Dave Very Good Post. Work pretty much the same way especially in rebuilding quotes. This si a case where if you work with the same piano and know your own techniques relative to it judging the cost and outcome is fairly predictable. I've heard it said that the: Bitterness of shoddy work lingers long after the sweetness of low price wears off. Or the client got the technician they deserve? Dale S. Erwin www.Erwinspiano.com 209-577-8397 -----Original Message----- From: David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Thu, Jul 22, 2010 7:34 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] Charging by job, or by hour? We’re basically contractors. There are two ways toprice: Fixed bid or time and materials (or a combination of both whichcan be appropriate). Where you are able to accurately predict the time,flat bid is better because customers are more comfortable with knowing what thecost will be upfront and you’ll lose fewer new customers who areuncomfortable with the uncertainty. Some jobs, such as regulation andvoicing, can’t be done on a fixed bid because there is too muchvariability in the requirements. In that case time and materials is moreappropriate and the customer should be given a range so that they know whatthey are likely to have to pay. If you leave it totally open ended theywon’t be comfortable and may very well not hire you. Larger jobssuch as rebuilding an action or a belly are more complicated. If you’vedone a lot of them and have a standard procedure you can do it on a fixed bid. Evenif you haven’t done a lot of them a fixed bid is probably appropriatebecause it would be wrong to charge them a premium based on your inexperienceand therefore your inefficiency. On both of those I provide a fixed bidwith caveats. The caveat is I might discover something when I takeeverything apart that might require some additional cost. Since most ofthe jobs I do are all inclusive (I don’t do partial jobs or try and cutcorners) they are fairly predictable. But there are occasionally thingsthat come up. I guarantee a price within 5% of the fixed bid mostly tocover variations in material costs. Above that requires an approval fromthe customer. In the terms of my agreements this is all spelled outincluding the fact that there are some unknown factors. Most of what wedo, however, bushing jobs, backcheck replacement, replacing a set of bassstrings, can all be done (or should be able to be) on a predictable basis andso the cost can be anticipated. For customers fixed cost is best but itrequires some experience on the part of the tech so as not to get burned. Usually those same experienced techs are also faster and more efficient. Time and materials is usually better for the tech because they aren’tconstrained by a bid which might have been done in error but are moreuncomfortable for the customer since they have no idea what they will end uppaying. It’s up to us to choose the most appropriate form ofestimating that suits the situation balancing covering our own interests (timeand money) against the customer’s interests (time, quality andcost). Balancing those three items is tricky (time, quality and cost). Customers always want all three, that is shortest time, highest quality andlowest cost. They can’t have all three. Shortest time andhighest quality will result in higher cost. Highest quality and lowestcost will require the longest time (as the work will be done when there isnothing else competing for the time). Shortest time andlowest cost will result in lower quality. Don’t get caughtpromising all three. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com In a message dated 7/21/10 9:49:40 PM, bill at a440piano.net writes: ??Formula?? Hours x Hourly wage = price Thing is, hours is variable from one piano to another so there areadditions/subtractions, and my skill is reflected in my hourly wage. Ofcourse it's not arbitrary, no one has suggested that. Not me, not Jack,not anyone. We each determine a cost of a job in our own way, reflectingour own experiences and skill levels, either as a straight hourly rate or someconfiguration that involves hours, difficulties, hazards, etc., etc. Justbecause I don't understand how Jack or anyone else arrives at their prices,doesn't invalidate them. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100722/515d51f6/attachment.htm>
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