More Money in Tuning or Servicing?

[Greg Newell]

On Wed, 1 Jul 1998 06:29:57 -0400, Eugenia Carter wrote:

>Arnold,
>
>Very few of us can work full time as both a tuner and a rebuilder. Don't
>think there are that many hours in a day. ;-)
>
>Like you, most of my time is spent in tuning, minor repairs, and action
>work; however, I offer my clients full piano service through a partnership I
>have with another technician. He does all the major rebuilding; I limit
>myself to action rebuilding only. Many times I subcontract the entire
>rebuilding job to him.  I sell the initial job to my customer and do all the
>follow-up work after the piano is delivered. The client always remains mine,
>but the rebuilding contract with the customer is in both our names. The
>responsibility for the finished product belongs to both of us. This format
>works well for us; other technicians have other formats that work equally
>well.
>
>The key to our success is total and complete trust and respect for our
>partnership. Each of us knows exactly what/how/when/where/why/who for each
>aspect of the job. If something unexpected occurs, we address the details
>and work out a solution that is equitable to both of us. Foremost, always,
>is our mutual obligation to the customer.
>
>Subcontracting can be a scary premise, especially if you haven't established
>a trusting relationship with your subcontractor. It's up to you to do your
>homework: not only do I recommend that you see some of his/her work
>yourself, I also recommend you check out their business reputations.
>Honesty, pride and quality of work go hand in hand. Once you find the right
>person to work with, you have the potential to increase both your incomes.
>
>Gina
>
>
>Gina Carter, Charlotte NC
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Arnold Schmidt <arnold1@mindspring.com>
>To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Date: Wednesday, July 01, 1998 1:14 AM
>Subject: Re: More Money in Tuning or Servicing?
Gina and List,	
	Those of you who have no experience with this I suggest you
enter into it very carefully!  I had a very bad experience with a
rebuilder at the exact opposite end of our state and wanting to be
carefull, I did all the things that you suggested and even spent the
time to go visit Him and his shop.  I contracted with him to install
a pinblock ,restring,and refinish a customers piano while I
reconditioned the action.  I finally got the piano back only 45 days
after the expected time with the pin block too low to install the
action.  I was there when his guys delivered it and the customer wqas
so upset that they would not even entertain the thought of sending it
back.  All trust was lost and I spent the day trying to chip away a
layer or two of the underside of the pinblock so that I could slide
the action in.  I recieved no consideration from this rebuilder as he
offered to redo it so I guess that was supposed to be enough.  The
family name is well know from a sterling reputation of the father. 
The son who now runs the business was the one I dealt with and I did
not find that the reputation was upheld.  Watch!!!! Beware !!!! Even
if the homework is done there can still be trouble.  Since then I
have just given the customers names of those who do that kind of work
with no personal endorsement. 
				hope this helps,
					Greg Newell
Greg and Mary Ellen Newell
Greg's Piano Forte`
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
gnewell@en.com