How much to charge for setting up and de-crapifying two laptops?

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Soldato
Joined
27 Jul 2005
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The Orion Spur
As in title for a friend of a friend?

Basically he gave me two windows 8 laptops to de-crapify and set-up (free anti-virus, update etc) ready for his daughters Christmas present?

What should I charge him as he is coming round in about 30mins?

Although very easy to do it was a little time consuming.
 
A shop would take you around 45 pounds per hour.

So I'd say 30 pounds per times of hours as it's a friend of a friend.

If you do it free or half-free you'll have everyone coming to you with problems. Trust me.
 
Windows 8 behaves out the box.

OEMS don't seem to crap them up as much these days.

You might find there is nothing to do.
 
I assume by "de-crapify" you mean "install Windows 7"? :p

Cosimo said:
No charge for a good friend otherwise thirty quid.
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Freefaller said:
I'd do it for nothing for a friend, but perhaps something like £20-£30 or so.
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I used to do stuff like this for free, but then it usually ends up in you being on the phone every couple of days "just helping out".

My day job is (used to be) IT support - last thing I want to be doing in the evening/days off is... IT support (unless I'm getting paid for it!).

If you had a mate who was a mechanic/plumber/electrician, you wouldn't expect them to spend their time off fixing your car/installing a new bath/wiring up your house for free would you? :confused:
 
I would do it for a bottle of single malt, as a couple of hours of your time is worth something and if your friend buys you a 'token' gesture it doesn't feel like you're doing it for free.

Also do a good job and your mate will let people know but say it 'only' cost him a bottle.
 
I usually don't charge people money, it's one of those things that people should just reward you for (couple packs of beer or a bottle of whiskey etc).

Also doesn't Windows 8 have an option in the settings to resetting to factory? That'd only take 2-3 mins. :p
 
Assuming you don't do this for a living (in which case charge what you'd usually charge).

Do it for a token gesture, a few pints bought or a bottle of decent scotch.
 
Haggisman said:
If you had a mate who was a mechanic/plumber/electrician, you wouldn't expect them to spend their time off fixing your car/installing a new bath/wiring up your house for free would you? :confused:
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Yes, I've had loads of help like that from friends over the years. Of course I'd treat them to a night out at a curry house or something, like they would if I gave them computer/phone help.
 
I used to charge £70 to set up a laptop (including any additional software they wanted) plus an hour running through everything (setting up wifi/email) and happy if they called me once every now and then if they had a quick question. Free for a good mate.

Gone are the days of having 9 laptops on the kitchen table all doing Windows updates and installing antivirus programs etc.
 
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