Receiving calls from customers.

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"andy" said:
many of my friend who arent tech savvy go down to B&Q and buy a light switch or cover and fit it just using the instructions.

doesnt stop people paying for an electrician to do the same job though
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There's loads of counter arguments to that, people (me included) don't like to mess with mains electrics! The same with Gas. It's why painters and decorators dont earn that much (well those that I know dont) because most people can paint a wall! As Fox pointed out the original thread is "what are these people thinking" - and the answer is that they're thinking your an absolute rip off merchant! Now I think there is a need for PC repair blokes (mainly for older peoples of the population I'd dare to suggest), but in terms of what I would call a skilled job - repairing a computer isn't skilled. But your not alone, idiots pay people to teach them Excel, Word or those stupid people who pay to have some one "setup your computer" aka plonk it on your desk plug everything in and switch it on.

IMHO those that are shocked at your prices - are probably those that know it's a rip off.
 
For once I see Fox's point but at the end of the day, any job is easy when you know how. I would know a carb from a brake light so I pay a mechinic to do that for me and I'm quite happy to pay £40 ph (whatever it is) for some to do so.

When someone has called me that their PC is dead and they have no backups, then recovering that is the duty of a techinician if they don't know how to.


Sometimes, the job is simple and sometimes it can be a headache like most jobs. Do I see it as skilled? Yes I do because of the amount of training and experience needed. There's one thing building a PC, it's another thing dealing with someone elses problems onsite.

As Fox says, I do have clients and it's not an issue.. My point in this case is wondering what they are thinking.. I'd rather them just be honest and say what's on their mind.. "oh no that's to expensive". "Fine, thank you for calling, please call back if I can help further." That I think is a strange human trait :)

9/10 they come back anyway.. and one just has.. Told me he got quoted £45 so he obviously shopped around ;)
 
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[TW]Fox;12979982 said:
If you mean the system builder thread I was disagreeing with the use of the term 'monkey'. An unskilled labourer is NOT a monkey, this is insulting and un-neccesary whereas unskilled/skilled labour are recognised terms.
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Really? A monkey could quite easily be trained to do unskilled manual labour. It's not about being insulting. Its about the reference to how easily one could be trained. The fact that you found it insulting is down to you and the way you interpreted it.
 
Greebo said:
That was my point. Our company has £2.5m of investment and charges £31.75 p/h with skilled welder/fabricators employed.

That's why I would never pay £35 for a computer repair man with a one room office and £25 of capital investment.

ANd as I said, we make 18% profit even with our capital investment so why does a computer repair man deservce to make 50%+ profit?
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An important aspect that gets overlooked is the financial and sentimental value of the information on computers these days. It might be a relatively straightforward task but if someone who is inexperienced or just plain incompetent were to try it you could lose the lot. Consequently the person doing the repair must take on responsibility for the safety of this data.

dangerstat said:
I think that's waaayyy off the truth loads of my friends (who aren't tech savy) pop into purple shirt world and pickup an internal graphics card, hard disk, nic etc and install it themselves using just the instructions in the box! Many of them have had a successful go at building a full PC.

To be honest I think software development or engineering you can be pretty justified in charging £35 per hour (and if your good at more) because it requires indepth training and experience over years to be become a professional at it. I could teach my brother in a MONTH to repair 95% of PC problems.
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I think you'd struggle to find a software developer willing to write anything more complex than a "Hello, World" application for £35 p/h ;)

It's good that your brother could learn to do 95% of stuff in a month. It means that the other 5% that he's not qualified to do can be done by people like myself ;)

I'll sum this whole thread up in one phrase: Hardware's easy, software can be hard :)

I'm not a IT repair guy by trade btw but I did a fair bit of it for beer money when I was a student ;)
 
Admiral Huddy said:
For once I see Fox's point but at the end of the day, any job is easy when you know how. I would know a carb from a brake light so I pay a mechinic to do that for me and I'm quite happy to pay £40 ph (whatever it is) for some to do so.

When someone has called me that their PC is dead and they have no backups, then recovering that is the duty of a techinician if they don't know how to.
Sometimes, the job is simple and sometimes it can be a headache like most jobs. Do I see it as skilled? Yes I do because of the amount of training and experience needed. Theres one thing building a PC, it's another thing dealing with someone elses problems onsite.

As Fox says, I do have clients and it's not an issue.. My point was the point in this case.. I'd rather them just be honest and say what's on their mind.. That I think is a strange human trait :)
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quite simply this is balls. So recovering a data off a "dead" computer know makes you skilled - crap - what I'd class as skilled is someone who could get data of severely damaged media (badly chipped DVD's etc) that's a skill.

"at the end of the day, any job is easy when you know how" - again that's garbage, it's easier than when you started. I think the problem is that, for me, something that would make me pay good money for would require a combination of lengthy training and experience, so a doctor at BUPA, an architect, a software developer/engineer, a mathematician etc.. but not someone who fixes PC's. They're just worlds apart.
 
dangerstat said:
I think the problem is that, for me, something that would make me pay good money for would require a combination of lengthy training and experience, so a doctor at BUPA, an architect, a software developer/engineer, a mathematician etc.. but not someone who fixes PC's. They're just worlds apart.
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Worlds apart indeed - try getting any of those for even double the OP's £35/hour.

How much do you pay someone to fix your car?
 
Jeff Lynne said:
Has Admiral Huddy dipped out of this? <generic "I'm older than you!!" nonsense attempt at an insult>
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Might wanna do some research sport ;)


So, trying to think in the mindset of a non-techy, I don't think £35ph is too high for PC repairs... if you're good. I'd expect a very good service for that rate, and I wouldn't pay anyone that much if my problem were simple (replacing a part that I could learn to do myself). I would pay it for data loss recovery or some other complicated problem that I felt were beyond me.

As a comparison, replacing the heater valve in my car. I researched, found out I could possibly do it myself, saved £70. If the car wouldn't start though and my research didn't help, I'd go to a mechanic just the same.

You can't possibly compare the prices between these fields, of course. I'm just trying to give an example of situations where I would seek advice. Comparing the price to a plumber or a mechanic I don't think will help. You wouldn't compare a mechanics rates to a lawyers or a doctors rates to a window cleaner! Would you? :p

Instead you'd need to see what other services were available to gauge the price. "Shop X charge £40ph, person B charges £30..." etc.


As for skilled labour, I would heartily disagree. It requires specific technical knowledge to repair certain faults. I would class it as skilled work. Just because some people find it easy, doesn't make the task itself easier, just means more people could potentially do it.
 
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Sagalout said:
Worlds apart indeed - try getting any of those for even double the OP's £35/hour.

How much do you pay someone to fix your car?
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I don't have a car. I'd make some else quite clear too I don't think a mechanic or a electrician / plumber is *much* more demanding that a PC repair guy. The reason I'd spend more money on their services is that it could directly affect the value of the assets they'd be working on. I.e. if plumber flooded my house that'd be serious, same if a dodgy mechanic wrecked my (lets assume 10k car) I'd be very annoyed to say the least. So in a way we use higher prices in certain areas as a form of insurance (If I ay more I'm assuming the service will be better and thus the risk damage is lower). With most PC's being less than £800, and lets be honest working on a few years old, lets say £400, the risk of loss is minimal.
 
Sweetloaf said:
Your price is obviously your choice but £20 per hour would be my upper limit. If my PC goes wrong I've learned how to fix, this knowledge was easy to obtain however I couldn't fix my central heating if it broke down. Not just through lack of skill and knowledge but also by law.
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You don't need corgi to work on gas in your own home and you can learn to do plumbing yourself - you just need a few decent spanners, pipe cutter and bender.

You don't try to DIY your own plumbing because your scared of it, plain and simple, just like a lot of people are scared of computers.

I'm not fussed about in house electrical or plumbing (of course I've not done any electrical since the rules changed) but then again I don't do work on the car - I don't have the time, tools or workshop to do it in, plus I need it to get me to work every morning and can't have it off the road for long periods. Plus I'm a little bit scared of it :)
 
I don't think the point is how difficult, or how long a job takes. I agree with Fox in that something like being an Electrician is simply classed as Skilled labour, there is no two ways about it.
 
I charge £40 quid for a callout to someones house or office, and then go from there. Purple shirt land charge £60 round here for diagnosis and the first hour or so and you have to take it to them so i feel £40 is a fair charge.

Id say a good 90% of my customers will use me again and almost all of them know nothing about pcs other than using word and so on, anything goes wrong and they either dont want to, or cant be arsed learning how to fix it.

There will always be people who want things for next to nothing, and there will always be those who are prepared to pay for convenience and curteous service.

I also tend to charge £40 for a full OS reinstall and for that ill take it home, backup their data, reinstall and find the drivers and do a full update and copy back the data. In all usually takes an hour and a half, maybe two. Depends on the speed of the pc :p with half of that time waiting for the damn update site to load.

I have no problems getting work in, and i dont even advertise as most comes from word of mouth. I also work 2 days a week for a pair of local primary schools doing the usual IT support routine. They are big enough schools to need someone to help out as they have 30+ pcs, but too small to have a full time or even a council contracted techie.

At the end of the day people will pay what the job is worth to THEM. Of course you will always get differeing opinion about what your time is worth but if you provide a service and the customer is happy whats the problem>?


/ps £35 per hour including a callout from a plumber!!?? not round here it damn well isnt! cheapest i could find when we had a leak was £90 callout as it was after 5pm and £45ph after that.
 
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AtreuS said:
Snippy'd dip
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I think (like many things) what you can charge is a lot about irrational fear and lack of knowledge. It's a bit like a work when one of the girls (no sexism intended but tends to be them on average) spill some coffee on their keyboard and they react like Russia have just nuked the building from orbit, I'm sure they'd be ringing you and paying you £200 quid to come and "fix it" when in reality it's just a cheap £10 generic keyboard they've broke.
 
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