Computer building for a bit of income on the side?

willhub

willhub

willhub

Caporegime
Joined
3 Jan 2006
Posts
25,275
Location
Chadderton, Oldham
Has anyone/does anyone do this?

I sort of thought about the idea a few times, building the units and maybe selling them for a profit, not complete systems just the base unit no peripherals, maybe doing a bit of pc repair/windows repair on the side.

I've always liked building PC's probably like a lot of people on here, putting it all together, cable tidying, setting it up, making sure it's running tip top, sometimes stuff goes wrong so you got to troubleshoot, but it ends up been enjoyable anyway.

So yea thoughts?
 
I think this question pops up every month, it depends how much your time outside or work is worth.

For some, especially if your in an IT career to go home and carry on dealing with customers or fixing problems sounds awful but to others they spend their time doing it anyway so may as welll charge for it!

For me, I don't mind helping the odd family or friend but doing it properly would just get annoying and I would rather not unless you really need the second income.

Building PCs to sell on is very tough, you will sell a few but not enough to make it worthwhile, you will also be chained to that PC for your whole life as the customer expects 24/7 support if any small problem occurs.

If you are interested in doing it, maybe just get a few posters in local shops etc and say you do printer installs, wifi upgrades and easy things like that. Might make a few quid.
 
As Biz.Kid09 above says it seems like it would be a lot of hassle. "I've installed a load of malware on the PC you built by looking at pr0n and torrents all day, it's you responsibility to fix it!"

I think even a tech support type service would be a pain for similar reasons. "You've broken my PC!"
 
Just bear in mind the warranty the customer will expect when buying a new PC - it will be down to you to honour any warranties and to take care of any returns, unless you agree otherwise prior to the sale.

As mentioned above, the software side will be your biggest headache. I'd suggest creating an image of the drive and permanently storing it on DVD for the customer to access. Although I can't think of any self-booting, self-installing imaging software.
 
As already said it'll be tough.

You build someone a nice base unit and get it up and running perfectly.

Roll on a year later.......'hi willhub that pc you built isn't working?!' You have a look and see they've it loaded with all manner of muck but you fix it and ask for payment, they'll look at you like you've 3 heads.....'but you built it, why do I have to pay for it to be fixed?' - this will happen I promise you. Even if they pay you for the fix they will moan to everyone that they know and tell them not to go near you as you sell 'dodgy pc's'
I was friendly with a guy who ran a local pc repair shop and some of the stories he told me made my head sore!
I was actually stood in the shop one day when a guy walked in and said, 'I bought a new mouse of you a couple of weeks ago and it's broke my computer - what you going to do about it?'
It's a strange phenomenon in this 'industry' - people will merrily pay £££'s to the purple shirt crowd or Dell for a pc and even fork out more £'s for extended warranties etc without complaint. But they buy off the 'little guy' then that becomes a different story.
 
It's not worth the hassle really. I will build and fix PCs for people I know, but that's it. They will expect you to fix it for free after they fill it full of malware years down the line. Then when you say you want money for you time they flip out.

We used to do private jobs at work for people sometimes when we had some free time (usually paid in beer or cake), but stopped because of this. Now we turn everyone away because we don't want them bugging us with un-related problems later on.
 
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How much profit do you think you can really make?
Who is going to buy?
Most hardware loses its value in months.
You could try the techy guy advert in the local paper then become the malware remover for the local population of dullards.
 
Remember you will potentially need:

Relevant insurances, transport costs, VAT or none VAT registered, NI, Tax, Advertisement costs etc etc
 
Been their done that, Dont do it ,the hassle isnt worth it. As pointed out you will install virus software anti malware etc only to find they turned it off because it slowed down there pc, then expect you to fix it.

worked as a IT technician for 8 years, the way around it I just used to tell people to take it to PC world. Or buy a prebuilt system,

just because your IT literate, dont expect the person your building the machine to be. I dont miss the "my facebook isnt working"

find something else to do, your sanity will thank you.
 
seems like a rather low income venture tbh.. if done part time

as others have pointed out you could have issues with having to take returns, deal with issues down the line etc.. which would be a total faff if this is just a part time gig

one approach I did think of, this wouldn't be particularly profitable but less hassle, is to be contracted to build for them but essentially they buy the components - this could be a faff but essentially set yourself up as providing PC building services not as a seller of complete systems - so you get your customers to order through OCUK based on a shopping list/spec you create for them based on their needs and then you assemble the components, install the OS etc... (you may still need to help with the odd RMA this way if the stuff is delivered direct to you)

obviously in this instance the costs/your margin for the work are basically transparent - though perhaps you could negotiate some sort of rebate with the component seller you use regularly


though tbh... I think as a part time venture it could be a potential faff either way
 
Thekwango said:
It's a strange phenomenon in this 'industry' - people will merrily pay £££'s to the purple shirt crowd or Dell for a pc and even fork out more £'s for extended warranties etc without complaint. But they buy off the 'little guy' then that becomes a different story.
Click to expand...

It's the same with the people who will happily pay £££ to someone to fix their washing machine, but will expect someone to sit all night cleaning their PC of malware for a tenner and a cup of tea.
 
sigma said:
Don't most people use laptops/tablets/phones these days? General public.
Click to expand...

good point

I remember thinking about trying to make money building PC's early 00's but didn't bother as the PC shops could obv buy the parts for cheaper...just didn't make sense. Must be even less interest in desktops now
 
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