More work than I can handle

[pianolover 88]

Hello,

I would consider coming to Vegas (Ilive in Los Angeles County) for about a 
week to "test" the market; that is, I would be happy to make the trip out 
there if I had a week's work lined up in advance. I do just fine in my area, 
and do not rely on store work, so I would really only be interested in 
residential, schools/learning institutions, churches, etc. I'm not 
interested in "floor" work or warranty work, as the pay is minimal; been 
there, done that.

Terry Peterson



----Original Message Follows----
From: "David Chadwick" <chadwick61 at cox.net>
Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
To: "PTG" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Subject: More work than I can handle
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 19:18:24 -0700

Greetings,

If anyone is interested or has thought about relocating to a new area please 
read further.

A brief history: I moved to Las Vegas in 1992 from Southern Maine. My reason 
for picking this area is because it offered a boating industry that I could 
fall back on in case the piano biz didn't work out. Houston would've been my 
first choice (did a market survey, thanks Randy) but I saw more entry 
potential in Southern Nevada. I began with a yellow pages ad and after two 
years of courting piano dealers I was able to have a good relationship with 
a reputable business as an independent technician.

Since I have been in Las Vegas the population has grown from 500,000 and is 
now close to 2 million. According to city static's 7000 family's a month 
move in and 3000 move out. The construction industry has exploded and 
projections are the same for the next 20 years. Yes, the hotel/casino 
industry does supply a lot of jobs for the economy, however, all aspects of 
the service industry flourish.

Our local PTG Chapter has 13 members (7 RPT's, 6 Assoc.). Most of us are 
working full time as self employed business owners with some dealer work and 
major residential accounts. Two members have rebuilding capabilities but one 
of them will be retiring soon and some of the other RPT's are no longer in 
business. One member handles most of the "strip" accounts had has done so 
for almost 30 years. This area is also expanding with the construction of 
new luxury hotels.

My cries are this, This city is growing at an alarming rate at the need for 
good tuning and technical skill is in demand. I average 40 to 50 calls on my 
answering machine a week. Unfortunately I cannot keep up with the requests 
and I have been referring some work to other tech's in town but they are 
also busy. I have been fortunate enough to have built a good reputation for 
myself and have tuning, regulating and voicing work to keep me busy without 
any large commercial accounts. PianoDisc and Yamaha Disklavier player 
piano's are very popular and I have expanded my service to include 
electro/mechanical service and installation. This takes the lions share of 
shop space and time but I am able to do some rebuilding between dealer 
projects. I cannot keep up with the demand of the piano dealer to keep floor 
models tuned and prepped as well as provide after sales service calls and 
concert rental service. There is one technician that has partnered with a 
store owner and has expanded his retail store and is now offering Sauter, 
Petrof and some other economy brands. Another business will soon be opening 
a Bosendorfer dealership soon. There are three existing reputable dealers in 
town with brisk sales business throughout the year.

Las Vegas is a great place to live as well as a vacation destination. The 
arts are not as outstanding as other cities yet but the University has a 
wonderful theater with Ballet productions, L.V. Philharmonic as well as 
guest performers. http://www.lasvegasphilharmonic.com/

Also, there is a performing arts theatre in the planning stages to be built 
at the south end of the Strip.

If anyone would like so more information about moving to the area please 
contact me privately, David Chadwick RPT chadwick61 at cox.net I am currently 
the chapter president and would enjoy speaking with anyone who is interested 
in establishing a business in Las Vegas.