Nice answers' Susan. I find them interesting. I won't disagree with most of what you said. We all have our variations of how we charge and why we charge what we do. I think we understand each other well enough. I hope? I guess the question then becomes what is "adequate" for a "job" and/or what is adequate for a full service fee. That really isn't a question. Our business must have some sort of hourly rate beside tuning. It cannot be run only on set fees. We need to charge service calls for separate trips for example. Jer From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Susan Kline Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 5:51 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] billing dilemma with pitch raises Interspersed replies, Jer ... On 10/31/2010 2:01 PM, Gerald Groot wrote: And, where do you stop the so called level of "minor repairs?" It probably varies a little piano to piano, but if it takes more than maybe fifteen or twenty minutes (cumulative, can be many trifles added up), it's a "real" repair which I have to charge for. Is a broken key considered a minor repair? It can be, on a certain modest type of piano. The "glue trick", using white glue and CA dotted into it, lets one glue the two pieces together (pressed down on a plastic bag, on a flat surface, like the inside of the lid) hold them in place for fifteen seconds, then lay the reunified key aside for a half hour to firm up while continuing with the tuning. This assumes that the pieces fit well, which they usually do. Trickier ones or a broken key on a better piano would have to be charged for. After all, it will probably "only take" an additional 20 minutes or so, to fix it? It can take less than that. With so many parts inside of a piano, how can one include "minor repairs" in your tuning fee without also knowing the amount of time involved? If you give set aside a 2 hour time frame for tuning and only use 1 hour, do you still charge for 2 hours? I charge by the job, not by the hour. It's easy to include "minor repairs" in a tuning fee, if the tuning fee is adequate. It's also easy to have the "minor repairs" take a larger portion of the time allotted. I prefer to do what is the most needed. If the proportions are way out of shape because the piano is a neglected tattered old wreck, I explain this to the owner, spend more time on the repairs, and less on the tuning, which sometimes ends up a "quick once-over". There are a lot of pianos out there where tuning is the least of their problems. I've never had a customer worried by this -- relief is the usual emotion, as they see more and more nasty little glitches fixed. It's kind of a game, seeing how many I can deal with, all within a normal tuning fee and amount of time. As the years pass and my business gets older, I encounter fewer and fewer of these hulks, but they can be a pleasant change of pace at the rate of one or two a month. The piano may be cheap, but the owner still deserves our best. Charging by the hour is common in all business areas. Not in ours, because of the nature of the work and the need to make an estimate over the phone for "tuning" without having seen the piano. One can adjust the set fee for pianos which obviously will need more work, but that leaves a gray area for many instruments which are more or less normal. Some will take more time than others. Also, we vary (well, I vary) in energy levels. I work faster some days than others. If I'm in slow mode some day, should a customer pay more? Of course not. The set fee takes care of days when it takes me longer than usual to reach the same result. I do insist on reaching the same result, quickly or slowly. Giving away something as being included in a tuning fee is usually done frequently in the piano tuning profession. It's not giving anything away. It's just redefining what is included in the normal service which the public calls "tuning". A car tune up is a car tune up. That doesn't include outside "minor repairs." Nor do they consider it a nuisance of explaining and figuring charges for every trifle. Last time I looked, they even charged me to fill up my window washer fluid. Never mind the fact that it was nearly full when I drove in there. J They charge for every thing, large or small, even rags. They have software which makes it easy to tote up these charges. They have customers who demand itemized line, chapter, and verse on every single penny. I don't see how their model should serve as ours. I prefer some flexibility in determining what needs to be done when someone hires me for a "tuning." By using this "minor repairs included" system, I often take care of annoying pedal noises, etc., which have been left untouched by multiple other tuners. (Or, they couldn't fix them?) It's stupid to see problems and not work on them when they take only a few minutes. If we don't fix them, who will? Do you charge for one individual bridle tape? Perhaps you itemize parts and labor and tax on it, too? I don't feel like doing that kind of billing. It's a waste of time and effort. Life is too short to count beans. Susan From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Susan Kline Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 4:46 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] billing dilemma with pitch raises On 10/31/2010 11:16 AM, Gerald Groot wrote: "I have a key not working. Can you tune the piano for me?" Sure, but, tuning does not include repairs. "It doesn't? Why not? I thought if I had the piano tuned, you would fix it too!" I keep my fee and my overhead at a level where minor repairs are included with a normal tuning. I hate nickel and diming customers, and I don't like the nuisance of explaining and figuring charges for every trifle. Susan Kline -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101031/30fda14b/attachment-0001.htm>
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