Service fees

[Ted Simmons]

And then there's the customer that says "$60.00!! It only took you an
hour!" To which my reply was "When I started out it took me 3 hours to tune
a piano.  At $60 an hour that would be $180.00.  But I'm more experienced,
more accurate, and quicker now, so I'm only charging you $60.00".   I think
he felt like he got a bargain.

Ted Simmons, Merritt Island, FL

       It was recently asked, "Where do our fee schedules come from?".    It
>comes , I think from our own experiences.  Whereas the beginning tuner will
>have to compete on price, to some degree,  the techs with many years in the
>trade will have found the most efficient market for their services, and the
>most efficient level of billing to maintain that market. ( if you charge $20
>to tune, you will have LOTS of business!)
>
>     I remember many years ago, standing in the door, hold the bill from the
>refrigerator repairman.  As he drove, whistling, out of sight,  I realized
>that he had been in my house for 35 minutes, installed a $22 part, and i had
>just spent $125.
>     This was on a piece of equipment that only cost  $700!  I was spending
>90 minutes, tuning a piece of equipment that cost $20,000 and I was charging
>$60?
>     I decided that I would raise my prices right then, and I did.  It didn't
>change my appointment sheet at all.
>
>     Good, solid, work, and honest business practises will provide the steam
>to lift your prices, but one has to learn to read the gauges.  The big gauge
>in the middle is "Reputation" ,  the two along side are labeled, "Good will"
> and "Fairness".
>
>    (Yep, I am snowed in, in Nashville that takes 2 inches, after which the
>drivers make the street into a demolition derby! I choose to have the brandy
>by the fire rather than the white-knuckle terror behind the wheel)
>
>Regards to all,
>Ed Foote
>Precision Piano Works
>Nashville, Tn
>
>