That's basically my approach. A flat fee for whatever can be accomplished in the designated amount of time. I often vacuum out the top of a grand if it needs it: tuning pin area and a quick sweep of the soundboard. Honestly, I'm shocked that people are talking about spending 30 - 40 minutes or more cleaning. It takes about 5. My basic appointment is 1 hour and 15 minutes. Forty-five minutes typically to tune a regularly serviced piano. One hour total with a pitch raise. That leaves 15 - 30 minutes (sometimes more if it's a stable piano with a DC) to do whatever. I decide based on need and what the customer wants (asking is ok). If they want it cleaned out that's fine. Pulling the action and blowing the dust out of it and cleaning out the action cavity is often a functional necessity for smooth una corda use, items jamming between the keys (preventative sometimes) or just keeping the dust from migrating to my lungs while I'm working. For some people cleaning is the difference for them. That's fine with me. Whatever they want. As Norman mentioned, some people are uncomfortable with the idea that they might damage something. Today I tuned two pianos for someone. Both pianos are tuned regularly and are quite stable. The tunings took about 25 minutes each. On their Steinway O I spent probably another 1 hours plus on the regulation and lubricating the action, on the upright Schimmel I spent the time voicing because they thought it was too bright. I was there for 2.5 hours and charged them accordingly for my time, not a menu of items. The pianos didn't need cleaning, btw, but I have vacuumed out the grand in the past when I deemed it necessary. My approach is to have two different types of service calls. Basic service as described above and premium service which is a two hour appointment. If the pianos are tuned regularly and/or have DC's installed then they get a lot of "other" stuff done and the pianos are kept functioning at a relatively high level over time. If they only tune the piano once every 5 years then I can still probably tune it in the time frame of a basic service appointment but that's probably all that I will have time to do. Like others have mentioned I prefer to charge a bit more and have time to do a bit more. I don't like taking 15 minutes to explain why I have to do something that takes 15 minutes so that I can charge them for an extra 15 minutes. If I see that the piano may need work that involves a longer appointment than I will let them know and schedule something accordingly. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com I price my work by $100 per hour, and a tuning is expected to be no more than 90 minutes. When things come up that require me to spend more time, the hourly rate is in effect. Practically, this means that if I arrive at a house and spend two hours in there, the bill is $200. that might mean a complete pitchraise/bolt tightening/tuning, or it might mean 1 hour and 12 minutes tuning, and 48 minutes disassembling the pedals and trapwork to find the squeak, or it might mean the extra 20 minutes it takes to vacuum the piano out. Whatever it takes. Our time is all we have to sell. I don't get in the habit of giving it away. Most of my customers have been with me more than 20 years, and many of them 30. Regards, Ed Foote RPT
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