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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Somebody once told me, and this speaks to David's
point I think. "You need to be in the top 5%, maybe 2%, of your field to be
really successful. Be sure to do something you love because it takes passion to
be that good." Oh yea, it was the 92 year old guy in a rest home last month,
spent time with him while visiting my mom. He was an educated guy, diplomas on
the wall from the 30's, and had worked as an engineer and lots of other things.
You know there are cooks out there making $500. an hour, but they're really
good.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fenton</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=formsma@gmail.com href="mailto:formsma@gmail.com">John Formsma</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, February 14, 2008 6:59
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Valuing ourselves</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 12:12 AM, David Andersen <<A
href="mailto:david@davidandersenpianos.com">david@davidandersenpianos.com</A>>
wrote:</DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_quote><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">Thanks, bud, for your reasoned
reply...I'm just thinkin'....are you tuning pianos for less than $100? Hope
not. </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>I wish I was, and I'm moving up steadily. As of right now, my fee
is $85 and $40 for a pitch correction. And, most of the guys in our
chapter (Memphis) are around that figure. I have been raising my rates
steadily. But keep in mind that cost of living is much lower than in
Cali. My little home is an older one ... 1150 sq. ft roughly on < 1/2
acre. It would be pushing it to expect $65K if I wanted to sell it.
I would guess that a similar home there would not go for less than
triple that. The problem is that people want to live in Cali, and they
don't want to live where I am. <g> Here is not a bad place
... just Mississippi, and rural MS to boot. But it's pretty cheap to
live here.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">Anyway, let's say you do four
appointments a day, and each appointment averages ... <snip>
... makes a cool two grand. Is that way, way far off? </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>The numbers don't lie. But I seriously doubt I would get enough
work at that price. It's a balancing act, and I'm never quite sure what
my market will bear. I admit very readily that while I love what I do,
but I'm the world's worst businessman.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
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<DIV style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">Or---look at it another way. What's your
hourly rate? I hope it's at least $65 an hour, and I hope you work 30
billable hours a week if you're working full time; that's $1950. Are those
numbers too high for your area? </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>I do charge $60/hour if I'm doing non-tuning stuff. I'm choosing
not to work full time, though. I'm widowed, and have two boys (6 and 4
1/2.) it takes a ton out of me to do piano service and then come home to
do my "other job" as a father and housekeeper. It is rewarding, but I
don't make any $$ doing it yet. <g> But ... since I will be
totally debt free in a few months, I'm slowing down this year to home-school
my boys while I work more selectively (hopefully). We're starting this
in March, so right now it's all on paper and not in practice. I'm going
to try to do two days a week, six pianos a day.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">What does the highest priced guy in
your area get for a tuning and for an hourly rate? </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>The last I heard in Memphis the store that offers piano service was
getting $90 per tuning. I have a friend in Memphis that charges
$60/hour.</DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
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<DIV style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">
<DIV><FONT color=#1a20ff>Real life example and I'll quit. I just got
back from my dentist to have a cavity filled. Cost was $58.00.
Now, my dentist is on the low end, but a high end price might be a bit
less than $100.00. What's it cost out your way?</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>For amalgam (mercury)---the cheapest---it's around $125.00 at a good
dentist; for composite, which is not deadly poison---what a concept---and is
actually chemically and electromagnetically neutral, which biological
dentists think is crucial, is $175-200.</DIV>
<DIV>Jus' tran ta heyup, y'all.....</DIV>
<DIV>DA</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>Hey, that's a pretty good accent, Mr. D! <G> For what
it's worth, my dentist did the composite thing. He is on the low end, to
be sure. I'm kinda thankful for that when I have a cavity. A
friend of mine took his son to a different dentist to have six cavities
filled. The cost was $750. That's the market here for the higher
end of the price spectrum.</DIV></DIV><BR clear=all>Any advice for me now,
knowing my market better? I've been thinking about offering a more
"full-service" option. Selling my services in 3 hour chunks for around
$250. Tuning, regulating, voicing, etc. Anyone care to share their
prices for such service? Or, their story on how offering that service
greatly improved their bottom line? Particularly, how do you go from
selling Mrs. Jones tunings to selling her greater service ... without it
sounding like you're asking her to just write you a bigger check. (I'm a
horrible salesman. At least, it always seems to sound bad when I say it
<g>)
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>-- <BR>JF<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.formsma.blogspot.com">www.formsma.blogspot.com</A>
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