How much to charge for IT services?

[Deleted member 77746]

Ok for example, this sage stuff. Setting up servers and the back up processes, are there any qualifications or training courses which give you all this information. Assume I am joe average and I know diddly squat about computers.

ah then in that case you are talking about learning not qualifications. Learning and qualifications are different things. Been able to do the job is one thing but actually getting a qualification certificate is another.

I'm no good at exams but hell I can use my hands and troubleshoot.

But it's getting that way. Those of a certain age can't do simple IT, but the younger generations can. I was installing Windows by age 13. It wasn't hard then and it isn't hard now.

Seriously, installing & configuring Windows and applications is not tough, is it

I don't consider it skilled work, if I'm 100% honest. We are the pencil pushers of the digital age.

Now Linux, on the other hand... you need an IQ of 600 just to log in

You are looking at it from the wrong angle. There's still a lot of people can't do basic tasks. Do you know some people come to me to do things for the simple reason they are too busy / not enough time on their hands and just need to pay someone to do the job to get it over and done with.

Ahh so you means dodgy on the side cash-only work not proper business work. Still selling yourself cheap.

And your own personal value. I value my work at more than £15-20 an hour even if a client was to come to me.

I value my work too but this doesn't mean I should charge more. Different areas might not charge as much as it could be the going rate for the area enough to compete with surrounding businesses and making a healthy profit.

 

[Schlong&Stable]

Ok for example, this sage stuff. Setting up servers and the back up processes, are there any qualifications or training courses which give you all this information. Assume I am joe average and I know diddly squat about computers.

Then you shouldn't be setting up a business in IT. Qualifications are worthless when you're running your own business, it's experience that is critical. If you dream one day of running your own business, go work for someone else first and learn the tools of the trade.

But it's getting that way. Those of a certain age can't do simple IT, but the younger generations can. I was installing Windows by age 13. It wasn't hard then and it isn't hard now.

Seriously, installing & configuring Windows and applications is not tough, is it

I don't consider it skilled work, if I'm 100% honest. We are the pencil pushers of the digital age.

Now Linux, on the other hand... you need an IQ of 600 just to log in

For a small business, time is money. Setting up a PC and potentially wrangling with the issues that come up all digs into their revenue. £40 p/h for peace of mind is nothing.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Then you shouldn't be setting up a business in IT. Qualifications are worthless when you're running your own business, it's experience that is critical. If you dream one day of running your own business, go work for someone else first and learn the tools of the trade.

Absolutely spot on. You either have a business head on you or you don't.

 

[Duke]

No one I know would pay that much for basic IT. Let's face it, everybody and their dog can install AV and configure Windows these days.

Seriously, simple IT is not rocket science.

Well, clearly a lot of people do pay for it.

Depending where you live in the country as some places wont be expecting to pay that amount

Yep and some will pay for in some areas I expect. Also depends how quickly you can get to people - you can pay more to see someone quicker for example.

 

[UK-AL05]

Typical young entrepreneurs who start their own business are likely to be on the verge of getting fired in normal jobs if they stay long term. Not because they are crap, but because they have independent/confident/narcissistic streak, and constantly challenge the status quo which can grate people they report to. These types don't hesitate, but just do and some fail spectacularly.

A young entrepreneur I know, now has a hate website dedicated to him because he ****ed of some business people. But eventually he built a successful company.

 

[cjgardens]

Ahh so you means dodgy on the side cash-only work not proper business work. Still selling yourself cheap.



And your own personal value. I value my work at more than £15-20 an hour even if a client was to come to me.

Ye cash in hand straight of the boss. The way I read op is its just going to be a few hour now and then when there stuck. Not bad as a side job.

A guy a do a garden for paid me 30 quid for two hours sending a few emails and listing something on ebay for him. Made me bacon buttys and brews, I was happy with that.

Problem is if op asks for to much they could take it the wrong way and get someone else? There is always someone out there who will undercut your price

 

[aln]

But what you have to remember is he's not being used as a 'contractor' in your sense, he is being used as a business providing a service.

Your type of contracting is generally full time for the contract period, remarkably different to being called up as and when for the odd hours work here and there which is what most of us are talking about

Actually it's essentially the same time. I get offered bit part work all the time, and theres nothing stopping him from being internal IT pretty much full time over numerous clients. Obviously in reality it's different because I don't bother to balance more than one client, but selling yourself as the same as an established company with multilple employees is disingenuous.

I would totally do this, so it's not a criticism, but I also wouldn't pay a one man shop the same rate personally, which is the point I was trying to make. Sure, take as much as you can get when you can get it, but if people ask questions and balk at the price, you may need to look at what contractors typically earn which would still be a solid bump over working for one of these shops.

Except he isn't a 'contractor' he's a business. Hence my profit example.

There is no distinction. As a contractor, I offer my technical skills under an Ltd, thus technically it is my business that offers my services and just the same I am liable for cooperation tax. He is essentially functioning in the same way and thus should be reaping all the same benefits. He may be better off functioning as self-employed until he's earning a certian amount though.

<snip>

All of those are costs that could easily be attributed to a contractor running his own ltd. Theres only 4 things on the list I personally wouldn't bother myself with (card payment machine, clothing, advertising, supplying hardware) and that's because I have no real use for those things.

 

[jake9891]

Ye cash in hand straight of the boss. The way I read op is its just going to be a few hour now and then when there stuck. Not bad as a side job.

I think that's exactly what they had in mind. I will be the main point of contact if there is anything IT related to do or they have problems. If everything runs fine then they won't bother contacting me. So it will be odd jobs once in a while. I think that's how the previous guys did it.

It's a small business, less than 10 people, and their whole office consists of 6 workstations, 2 printers, 100BaseT hub and very old BT fusion router. They don't have a proper network set up, meaning no real server, only workstations, shares everywhere, no backups whatsoever. Whoever worked on all this stuff before me, either did it as a hobby or just didn't know what he was doing and didn't plan on coming back to finished what he started.

I've got related experience and qualification to do what they asked me to and I am basically trying to do my best to fulfil their requirements and keep everything going. I am currently tidying up all the files, trying to implement some sort of centralised server-client structure and set up off-site backup. Already solved one of their main issue, which apparently the person before me spent weeks on it. Looking at the cause of the problem I believe that previous guy had no experience or qualification whatsoever. Since I know the owner very well, I don't want to overcharge them, it's more like helping out family business, but I want appropriate pay for the work done, since they would pay the stranger to do it. I think something like £20 per hour would be about right, and of course no charge if it isn't fixed or done completely.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[MowyTone]

... and of course no charge if it isn't fixed or done completely.

You mad bro?

 

[Locky]

£6.31 an hour.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

I've skipped read this thread a bit, the problem is not what you charge but if you have the time and resources to fulfill an agreement, particularly in the event of critical downtime. There is a big difference between offering IT services and general support. If there systems go down, and their business is suffering, can you get there and fix it?

I look after quite a few small businesses and i make this perfectly clear to them. They are quite happy for me to operate within my time and terms because they are getting my services outside contract and without SLA fees.

I charge around £45ph for residential clients, £65ph for small and personal businesses. Make sure you have adequate on and off site liability insurance.

 

[cjgardens]

You mad bro?

This, you still got to charge. Infact you have to charge more because it's going to take you longer

Or do you mean if they ask you to fix something and you just can't do it at all because you don't have the know how and they have to ring someone else?

If your friendly with the boss have a word with him, ask him if he's happy with your hourly rate and say that you think that it's a good rate

 

[Haggisman]

A guy a do a garden for paid me 30 quid for two hours sending a few emails and listing something on ebay for him. Made me bacon buttys and brews, I was happy with that.

So it took you 2 hours to send a few emails and list something on ebay? I think that illustrates exactly why people who know what they're doing can get away with charging £30-40/hour. Because they could do the same thing in half/or even a quarter of the time.

 

[Russinating]

That's £39000 a year, assuming he has enough work to do it full time. Nothing to sniff at around most of the country. The £40 quotes take you to £78000 and while you have some costs associated with running your own business, general IT services aren't worth that much in my opinion when highly technical and specialist staff will fail to earn that much.

Love your business maths .

 

[ubersonic]

No one I know would pay that much for basic IT. Let's face it, everybody and their dog can install AV and configure Windows these days.

Seriously, simple IT is not rocket science.

Your confusing what something is worth with what an idiot is prepared to pay for it, of course basic I.T stuff is not worth £40-50 an hour, its not even worth £20 its minimum wage level. However if you can find people who don't know that and will pay through the nose (and the are a LOT of them) you can charge rip off prices quite easily.

 

[Sash]

I usually say to clients my usual rates are £50 an hour for the first hour then £30 after that. But I then say that "For you I'll start at £30 an hour then £15 after that" it's like they're getting a bargain I just run my own business now and then though, too busy focussing on my main employment. My rates still cheaper than most of the shops and have had 100 happy clients so far. I tend to just do word of mouth advertising though, much less hassle.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

No one I know would pay that much for basic IT. Let's face it, everybody and their dog can install AV and configure Windows these days.

Seriously, simple IT is not rocket science.

No, not everyone. Only those that have interest in the the workings of a PC which is a very small percentage. The rest and by far the majority of the population have absolutely no idea or desire to learn about about PCs and therefore treat them no differently to a microwave. To us, the PC is a hobby but to most people they are just a means to and end and when they go wrong, they want some one to fix it.

I'm the same with cars.. but as i said before.. IT is very different from Mr PC repair man... IT is part of a business solution, including networking and data management and recovery. This comes with experience.

 

[koolpc]

I agree. Most people haven't a clue about what goes on in a PC and how to solve issues etc.

 

[cjgardens]

So it took you 2 hours to send a few emails and list something on ebay? I think that illustrates exactly why people who know what they're doing can get away with charging £30-40/hour. Because they could do the same thing in half/or even a quarter of the time.

Have you ever tried to send emails and scan documents while trying to explain how to do it for a 66 year old man who struggles to turn a computer on?

I could have easily have gotten into IT and charge people good money but it's boring! Plus I can earn just as much doing gardening. £75 for 30 mins on a job last week

 

[LordSplodge]

I value my work too but this doesn't mean I should charge more. Different areas might not charge as much as it could be the going rate for the area enough to compete with surrounding businesses and making a healthy profit.

Obviously you can only charge what the market will bear but my time is worth much more than £15/hour.

For a small business, time is money. Setting up a PC and potentially wrangling with the issues that come up all digs into their revenue. £40 p/h for peace of mind is nothing.

Exactly. Applies to individuals too. My time in the evening is very available. I'll pay a tradesman to come in and get the job done rather than waste hours of my time trying to fix the issue.

£40/hour isn't a lot, really.