the economy

[Fenton Murray]

I love piano work, and if I end up doing $300. fix ups on old upright to keep busy, I'll be happy. I just had a call this morning from and 80 year old guy with properties all over that wants to restore and old Heine Grand from the 1890's, I don't think cost is an issue. It's out there, this may not have been the job I was looking for a couple years ago, but I'd be glad to have it as filler now.
Fenton
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Servinsky 
  To: Pianotech List 
  Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 5:11 AM
  Subject: Re: the economy


  The east coast of Florida requires a bit higher than that. I guess it's all relative, but truth be told, times are tough and they're going to get tougher before getting better. Those living on just making ends meet during the good times are going to have to make big adjustments, be it downsize, change of routines, or move. 
  Being able to live in the various scenes of paradise has its price and the reality of being able to afford the great location definitely hits home when the market turns sour, or like in our case, when 2 hurricanes hit your home within 3 weeks of each other the entire economy shuts down for several months.
  My advise to all....make sure self as marketable as possible. Stay healthy and keep your edge to your game. Things will turn around in due time. In the meantime, get caught up with family time and other things in life that interests you. Many times those are things which get put on the back burner for the rainy day. Well....that rainy day is here. Plan accordingly. 
  Tom Servinsky
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: wimblees at aol.com 
    To: pianotech at ptg.org 
    Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 6:44 PM
    Subject: Re: the economy


    -----Original Message-----
    From: Gregor _ <karlkaputt at hotmail.com>
    To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
    Sent: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:58 pm
    Subject: RE: the economy


    Wim,

    the good thing is: you live in paradise :-)  At least I think so. When I think about Hawai the first thing that comes into my mind is Thomas Magnum, PI, one of my favorite tv serials. But real life is no tv show, particularly if there is no Robin Masters who pays for the red Ferari and the nice stately home :-(


    A lot of my friends have the same attitude. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I do enjoy living here. When you're here for a week or two on vacation, presumably you planned to spend the money. But when you live here, and have to pay for everything, from rent to health insurance to the basics, it is very daunting at times at how much it costs. Although I do have a choice, moving back to the mainland is almost not an option. We spent what we made off our house in Alabama to move here and sustain us the first 8 months. It's all gone. So if we do move back, I literally have to start from scratch, with no money to back me, (unless I dip into our retirement accounts).  

    How many inhabitants are there and how many other tuners? Is there a piano store? Could you sell some used pianos at times? Do you work only on Oahu or do you hop from island to island? Just curious.

    The reason I am confident that I will make it here, is because of the need for piano tuners. There are about 800,000 living on Oahu. There are only 10 full time and another 10 part time tuners. We could probably use twice that many. But, and this is the biggest problem, it takes too long to get established.

    The Yamaha dealer just closed his doors. There are only 3 other dealers, and they are hurting, too. I do go to Kauai every 6 - 8 weeks to do a day's worth of tuning, but that is almost getting too expensive. A year ago, the flight and renting a car cost about $100. Now it's three time that much. 

    I tried selling a used piano, but it took me almost 8 weeks to sell a 30 year old Kimball which I had gone over, and would up selling for about half of what it is worth. I made about $500, and probably did about $800 worth of work on it.

    Bottom line. Unless someone has about $70,000 to live on for a year, I would not recommend any one to move here. 

    Wim 

    Gregor


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To: pianotech at ptg.org
    Subject: Re: the economy
    Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:13:38 -0400
    From: wimblees at aol.com

    Terry

    I tune between 10 and 15, Most weeks not even that. At $ 115 per tuning, and even with some repairs, PR's, and other stuff, I am averaging about $6000 per month in income. My rent is $2100, and with the other bills, including taxes, electricity, car, cable, phone, etc, it all comes to about $6000 per month.  Just an average of 3 tunings per week will make life easy. Now, if I can just figure out a way to do that, without it costing a lot in advertising, I'll be happy. 

    I am confident, however, that I will get the business. It just takes time. 


    Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
    Piano Tuner/Technician
    Mililani, Oahu, HI
    808-349-2943
    Author of: 
    The Business of Piano Tuning
    available from Potter Press
    www.pianotuning.com


    -----Original Message-----
    From: pianolover 88 <pianolover88 at hotmail.com>
    To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
    Sent: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 3:52 pm
    Subject: RE: the economy


    20 pianos-tuning only, not including PR, regulation, repair, accessories, at an average of $100 minimum per piano, would yield $2,000, or $8,000=2 0per month. You must have MASSIVE expenses and/or debt if you can't get by on that. If you add all the other extras above, you could easily ad d another $2,000-$5000 per month.


    Terry Peterson

    > Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:42:59 +0800
    > Subject: Re: the economy
    > From: justpianos at our.net.au
    > To: pianotech at ptg.org
    > 
    > wim
    > > HAVE to tune 15 - 20 piano a week, in order to make a
    > > living. The bad news is,?I am only tuning 10 - 15 piano a week.>
    > 
    > 
    > With respect,what do you charge, and what are your high expenses that you
    > can't get by on 15 tunings a week?
    > I would be looking again at my business plan.
    > Bruce Browning
    > The Piano Tuner.
    > 
    > 


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