Public School Systems

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/11/99 12:08:16 AM !!!First Boot!!!, avery@ev1.net writes:

<< I was asked today about a school system in the Houston area that wanted
 to start a program to have their pianos tuned and "repaired", i.e. whatever 
was
 needed. They're not looking necessarily for "cheap". They just want to know
 what would be reasonable.
     They have app. 250 pianos and they wanted to know if $12,000.00 a year 
was
 unreasonable. Of course, for that many pianos you can imagine what I said. 
 :-) Two
 tunings a year would be almost double that figure!
     But what "would" be reasonable, both for them and for the tuner? As far 
 as I'm
 concerned, $40.00 per piano, twice a year, would be rock bottom. Plus extra
 tunings for Christmas concerts and end of year concerts. Plus the cost of
 repairs/rebuilding work. But what would be a reasonable way for them to 
budget
 the cost of this type of thing? To decide how "much" money to budget?
     Any help/suggestions that I can pass on to them would be greatly 
 appreciated.
 I've tuned for school systems before, but never one of this magnitutude.
     Thanks for any help you can give.
 
 Avery
 
 Avery Todd, RPT
 University of Houston
 Houston, TX  >>


Avery:

Being a university tech, you should have a better handle in this than most of 
us. How many pianos do you have to take care of at the University?  

Trying to contract out 250 pianos to be tuned twice a year, plus additional 
concerts, and repair work, could cost the school district $25,000 a year. For 
that they can hire someone full time, and pay benefits. Therefore, what the 
Houston School district should consider is getting a full time piano tuner on 
staff. 

The St. Louis School system has a full time piano tuner on staff. It is a 
position he more or less inherited from his dad. When he is not busy tuning 
or repairing pianos, the district has him running errands, or doing other 
repairs. 

Wim