<HTML>In a message dated 4/15/2002 2:03:46 AM Pacific Standard Time, dnereson@dimensional.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Subj:estimate check list Date:4/15/2002 2:03:46 AM Pacific Standard Time From:<A HREF="mailto:dnereson@dimensional.com">dnereson@dimensional.com</A> Reply-to:<A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> To:<A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> Sent from the Internet                    Dave</BLOCKQUOTE>                  Either Einstien or Carl Meyer has said "that it's complicated to make something simple and simple to make something complicated now may I explain"    Same is true here. I like to leave a 10% clause stating any unforseen items will not exceed 10% of the total estimate without client approval. I simply tell them that I try to be thorough in my estimates but frequently other items of repair can appear once it's torn down. This is fairly common in auto repair as well. Or simply call after it's torn down for a revised estimate. No one is required to work for free.                 >>>Dale Erwin>>>>>>>>.         <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">     I've tried making estimate check lists in the past, and have never found a happy medium between simple and exhaustive.  If one lists only major areas of service, such as "Case & finish", "Soundboard & bridges", "Keys & action", "Tuning, voicing", then details are liable to get left out when looking over the piano to do an estimate.  And some details can turn out to be costly, time-consuming cans of worms.     Yet to cover any eventuality, all possible repairs, any likely or unlikely problems, you'd have to check every single part on the piano and list every possible procedure; the estimate sheet would be pages long.     I had a two-page one I used for a while that I thought was fairly complete, but would still run into things I didn't see in the home. (classic example:  after the action's already in the shop, you find out the regulating screws are all "frozen" in the rail and the eyelets break off when you try to turn them)  So you either call the customer and tell them it's going to be more ("Let-off?  What's that?  Regulating screws?  How much more will it be?  You didn't say anything about that when you looked at the piano.") or you end up "eating" the extra time spent fixing the problem.     Sometimes I put an "allowance for unforseen problems" at the end of the estimate, like for strings that break during a pitch raise.  But then, the bridge could roll, the soundboard could crack, the plate could crack, the pinblock could separate, the tone might be totally different after you've filed hammers or voiced, etc.  Then you need these professional contracts with disclaimers and waivers in legalese with signatures and dates and .... oh jeez, I'm not doing open heart surgery here -- it's just a piano, and an old upright at that.     I've managed up to now but still don't have the ideal estimate form / check list.   --David Nereson, RPT, Denver </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>