What charge for coming to the student's house?

[musicalfamily]

Hi,
we are lucky to have a very good violin teacher who has been excellent for my eldest 2 children and charges £28 per hour. However my third child wants to try a different instrument and I found another local teacher who said he charged £15 per half an hour, which I was fine with.

When I asked him how much he would charge for coming to my house he quoted me £28 for half an hour, which I thought it was excessive. Especially as he only lives about 10 minutes down a very rural road (so no traffic). I think he is trying to charge me for his time coming here and back plus petrol really.

Any thoughts?

[Suki2]

I pay fifty pounds for DS's piano lesson; he's grade 5 standard, and the teacher insists on teaching him for an hour.

I think it's daylight robbery but in my area there aren't many people willing to teach the higher levels, so don't have any other options. If I were to get him a different teacher this would involve a weekly journey of at least half an hour each way.

I console myself with the thought that it's one less journey to make so makes life easier for him and me. I have 3 children, so time is precious!

Your teacher's hourly rate is even higher than that. Do you have any choices? If your child is a beginner there must be another local teacher willing to come to your house? I have to say I would not pay our hourly rate if I had any choice.

[CatherineofMumbles]

Seems perfectly fair to charge you for that - if you went to him you would have to pay for petrol, and your time would similarly be wasted.
My son's piano teacher charges £45 for 40 minutes.

[musicalfamily]

are you all in London though? The violin teacher also comes to the house and has just gone up to £28 per hour from £26. That appears to be the going rate where we are, as the piano teacher also charges similar.

[CatherineofMumbles]

We are in SW London

[musicalfamily]

PS I don't mind paying something fair, I just have a niggling feeling I am being ripped off....I think I am going to have to try and do a bit of shopping around....

[PickleFish]

I teach (not music) and am often asked to go to pupils' houses, but I don't - the amount of time that I would spend getting there and back would significantly affect my ability to take other pupils that day (particularly when you have to allow for lots of extra time to take account of unpredictable traffic to not be late, or to make sure you are home by a particular time for the next one, etc). Time for teaching outside school hours is already very limited, and it simply wouldn't be feasible to start doing this - I have to have as many lessons back to back as possible, just to make a living. So actually, that does seem quite fair, given that you're using up a half-hour potential teaching slot both before and afterwards.

[pigsinmud]

Well he has given you a choice of prices at his place or at yours, so I suppose he is not ripping you off, he just would rather teach at his house!

Dh charges the same whether he goes to pupil's house or at ours. He doesn't do much private teaching though as I don't like them here...having to keep own dc quiet and I get frustrated listening to beginner trumpet, even grade 8 pupils. Can cope with beginner in other instruments, it is just that I'm used to it sounding good when dh is practising. It is a pain and waste of so much time for dh to drive to their houses.

Ds2 has violin lesson at £27 for 45 mins. The teacher would never come here - have not asked, but I know it would not be on the cards.

[MadeOfStarDust]

Our piano teacher goes to students homes and charges us £22 per hour - in suburban Gloucestershire - he does all his students in this area on 2 set days of the week, so costs to him are minimal.

His rates for new students are £28 per hour - but we have been with him for 6 years, he knows we will keep on to grade 8 if possible so he wants to keep us regulars sweet...

[Theas18]

I can see where he's coming from. The prices are placed to allow him to teach at home which he prefers. If he's charging £15 for 30 mins at home. Clearly he can run students back to back and earn £30/hr.

10mins travel each way to your house and a 30 min lesson ... he could easily quite you for the full hour of his time ....

[musicalfamily]

This thread has confused me even more. How can it be that I have 2 teachers coming to my house who don't charge me for travel expenses or anything else, e.g. they charge me £28 per hour and then I have one who is trying to charge double that figure for the same service?

It seems extremely inconsistent...maybe it's just down to the individual in which case I better start shopping around and hope I get as lucky as I have with the other instruments!!

[PickleFish]

Might depends how many pupils he needs to get back to back. If he teaches in a school or in the day time with adults or something, and doesn't depend on after-school/evening lessons to provide the majority of his living, he can much more easily manage to go to pupils' houses without it being a massive cost in terms of turning down potential lessons. In that case, 10min there and back isn't such a problem. For others, who have a tight schedule, and have to allow time after previous pupils and before the next one, going to someone's house for a half hour lesson could take an hour or an hour and a half of potential time, depending on what time previous lessons are scheduled for (not always easy to change, as they're often tied in with the timing of other activities, etc).

So it probably depends a lot on the teacher's lifestyle and work pattern, and not whether one is trying to rip you off or not!

[musicalfamily]

I can absolutely see it now, thanks all for your input! I have decided to have a trial lesson to see if DS2 likes it (never know with 5 year olds!) and if the teacher thinks he can work with him and if it is a good outcome I will probably see if we can work something out (would probably consider going to his house if it means saving me £28 per hour!).

[Notcontent]

Gosh, some of the figures quoted are high! I pay £20 for 30 minutes at my house, in London. I guess I am lucky!

[morethanpotatoprints]

I think the rate according to the MU is £30 per hour plus 33p per mile. It was last time I looked anyway.
I suppose they can charge what they like if people are willing to pay.

[teacherwith2kids]

£15 per haf hour for DC's clarinet teacher.

We asked about her coming to us, but she said very few good, 'in demand' teachers offer that because they can't teach as many students in the time they have available.