<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" = http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content="MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Greetings Ed, Thanks for your response. Wow!  $7.00 for a tuning.  Kind of reminds me = of working for a dealer in Columbus, OH back in about 1984? doing floor = tunings for $10.00 each. I appreciate your input on the price = conversation.  I'm very thankful for all the responses. Hope you're having a = nice weekend. Brian Trout Quarryville, PA <A href="mailto:btrout@desupernet.net">btrout@desupernet.net</A> --= --- Original Message ----- From: <<A href="mailto:A440A@aol.com">A440A@aol.com</A>> To: <<A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>> Sent: = Saturday, October 02, 1999 6:49 AM Subject: Re: Prices for rebuilding work > > Greetings, >    You = have to know what you are worth, per hour.  Determining your hourly > = rate is the first thing you have to do.  (Wim Blees has a lot of = good > perspective on this). Then you add the expenses involved in doing the job. > With experience, a tech learns what jobs were not = profitiable, or what prices > are too low.  In beginning, the tech must = compete on price, since there is no > other basis for customers to = compare.  Quality work will build its own > reputation, which will allow = your prices to rise as demand surpasses time. > A technician that is swamped = is not charging enough. >    It is essential, for the long = haul, that your prices be low enough to be > acceptable to sufficient = numbers of customers and high enough so that you are > satisfied with = doing this work.  A person that is feeling underpaid will > rarely = do the same quality of work as one that feels well compensated, > = however, in beginning a business, faith is required that quality = will bring > its own rewards and the lower prices necessary to attract business will only > be a temporary thing. > Regards, > Ed Foote > (who still remembers tuning practise room uprights, at = night, for $7.00 > apiece and thinking it was pretty easy money!(1976) > </DIV></BODY></HTML>