How much should I pay someone locally to build my PC?

Actual_Criminal

Actual_Criminal

Actual_Criminal

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Birmingham, UK
I have built about 6 rigs in my lifetime and I have another one I now need to build from scratch. I tend to find that a new build can take me a whole day, as I'll usually get something wrong and have to take it apart again or something silly. I find it very frustrating.

So this time, I am thinking of paying someone locally (from Gumtree or something) to build my PC for me. - I plan to buy all the parts this weekend, wait 1-2 weeks for everything to arrive. Then, get a local PC builder to come to my address (city centre of Birmingham) and build it + install Windows. It will be a mid-high end full ATX desktop, but have no custom loops or anything custom.

Any idea how much someone would charge for this service and what would be a reasonable amount to pay?

(I know you can use build-services, but would prefer to buy parts myself to avoid the high commission on parts.)
 
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Honestly, I can't see why you'd do this rather than buy a pre-built unit from somewhere (like OcUK) - I can't imagine it'll actually be much cheaper even avoiding the 'high commission on parts', fault responsibility will be a nightmare etc.

There's such a massive range of pre-configured options, semi-customisable options - the 'Tech Labs' stuff from OcUK is massively customisable - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-systems/custom-pcs

If you don't actually enjoy the process of building, to me it would seem more sensible to take up one of those sort of options.

Maybe i'm wrong on the price difference, would be interesting to see what sort of 'build budget' is left if you compared your shopping list of parts to putting together the same items in one of OcUKs build configs and that would at least give you an idea of what's reasonable to pay (bearing in mind the OcUK way would get you a 3 year parts and labour warranty commitment that you wouldn't get from a local person).
 
Are there services which actually do that? Properly?

Most people I know wouldn't do it for strangers, even for money. Because when something goes wrong with it down the line they come back expecting them to fix it for free.
 
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Kenai said:
Honestly, I can't see why you'd do this rather than buy a pre-built unit from somewhere (like OcUK) - I can't imagine it'll actually be much cheaper even avoiding the 'high commission on parts', fault responsibility will be a nightmare etc.

There's such a massive range of pre-configured options, semi-customisable options - the 'Tech Labs' stuff from OcUK is massively customisable - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-systems/custom-pcs

If you don't actually enjoy the process of building, to me it would seem more sensible to take up one of those sort of options.

Maybe i'm wrong on the price difference, would be interesting to see what sort of 'build budget' is left if you compared your shopping list of parts to putting together the same items in one of OcUKs build configs and that would at least give you an idea of what's reasonable to pay (bearing in mind the OcUK way would get you a 3 year parts and labour warranty commitment that you wouldn't get from a local person).
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From all pre-build desktop PC sites, I know they either:
- Charge very high prices for their parts (OCUK isn't the cheapest already as is.)
- Limited options available, usually leaving only premium/branded parts available, even if a better more efficient cheaper part exists.

Well my partlist on PC Part Picker UK totals £2297.23: https://uk.************.com/list/Y8TTxg

I'll give it a go on OCUK now and see what the price works out at. I bet it will be way more than 10% though.
 
Take your time and build your PC yourself - after doing 6 builds, you've a decent idea of what to do. If it takes all day, so what?

When I build a new PC, I don't like throwing the parts in and hoping for the best. I'd rather take my time, make sure the right cables are in the right places and plugged in properly. I have to admit that some heatsinks can be very simple, yet others need a couple reads of the manual before I realise how it's meant to fit. It's not just you!
 
Nasher said:
Are there services which actually do that? Properly?

Most people I know wouldn't do it for strangers, even for money. Because when something goes wrong with it down the line they come back expecting them to fix it for free.
Click to expand...

Yup no way I'd do that, not charging someone.

Too many variables and you'll get the blame if something doesn't work.
 
Actual_Criminal said:
Honestly, £50 sounds like a steal! £50 to not worry about making sure the LED header is lined up or if I seated the CPU cooler correctly etc...

I was expecting to pay around the £200 mark.
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Can be done in about 3 hours.
OS install is extra, but that can be done by the customer, if they have a ready made USB install. That's pretty easy once they have that, it's basically a wizard.
 
Actual_Criminal said:
From all pre-build desktop PC sites, I know they either:
- Charge very high prices for their parts (OCUK isn't the cheapest already as is.)
- Limited options available, usually leaving only premium/branded parts available, even if a better more efficient cheaper part exists.
Click to expand...
You don't need to choose a prebuilt though, you can send a list of parts to a company like OcUK that does both parts and prebuilts and ask them for a build cost.

If you try to make the same machine on custom build selector you're probably going to get a different price.

IMO the biggest issue with finding someone is how on earth you qualify that the person knows what they're doing. You've got companies that do this hundreds of times a month, or a bloke who is scouring gumtree for random jobs he can have a crack at. I wouldn't want to hand £2k of parts to the latter, personally.
 
When I used to do this my standard charge was 10% of parts cost plus £50, but that was 15+ years ago, I'd probably bump the fixed cost up these days, maybe £80-100.

As @Nasher points out, for some people, this comes with an expectation of free tech support for life, even if the "problem" has nothing to do with the build.
 
Kenai said:
iHonestly, I can't see why you'd do this rather than buy a pre-built unit from somewhere (like OcUK) - I can't imagine it'll actually be much cheaper even avoiding the 'high commission on parts', fault responsibility will be a nightmare etc.

There's such a massive range of pre-configured options, semi-customisable options - the 'Tech Labs' stuff from OcUK is massively customisable - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-systems/custom-pcs

If you don't actually enjoy the process of building, to me it would seem more sensible to take up one of those sort of options.

Maybe i'm wrong on the price difference, would be interesting to see what sort of 'build budget' is left if you compared your shopping list of parts to putting together the same items in one of OcUKs build configs and that would at least give you an idea of what's reasonable to pay (bearing in mind the OcUK way would get you a 3 year parts and labour warranty commitment that you wouldn't get from a local person).
Click to expand...
...FYI, I have just done the same parts (or closest) with OCUK using their AM5 config tool. Excluding Windows, they would charge me: £3,213.02.

Almost 40% increase in premium. Gee, what a deal!

That's why I would rather source the parts myself and then pay a local IT guy like 5-10% looking to make some extra cash. - I wouldn't expect any sort of post-build troubleshooting advice or help. If parts are discovered broken when building or down the line, I would just do the RMA myself.
 
Another here for build it yourself, lots of youtube videos around - particularly if you're not adding watercooling etc.
 
Personally I'd do it myself but then I enjoy the whole process so it's not quite the same!

Look into whether there are some PC repair shops near you that might offer a build service as opposed to a person off gumtree?

Not sure but there could be some kind of build it service like the one you can use to hire a local handy man to put together IKEA furniture etc?
 
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