom line?  Particularly, how do you go from
selling Mrs. Jones tunings to selling her greater service ... without it
sounding like you're asking her to just write you a bigger check.  (I'm a
horrible salesman.  At least, it always seems to sound bad when I say it
<g>)
-- 
JF

www.formsma.blogspot.com
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