[pianotech] rates for new techician

[Paul T Williams]

I never did any free tunings, but charged substantially less than a couple 
years later early in my career...probably too much discounting.  As soon 
as my rates went up quite a bit, my first customers never called again, as 
they new they were getting a great deal, and most were pitch raises; some 
were dramatic ones!  Don't undercharge your talents, but make sure your 
tuning skills are really polished up.  Perhaps charge 70-80% of the going 
rate, and then increase your prices every 50 tunings or so until your up 
with your collegues in the area. My mentor, Steve Brady had me tune and 
log in 100 practice rooms at Univ. of WA before suggesting I go out and 
get customers.  It was tough, but I'm glad I did it...looking back.

Make connections with local piano dealers and get some floor tunings in. 
You'll start getting some of their in-home free tuning on new pianos and 
will gain customers from this.  Do expect that the stores will want to pay 
you much less than out in the field, but it's good experience, and the new 
client referrals are worth something, too.

Paul






From:
"Gene Nelson" <nelsong at intune88.com>
To:
<pianotech at ptg.org>
Date:
10/10/2010 04:16 PM
Subject:
Re: [pianotech] rates for new techician



I did many free tunings in the begining.
I still think it was a good idea because I gained good experience - 
however, 
not one of my free-bee clients ever called me back after I started 
charging.
Gene
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Zoe Sandell" <yiddishtangofever at shaw.ca>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 12:16 PM
Subject: [pianotech] rates for new techician


> Hello
>
> I am wondering if it is general practice for a technician starting out 
> (like
> myself) to charge slightly less because I do not have the same years of
> experience.
>
> Ideas?
>
> Thanks
> Zoe
> 



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