On my web page I publish my price list with a list of estimated times for arious jobs. ( http://aftune.angelfire.com/prices.html ) Most of my customers nd many of my prospective customers understand this and are willing to go with t. It has worked out rather successfully for me since I instituted it 2 years go. Some, however, prefer the fixed fee, and end up calling someone else. Wally Wally First of all, I don't know if it is a good idea to post your prices on your web site. There are way too many variable in any job to stick to a price. If a customer sees that you charge, lets say $500, for an action regulation, and you get there and the back rail cloth is moth eaten, it's going be very difficult to explain why that job is going to be more. My price list is not published. While my prices are based on the amount of time I take to do the work, my customers do not know that. When a customer ask how much a particular job is, I look at my price list, and give the amount it will cost. The customer doesn't know how long it will take me to do the work. When I quote an action regulation job, I say about $450 - $550. The customer doesn't know if that job will take me 2 hours or 2 days. Just my thoughts on the matter. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Wally Scherer <afinetune at yahoo.com> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tue, Jul 20, 2010 8:26 am Subject: [pianotech] Charging by job, or by hour? Comparisons: 1. Many of us will remember that in the earlier days of the nternet, some companies charged by the minute or by the hour. This seemed fair. ut when companies figured out a way to charge set fees, people seemed to like hat too - especially those who used more hours. 2. Cell phone service providers also charged by the minute in the beginning, but ow some are switching to a flat rate. For instance, my MetroPCS service charges e $45 a month for unlimited talk, text, and internet. (All taxes fees are ncluded.) One has to assume that the company has figured out the averages, then charges nough to come out ahead. If we use a lower amount internet or cell phone inutes, we are actually paying MORE per minute than those who use a larger mount. The same is true for our business. If we charge a flat rate for tuning, some ustomers are paying more per minute of our time than others - obviously not air to ones whose pianos take less time. But they accept it for the convenience f knowing IN ADVANCE what the charge will be. Quote from Wim Blees: One of the problems we have in our industry is, we try to combine a set fee, tuning, and pitch raising), with work that is done at an hourly rate, regulation, voicing, etc.) The way I have solved this discrepancy is to make list of all the jobs I do, and estimate approximately how long it "normally" akes me to do them, including tuning. I try to stick to this list as best I an, deviating occasionally when I think a particular job will take me a little onger. If there is a job I have never done before, I try to estimate how long t will take. If it takes me longer, I usually eat the time. If it takes me less ime, I reduce the amount I charge. I realize there are some techs that charge y the "job", and ask for that amount, regardless of how long it took, because he customer paid for the job to be done, and is happy to pay that amount. I on't work that way. I sell my time, and if a job takes me less than I riginally estimated, I give the customer a break. im On my web page I publish my price list with a list of estimated times for arious jobs. ( http://aftune.angelfire.com/prices.html ) Most of my customers nd many of my prospective customers understand this and are willing to go with t. It has worked out rather successfully for me since I instituted it 2 years go. Some, however, prefer the fixed fee, and end up calling someone else. Wally A FINE TUNE - Piano Tuning & Repairs allace T. Scherer, piano technician, music educator 020 Canal Drive, Lake Worth, Florida, 33463-8014 elephone: 561-432-4121 eb page: http://aftune.angelfire.com acebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-FINE-TUNE-PIANO-TUNING-REPAIRS/129845010366185 ----------------------------------------------- REE TICKETS: http://aftune.angelfire.com/freetics.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100720/5844b8da/attachment.htm>
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