Absolutely! I have my rate set high enough that I just absorb that kind of thing. If I can pitch raise and tune in an hour, it's just the regular fee. If I think it will take longer, I'll mention the pitch raise fee, give them the little technical bulletin on pitch raising and go to it. After 29 years of doing this, I can listen to a few notes, and take note of the piano's scale and know pretty close how long it's going to take. That experience is about the only advantage of getting older, but........ dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 1/24/2003 at 8:24 AM Susan Kline wrote: >At 09:02 AM 1/24/2003 -0600, you wrote: >>Where and (more importantly) _how_ do you draw the line? > >You estimate how much extra time you will need, and charge for that. >If you estimate wrong by ten minutes -- big deal, and you get better >at estimating. > >I don't see that charging for a 2 cents pitch raise is reasonable. > >First, if it were closer to pitch than that, a lot of people wouldn't >even think it needed tuning at all. > >Second, speaking only for myself, I don't like the diddly nuisance >of having to explain extra charges to people at all. I'll do it >for pianos which are way, way flat; though I'll also explain that >we can leave it low and save a lot of fuss and money for both of >us, once I establish that having it low won't matter for what >and how they are playing. But I don't enjoy splitting hairs >with a new customer. "Now I raised it 2.5 cents @ $-- per cent, >and I need to adjust the pedal, that will be $--, and there's >a broken bridle tape, that will be $---" > >I just set my fee to assume that some of these things will often >need doing, and do them without asking. Why nickel and dime someone >to death? > >Just MHO. > >Susan > > >_______________________________________________ >pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________
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