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I have done a few guitar repair/setup jobs in the last few months, just by people finding me through my work. The tasks have been quite straight forward, such as replacing a nut and fitting new wooden bridge pins, or routing a pickup cavity in an electric guitar body. I just quote according to my best guess at the time it will take, and sometimes I can get a clue what the job is worth by finding someone else's fee schedule (sometimes not until after the work is done ) Several times now, I have charged for an hour, according to my quote, and actually worked on the guitar for an additional half hour.

On the last four jobs, especially, the customers have left really happy, and the only comments I've received on my pricing is that it is cheap.

Am I just really fortunate to have unusual customers, or is it time to revisit my standard shop rate? The reason I ask is that I know some other people in the service industry that know their pricing is right on when customers complain just a little bit, but pay anyway.

Maybe I just need to estimate a little more time?

Take a look at the 12th fret website .. they have a good selection of pricing for repairs on their site ....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

here's another good place to get ideas, though I see them a little high priced (compared to our rates at least)

http://www.guitarrepairshop.com/blu.html

When starting out, I think it is reasonable to expect to spend a bit more time than you charge for on a job. Once you have been doing it a while, you will get better at guestimating a job.
I think it's important to stress that an estimate is just that. If you "quote" a job, you're stuck with that price, even if the crap hits the fan.
If you do a re-fret & the fretboard needs a lot of work to fix the chipout you shouldn't have to do the extra work for free. Even a simple job like replacing tuners can mess you up. I have had lacquer flake off in big chunks when removing the old machines.
The estimate sheets mentioned in the other posts are very useful, but they say things like "$100.00 and up"
The "and up" is for when things don't go smoothly.

What Tony and Daniel said.

THAT is called a CLUE!
I knew I had raised my prices to the correct level when the clients sucked in their breath, and then said "OK".

Also, I charged by the job - not the hour.
And remind the client "it's only an ESTIMATE!".... as in "it might be higher!".

And in case you're interested, to fabricate and install a bone nut - I charge $50.
Usually takes me hour at a leisurely pace.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thank you! I see that my basic rate is rather low, relatively speaking, but then again, I don't have the overhead that a repair shop would.

I am not too far off, some of the time, and these charts also give me some clues what I should be able to charge. They also give some clues as to the amount of effort to expect.

One more point of view: I don't do estimates. I don't charge to evaluate a repair, and when I'm done I quote a price. If I run into complications, I figure that's my problem. I don't like it when I'm surprised by a high bill. (The billing shenanigans that the our medical system gets away with amaze me.) I don't want my customers to be surprised either. I do enough work that I can average the complications into my overall price schedule. (I do a mix of building, repair, and finishing of new instruments.) I think prices should reflect a combination of the overall local cost of living, and more importantly, the quality of work. I've seen new nuts that would be over priced at $10, and others that would be a bargain at $75. Where I live, The cost of living is pretty high. I could charge a little less if I lived in rural Nevada, and I'd have to, because my neighbors wouldn't earn as much. There are lots of different ways of approaching pricing. Mine has worked well for me.

I wish I got that comment...

In Taiwan the going rate for a nut is 15 dollars, at least that's what every other competent luthier charge in Taiwan to do a bone nut, using materials from Stewmac.

Price of work in Taiwan really is a lot lower than the US, but then so are cost of living...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com