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<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">SNIP</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><TT> We have never, not once, raised our
price on a job after the estimate is signed. And we have eaten a lot of
mistakes and unseen stuff over the years. <BR><BR>Keeps us on our
toes!<BR><BR><BR><BR>Paul</TT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>Paul, Ed, and
others,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>Note: what follows is my own personal
business philosophy, and should be taken as just another perspective. No
disrespect intended.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>I truly don't understand not being
paid for work you do. Mistakes, mind you, are another thing, and I
wouldn't think of charging clients for errors in procedure or judgment.
However, when we discover a surprise - whether during a rebuild or a house call
- fix it (with approval), and charge accordingly. </FONT><FONT
face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>When I am tuning and a string breaks,
I charge for that. I didn't expect a string to break, but I won't
replace strings for free because I didn't anticipate it happening. To me,
it's the same in a rebuild situation.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>I don't think it serves either my
clients or me to either write an estimate to include every possibility of things
that could be found, or, conversely, to eat the cost if it goes over.
Neither do I see the lesson to be learned in absorbing unexpected
costs. For my person, I think that would lead me toward creating
artificially high estimates to cover the "just-in-case" scenarios.
Actually, I suppose one could do that, thereby allowing them to come in
"under-budget" and end up charging the client less than the initial
estimate. I suppose that would be reasonable too.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV>In my business,
however, I specifically have a clause in my contract that
stipulates that there are occasionally unseen issues, and if I
can solve it within [X] % of the estimate, I will proceed with the repair
without any additional contact with the client. Their signature on the
contract is written approval. If it exceeds [X] %, I will obtain
additional written permission before I proceed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>Certainly, I think it behooves us all
to be very thorough in assessing pianos for rebuilding, and not just writing a
"form estimate" letting all the details be discovered at teardown. But I
think as long as we are conscientious and thorough during our initial
assessment, the infrequent surprises that surface should be billed
accordingly.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>My thoughts,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>William R.
Monroe</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>