What would be a fair price?

[Larry Roberts]

I was wondering what you would charge (if at all) for PC
repair work if you don't do it for a living?
I've been repairing, and building systems since 94' when I
tackled installing a 14.4K RPI chip modem into a Packard Bell 486 with
a built in 2400baud modem card, and no technical help except for txt
files downloaded from local BBS systems. (Packard Bell tech said to
"rip the modem card off the mainboard) :O . I have taught myself over
the years from personal expirence, the web, and forums like this. I
have never taken a computer course except for Computer Lit., &
Computer Science in HS back in 91', & 92'. Not much training back in
those days.
However family, friends, and friends of family trust me to do
repairs, and build them PCs. So far, no complaints. I don't charge my
brother for if it was not for him buying that old Packard Bell PC long
ago, I might be "pointing & clicking" my around the net blindly today.
I tell my family that I don't mind doing work on their systems for
free, but they still give me payment anyways. Usally more than what I
think is fair.
7 years ago I took a "straight through" ethernet cable to a
local PC repair shop to have it changed to a "cross over"
configuration. They told me I would have to leave it for a couple of
days, and the charge would be $37.00. ($35 hourly labor + parts fee
with a 1 hour min.) I said thanks, and left. Down the road I noticed a
networking specialist bussiness, and took it there. They dd it in 5
min., and charged $2.00 ($1.50 for the part, & $.50 for a coke from
the machine)
Going by what local shops charge, I usally charge $20.00 flat
fee for software related repair, and $30.00 flat fee for hardware
related labor. (This is if I have to get into the case). I don't
charge anything for connecting keyboards, mice, monitors, speakers,
and such. Most of the time people pay more. Someone once gave $50.00
labor for building them a PC, and another gave me $60.00 for doing a
format, and reinstall of Windows. I tell them that what I charge is
good enough, but they always say it would cost them more to bring it
to a shop, and give more.
Does what I charge sound fair? I hate it when bussinesses
charge full labor price for a 5 min job, and I try to avoid looking
like this.

 

[Jan Alter]

Your prices are probably at the low end of the spectrum from where I sit.
(around Philadelphia). Most places would be charging $40 - $50 and hour at
this point. Just remember though, with those prices there's a warranty, and
it's amazing what the consumer expects that warranty to encompass once
someone touches their computer; everything from the OS to the mouseball.

It's clear from your writing that you're a reasonable person, and enjoy the
zen of fixing computers. Most folks that you do work for are also reasonable
and clearly feel your time is important and wish to be fair. In your case I
think of it as going to a restaurant and on the spot making a decision of
how good the waiter or waitress was for the meal. If the person was great
then it's a treat to be handing out 20% or more. The enjoyment of giving the
reward for the service becomes an event unto itself when the outcome of the
service is positive beyond the expectation.

If you want to do this for a living then compare the rates of the
various companies in your area, Remember, sooner or later you're going to
run into one customer that will make you wish you had retired a long time
ago and no amount of money that you charged them would be high enough for
the aggravation they cause. It's amazing how much staying power those people
have.

 

[Tweek]

I felt the same way before I opened my own shop. I learned real quick that I
wasn't charging enough (I was charging what I used to when I did it on the
side). When you have overhead like rent, electricity, business insurance,
health insurance, alarm, etc it really adds up I found. I am still very fair
with my customers and offer the best price in the area with flat rates for
all services, except the rare occaion when I do an onsite visit. I bend over
backwards to make sure their problems are resolved and they are completely
satisfied. Happy customers tell their friends and family about me. Remember,
people are not just paying for your time they are paying for your skills. If
you don't know how to do something, you have to pay someone to do it. I
actually have a guy that has a small on-the-side shop in a nearby town that
brings me work he is not comfortable with like laptop repairs. What seems
very simple to us (like an OS install) can be very complicated for someone
without the skills or knowlege. $60 is about right for a format and install
of windows. If you install all the patches and updates, it can be time
consuming and your time is valuable. For a system build including an OS
install you should charge more. I charge $99. It is a couple of hours or
more worth of work. Anyway when I did it on the side a lot of times I would
just ask them what they wanted to pay. It was almost always more than I
would have asked and if they are happy with it, that is what is most
important.

 

[johns]

Being self employed in this field is about nuts. You'll make a little
money
.... maybe about $5 per hour on average .. and you'll slowly build up a
list
of people who think you broke their computers, and want you to pay them
to have somebody else fix it. The average customer will bring you an
old
clunker, and want you to "just make it run", and that is the last thing
you
want to do. Once it is up, and the customer has paid you $25, it will
go
right down, and he'll be back. You'll easily get 2 days into it before
you
tell him that it is a clunker, and give him his money back.
Next level of bad computer job is selling retail for a company. Every
single
day, some guy like me will walk in, knowing 10x more than you do, and
start asking probing questions looking for a product that you can't
afford
to stock, and he is going to buy off the internet anyway. If you can
answer
his questions, you have skills that are worth more than $7 per hour,
and
you don't need the put-downs.
Job you want is to first go to tech school in Electronics, and add in
coursework in System Administration, and even take a course in web
page development. The jargon is worth the effort. Then, you can get
on with a decent company at a good salary, and hobby around on the
side for your boss and fellow employees. That way you get to make
$35K to $65K per year, and even get to go home at night to a cute
wife. Seriously, look in your area for a GOOD tech school that is
State
supported ( not one of the TV tech schools ), and spend the money
and 2 years it takes.

johns

 

[spodosaurus]

I felt the same way before I opened my own shop. I learned real quick that I
wasn't charging enough (I was charging what I used to when I did it on the
side). When you have overhead like rent, electricity, business insurance,
health insurance, alarm, etc it really adds up I found. I am still very fair
with my customers and offer the best price in the area with flat rates for
all services, except the rare occaion when I do an onsite visit. I bend over
backwards to make sure their problems are resolved and they are completely
satisfied. Happy customers tell their friends and family about me. Remember,
people are not just paying for your time they are paying for your skills. If
you don't know how to do something, you have to pay someone to do it. I
actually have a guy that has a small on-the-side shop in a nearby town that
brings me work he is not comfortable with like laptop repairs. What seems
very simple to us (like an OS install) can be very complicated for someone
without the skills or knowlege. $60 is about right for a format and install
of windows. If you install all the patches and updates, it can be time
consuming and your time is valuable.

So, are you saying he should charge a bit more for putting on all the
updates for an XP system? What about for installing their antivirus and
firewall software and updating all that? I think a $60 flat rate for
install of XP is about right, and the client can decide if they'll apply
patches and updates themselves or if they'll pay extra for that. But
then, how much extra is the question.

Regards,

Ari

--
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transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
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[Brian K]

I was wondering what you would charge (if at all) for PC
repair work if you don't do it for a living?
I've been repairing, and building systems since 94' when I
tackled installing a 14.4K RPI chip modem into a Packard Bell 486 with
a built in 2400baud modem card, and no technical help except for txt
files downloaded from local BBS systems. (Packard Bell tech said to
"rip the modem card off the mainboard) :O . I have taught myself over
the years from personal expirence, the web, and forums like this. I
have never taken a computer course except for Computer Lit., &
Computer Science in HS back in 91', & 92'. Not much training back in
those days.
However family, friends, and friends of family trust me to do
repairs, and build them PCs. So far, no complaints. I don't charge my
brother for if it was not for him buying that old Packard Bell PC long
ago, I might be "pointing & clicking" my around the net blindly today.
I tell my family that I don't mind doing work on their systems for
free, but they still give me payment anyways. Usally more than what I
think is fair.
7 years ago I took a "straight through" ethernet cable to a
local PC repair shop to have it changed to a "cross over"
configuration. They told me I would have to leave it for a couple of
days, and the charge would be $37.00. ($35 hourly labor + parts fee
with a 1 hour min.) I said thanks, and left. Down the road I noticed a
networking specialist bussiness, and took it there. They dd it in 5
min., and charged $2.00 ($1.50 for the part, & $.50 for a coke from
the machine)
Going by what local shops charge, I usally charge $20.00 flat
fee for software related repair, and $30.00 flat fee for hardware
related labor. (This is if I have to get into the case). I don't
charge anything for connecting keyboards, mice, monitors, speakers,
and such. Most of the time people pay more. Someone once gave $50.00
labor for building them a PC, and another gave me $60.00 for doing a
format, and reinstall of Windows. I tell them that what I charge is
good enough, but they always say it would cost them more to bring it
to a shop, and give more.
Does what I charge sound fair? I hate it when bussinesses
charge full labor price for a 5 min job, and I try to avoid looking
like this.

Larry,

You'll be working with no liability coverage against consumers who will
want to sue you. Not everybody in the world is nice. Everyone I know
who has gone into business for themselves in any line has started out
working for someone. Find a "mom & pop" shop who won't insist on a tech
school degree. Work for them. Learn the business of the business along
with gaining more technical experience. Then if a better paying offer
comes along take that. Save money. When you think you can fill a niche
that nobody else is filling. That will be the time to spread your wings
and fly. Good luck.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

 

[Tweek]

So, are you saying he should charge a bit more for putting on all the
updates for an XP system? What about for installing their antivirus and
firewall software and updating all that? I think a $60 flat rate for
install of XP is about right, and the client can decide if they'll apply
patches and updates themselves or if they'll pay extra for that. But then,
how much extra is the question.

Regards,

Ari

I actually include all the updates (including updated drivers) when I do an
OS install. When I talked about time being valuable I was talking about
in-home visits. At my shop I can have up to six machines on the work bench
at once so taking the extra time doesn't interfere with doing other things.
I don't want to leave their machine vulnerable especially if they are
pre-SP1 or SP2. I keep SP2 on a disk and install it. Then I use autopatcher
to install the rest of the updates. Once that is done there are less than 10
updates left on Windows Update which only takes a few minutes. Too often I
work on machines that other shops did who don't do things right. I want my
customers to stay my customers and not go anywhere else. So far, after over
a year in business I have not had one single unhappy customer.