Tuning fee:  $90 (if piano is close to concert pitch)   $20-40 additional cost for pitch raise (if below pitch) 

School, church, hotel discounts, referal discounts for piano teachers

 I tune by ear.  I set the reference concert pitch A440cps electronically for ease and accuracy. I then set an equal-temperament octave, just like tuners have done for 250+ years, to tune octaves and unisons up and down from there.  Many modern tuners use computers, and I must confess, that most of them do a credible job with their computers.  However, I believe that what the human ear does naturally in compensating for piano-specific inharmonicity, a computer cannot replicate exactly.  I arrived at that conclusion after tuning for five years using a computer.  After all, people listen to and appreciate piano music- not computers.

All pianos go out of tune- usually as soon as you tune them.  How much they go out of tune varies greatly with quality, environment, tuning history, and how long between tunings.  Most regularly tuned pianos will require tuning every 3-6 months for optimum tuning stability,  but annual tuning is usually sufficient to keep the piano in acceptable tuning stability.  New pianos will go out of tune faster because the strings are still stretching.

A piano typically drops in pitch a little each year.  When it becomes more than 15-20 cylces below concert pitch, a single tuning - or single tuning fee - will not be sufficient to make the piano stay in tune for very long.  These pianos that are below concert pitch require an additional preliminary tuning called a pitch raise to actually raise the piano above pitch so that the strings will stretch back down to close to concert pitch.  Usually, they are pitch-raised about 1/4 of the distance they are flat.  They need to be tuned again immediately after the pitch raise to make the tuning tolerable for immediate playing.  But the strings will continue to stretch and depending on the piano, environment, listener tolerance, and other factors- the piano will need tuning again sometime in the next year,  the sooner, the better. 

Beware

Some pianos can not be tuned to concert pitch.  These pianos are some that have had water or fire damage, bad pin blocks, or are old English made pianos without a cast iron harp.  There are some very beautiful old English pianos, sometimes with candlelabras on the front, burled walnut vernier, and music racks that flip out of the top.  Most of these pianos are a major third below concert pitch and cannot be economically brought back up to concert pitch.  Even if you do, there is no guarantee that they will stay there.  Do NOT buy one of these pianos to use as a piano.  Maybe to convert into a desk, or bookshelf, or workbench, or planter- but definitely not to use as a piano.