Payment for Computer Repairs

My approach is a little different and I charge fixed prices.

They are loosely based on £30per hour. Sometimes this method works in my favour and others not but roughly averages out.

I am starting to break into business to business market now so need to devise a pricing structure for that.
 
Antar Boaleisk said:
Hello all,

Was just out doing a bit of work today and as a result I've been asked to perform a "clean up" operation on several computers in a small local business. The job I was at earlier today was installing several CAT5 wires to allow for broadband to be used on the aforementioned computers. For this task I charged €50 and spent about 2 hours doing it. Now the person felt that I really should be asking for more but was quite happy to pay the money.

While I asked for what the owner felt to be below the odds money I knew there was a probability that I'd get future work from her and that gamble paid off I intend not to undervalue any further services I may provide.

As stated previously, the task is to perform a general clean-up on five computers and I was wondering what people here charge/pay for similar circumstances as this is my first time dealing with anything like this and I've no idea what prices to set?

Thanks in advance,
Antar Bolaeisk
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£50 is spot on if you ask me, I wouldn't have paid more than that (you were paid £25/hour, try getting that in the jobcentre ;)) :)
 
everyone charging per hour. £50+ etc what is this exactly for? do you have to actually fix anything? Is there any kind of contract? What kind of evidence or guarantee is there that an unsuspecting member of the public doesnt get ripped off? (not by you guys obviously :D)

to me the amount of monies quoted is an extortionate amount for merely cleaning up a pc, or isolating and removing viruses, setting up home network etc. What happens if it runs over the hour then you charge em for another hour? So its not really being hired to fix something......is it?

Otherwise wouldnt the convo go smt like "how much for you to install a home network/clean pc/etc" "for that service itll be £70 sir"

hence the contract is formed. You get £70 to provide the service.
 
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When I was self employed I used to charge upto £150 call out fee, then £60 per hour. But due to IR35 and all that nonsence I now work for a company who charge a flat £150 an hour. I wish I saw even 1/4 of that :(
 
I charge per job. The customers feel happy that they know the price in advance, I feel that I am providing a good service at a reasonable price and I get a lot of repeat business and word of mouth jobs.
 
Lamo said:
I charge an initial £50 and £25 per hour there after.
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That's about what I'd charge too, however I don't tend to do PC repairs for money most of the time because it's not a business for me, and I'll happily do it as a favour for friends etc most of the time, they know me well enough not to take advantage.

Strangest payment we've had was a pair of handcuffs from a friend who works in sex shop though...
 
Surfer said:
everyone charging per hour. £50+ etc what is this exactly for? do you have to actually fix anything? Is there any kind of contract? What kind of evidence or guarantee is there that an unsuspecting member of the public doesnt get ripped off? (not by you guys obviously :D)

to me the amount of monies quoted is an extortionate amount for merely cleaning up a pc, or isolating and removing viruses, setting up home network etc. What happens if it runs over the hour then you charge em for another hour? So its not really being hired to fix something......is it?

Otherwise wouldnt the convo go smt like "how much for you to install a home network/clean pc/etc" "for that service itll be £70 sir"

hence the contract is formed. You get £70 to provide the service.
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Because the people hiring these services are normally very limited with computer knowledge, thus are willing to pay a lot of money to get things fixed.
Its like if I take my car to the mechanic and its something simple TO HIM, but I dont have a clue about it, I pay a lot of money to have it done anyway because I dont have the knowledge.

(Hope that made sense)
 
I do loads of stuff for m8s and m8s families, i never take anythign for it. Iv built comps, fixed them, wired networks in, routers, sockets, lights, showers etc etc maybe i should start charging lol
 
shauncr91 said:
Because the people hiring these services are normally very limited with computer knowledge, thus are willing to pay a lot of money to get things fixed.
Its like if I take my car to the mechanic and its something simple TO HIM, but I dont have a clue about it, I pay a lot of money to have it done anyway because I dont have the knowledge.

(Hope that made sense)
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Yup, that's exactly it, in essence you are paying more for the person's knowledge, and the time they have spent to build up their expertise, rather than just the actual time they spend doing a specific job for you.
 
Muffin` said:
What do you do in the Health check?
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Taken from my company website:


What does the service include?

The service includes:

+ Update of Windows® Operating System**
+ Anti-virus and malicious software update**
+ Driver review and update**
+ Check that all devices are functioning as expected
+ Physical clean inside and out
+ Check System Temperatures
+ System tidy
+ Disk cleanup*
+ Upgrade and performance advice
+ Health check report
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Haggisman said:
Yup, that's exactly it, in essence you are paying more for the person's knowledge, and the time they have spent to build up their expertise, rather than just the actual time they spend doing a specific job for you.
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hrm......

so how come Huddy can do his for £45? which seems like a bargain compared to others listed here.
 
Because he chooses to do so :confused:

Besides, from that list there doesn't appear to be much in the way of troubleshooting or actual repairing.

(No offence intended Huddy, after all it is advertised as a health-check, not a virus cleanup or repair)

Apart from that, it's quite common to provide certain services at a lower cost in order to encourage repeat business (as has been mentioned several times)
 
Sounds like to me you're exploiting someone purely because they aint aware of the market value conditions (yes i know this is common and standard practice)

but hey i guess if people fall for it tough luck on them.
 
I'm glad I came accross this.

I myself am in the process of setting up a website purely for the technical support the locals need with their pc's.

Its a village but with a population 13000. Not to be sniffed at which led me to doing this.

I was thinking along the lines of free quote and then £30hr afterwards.

Am I mad with these prices?
 
How is it exploiting?

You've put in the effort to learn a skill which people need, the same goes for any other skilled profession, mechanic, doctor, builder, etc. why shouldn't you be rewarded for it?

There's nothing stopping these people learning the skill themselves, but they could either spend a couple of hours wages getting the problem sorted by someone else, or spend a couple of years studying the subject to give them the ability to do it themselves.
 
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