[pianotech] frustrated

[Ed Foote]

Greetings,
    All we have to sell is our time. It is the only thing of real value 
we possess, and when it is gone, it is gone forever.  I encourage all 
to be careful about letting circumstances make us cheapen it.   If 
someone's piano takes twice as long as another, I charge them twice as 
much.  If a piano takes 5 hours to tune, someone has to pay me for five 
hours work if I am going to be the one spending that much time on it.  
Otherwise, let some other tuner enjoy the work.
   While a beginning tech has to take whatever comes their way,  these 
situations are not good career moves and trying to maintain them should 
be avoided as soon in our careers as possible.  They have multiple 
things going against them.  They tend to be a poor return on our effort 
and stress, they tend to be poor advertising for our skills, and they 
tend to leave owners with a poor return on their money spent to 
maintain them. I have turned down work before, because I knew that the 
customer would never pay the amount needed for me to have my name 
associated with the results. Better a lost job than a poor paying one 
which also carries a higher risk of putting a blot on your name!
Regards,

Ed Foote RPT
http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html



>>Do any besides me have pianos which take 4-5 hours to tune,and if so 
how do you bill for them.   I have some Chickerings which take methat 
long, and I have a Kawai KG2 (which I’m tuning for a serious 
concert)which I simply can’t get stable