How much to charge?

Six6siX

Six6siX

Six6siX

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Is anyone able to give a rough idea what a reasonable amount to charge for a full (high end) PC build including OS installation is?

That's just the 'labour' aspect.

Any input appreciated esp if you do this sort of thing for a living or work for a company that offers such services.

Thanks :)
 
what i usualy do is sell them my parts so i can upgrade. my pc is always high spec compared to a normal user so when they have my old parts they are just as fast as they woul dget anyway.

As the poster above said really, either a crate of beer or let them get you a few drinks.
 
squiffy said:
For a friend/relative? I'd say 12 or 24 pack of beer. Don't ask for money, you'll come across as a git.
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Yeah for a friend. I've said I'm not too bothered about cash in return but he keeps asking...

So I was just hoping to pull an arbitary value out but want it to be less than what the going rate is but not too much less so it seems pointless...
 
Six6siX said:
Yeah for a friend. I've said I'm not too bothered about cash in return but he keeps asking...

So I was just hoping to pull an arbitary value out but want it to be less than what the going rate is but not too much less so it seems pointless...
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crate of beer= £10-£20 so thats what your going rate for a friend should be ;)
 
Didn't really think about that lol :p

Ok sorted - I tell him he can owe me a few drinks next time we're out :D

Cheers people!
 
Dunno about that, you keep doing it cheap and people start taking liberties.....

I went from doing it for free, to £10 per hour, and i still have people asking....

Don't be affraid to charge, or people will just take you for a ride....

£10 per hour is still cheap by any standard....
 
t31os said:
Dunno about that, you keep doing it cheap and people start taking liberties.....

I went from doing it for free, to £10 per hour, and i still have people asking....

Don't be affraid to charge, or people will just take you for a ride....

£10 per hour is still cheap by any standard....
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But if you're any good setting up a PC, even a complete build shouldn't take more than 2 hours. And if you charge for OS installation (when you can walk away and leave it), I find that silly.
 
t31os said:
Dunno about that, you keep doing it cheap and people start taking liberties.....

I went from doing it for free, to £10 per hour, and i still have people asking....

Don't be affraid to charge, or people will just take you for a ride....

£10 per hour is still cheap by any standard....
Click to expand...

so sodding true. Moved house to a new area where the pc dont have any clue about pc's.

I had 6 neighbours asking to fix their pcs :rolleyes:

They all were offering around £50-£100 :eek: but my parents told me not to take any..... so I have a lot of goodwill now............:(

And they complain when I spend £1000 on pc bits.... lol
 
supernova9 said:
But if you're any good setting up a PC, even a complete build shouldn't take more than 2 hours. And if you charge for OS installation (when you can walk away and leave it), I find that silly.
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You're charging for the work on the PC, not to support it, if it needs further work later, then charge for that to....

At the end of the day the user has every chance to educate themself in how to take care of, and use the PC properly, so if you have to provide further support then why not charge.......

You need to remember, this isnt Dell or a business, this is personal support.... and it's time consuming especially if you don't get paid for it..... friend or not, if you keep doing it for free the user (friend) has no obligation to take better care of the PC.

I'm talking from firsthand experience...... but by all means, you don't have to listen.....

I know with my job i have little time to spare giving freebie support after i spend most of my day giving tech support. I get Saturday to myself, and a little time in the evening, so why would i want to give out free support in that free time?.....i've given out enough freebies in XX amount of years, it's time to start getting a little back..

On another note my loacal post office manager wants some networking help, he's asked for a quote.... any suggestions what i should ask for guys?...... that's if i really want to spend the time doing it of course.
 
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For friends I do it for a few drinks or I remind them of my help when I need a hand. For family I do it for free and only take money if they thrust it upon me.

Otherwise I just take £10 an hour I enjoy messing with pc's anyway!!!
 
Of course though, if you do charge make sure you do a good job and explain what you're doing to the customer (friend or family).

If you have confidence in your own ability to do the job there's no reason to not put a charge on it, after all you're proberly saving them a bundle compared to the idiots that work at the local PC shop, wether that be in purple shirts or not.

In all my years, before i learnt how to self build, i got ripped off and charged stupid amounts for something that would take me 5 minutes to fix now....

Agreed though, there is one exception, my family i do it for free, but i do have time to educate them, so that's different....
 
If you get paid they expect you to fix it if they bugger it up

I go for you owe me a favour etc (two people helped us move house)
 
msot pc shops charge like £60 for building, £20 for o.s. installation, so even at half the rate for a friend it *** be £40, ive done it once free for a good mate, but i dont do it other than family because of the responsibility of fixing it is slung on me. which im not keen on.
 
to true :rolleyes:

They seem to thing you are responsible for the next 20yrs lol.



I had an old fella who I fixed a p3 ring up and ask could I see the problem. Thats like 3yrs ago. He tried to insinuate blame on me :eek: but I told him where to get of. :o

For my family though, im always obliging....well except when playing CS-S :p
 
t31os said:
Dunno about that, you keep doing it cheap and people start taking liberties.....

I went from doing it for free, to £10 per hour, and i still have people asking....

Don't be affraid to charge, or people will just take you for a ride....

£10 per hour is still cheap by any standard....
Click to expand...


Too true. I found this out the hard way. Started off building, upgrading and fixing pc's for friends, family and neighbours for free. I would spec them up a pc and give them a detailed breakdown of the cost of parts inc p&p then they give me the money so i could order in the parts and build the pc and get it up and running. Usually by the time all the bits come about a week from initial enquiry to delivering the built pc (including OS, AV/Firewall, antispyware all installed) which is pretty reasonable. Then they expect you to fix it when they download all sorts of crap on it and it slows down to a crawl. So i go and fix it up again clearly stating the importance of keeping Windows, AV and antispyware up to date (again) only for them to go and do it all over again a few months down the line. The best bit is i get phone calls from a friend of a friend or even my partners family members phoning up to see if i will fix their friends computer. I now charge £10 per hour or £20-30 per build depending on the cost of a build. Still comes in lower than the local pc shops and with a better spec. I also still get loads of phone calls from everyone. Some things are simple and you can tell them what to do down the phone so they are freebies. Other things though do take up time so i think it's only fair to make a small charge.
 
i built two identical comps for my parents (they MMO together), i'm on the phone at least once a week with some problem or another.

Next time i will suggest pre-built systems for them. :)

As for the OP, a case of lager/beer seems in order here :)
 
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