part time compensation

Wimblees@aol.com Wimblees@aol.com
Sat, 10 Apr 2004 14:57:06 EDT


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
I don't know if there has ever been a discussion about what kind of 
compensation those CAUT members who tune part time for schools get, but I am curious 
about how some of you "part timers" get paid for your service. I want to tell 
you how I get paid, but then I want to get an idea how others that tune for 
small schools, or large churches, get paid. 

First of all, I have always given churches and schools a discount for 
multiple pianos. 5% for two pianos, 10% for three pianos, and 20% discount of 4 
pianos or more. When this church asked me to tune for them, (they have a D in the 
sanctuary and about 25 other pianos), I offered them the same deal. But they 
said the sanctuary piano needs to be tuned once a month, and that they usually 
get their other pianos tuned once or twice a year. They liked the multiple 
discount for all of the pianos, but they didn't want to pay full price for the 
sanctuary every month. I didn't want to loose this deal, because they already 
told me the D needed some work, (I've discussed with you in the past). So I made 
a deal with the church a year ago, and everyone seems happy with the 
arrangement.

Here's the deal. I tune the Steinway D in the sanctuary once a month for half 
price, but I also tune at least one other piano on the same trip. (It's a 
church in Birmingham, which takes me 45 minutes to get to.) To "sweeten" the 
deal, I give them the same discount I give churches for multiple pianos. In other 
words, when I tune the sanctuary and one other piano, the sanctuary is at half 
price, but the one other piano is full price. When I tune two other pianos, 
the sanctuary is half price, but the two other ones get a 5% discount. And so 
forth. Repairs are extra, at full price. 

So far, I have been going there for 15 months, and about half the trips have 
been for two pianos. Twice I had to tune 6 other pianos plus the sanctuary, 
but most of the time it's either been two or three other pianos. Interestingly, 
I've basically tuned the same pianos. There are still about 15 pianos I've not 
seen. It has worked very well for me, and I've gotten a few private customers 
from the church.

How does this compare with those of you who tune part time for schools, or 
for large churches, especially when there is at least one piano that needs to be 
tune frequently, like once a month? 

Wim 
Willem Blees, RPT
Piano Technician
School of Music
University of Alabama

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/1b/10/67/4f/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--

This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC