Receiving calls from customers.

[[TW]Fox]

They are suprised at your price and wish to check the competion first. If they then find you are reasonably priced they will call back.

£35 an hour does seem very expensive for unskilled manual labour - most car bodyshops charge less than that for skilled bodywork repairs (My local BMW franchised dealerships bodyshop is £36 an hour) so to find that fixing a home PC costs a similar amount to skilled repairs to a damaged £20k car is a shock to some.

It's certainly a shock to me. I'd have expected your rates to be more inline with the money charges by a window cleaner or a gardener - our gardener charges £15 an hour and his work is no easier than yours. This is what most people will think and this is why you get the response you do.

 

[TheDean]

Who's saying he's unskilled Fox?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Who's saying he's unskilled Fox?

It's just a classification - a master craftsman for example is skilled manual labour, component replacement is unskilled manual labour. The definitions are commonplace and are not, contrary to your thinking, an 'insult'.

Fixing PC's is not skilled labour, thatching a roof is. You are simply swapping out components or reinstalling software.

 

["andy"]

They are suprised at your price and wish to check the competion first. If they then find you are reasonably priced they will call back.

£35 an hour does seem very expensive for unskilled manual labour - most car bodyshops charge less than that for skilled bodywork repairs (My local BMW franchised dealerships bodyshop is £36 an hour) so to find that fixing a home PC costs a similar amount to skilled repairs to a damaged £20k car is a shock to some.

i bet a good percentage of guys working in bodyshops cant fix/build pcs and would have to pay someone to do it. especially the software side of it


anyone can learn to fix bodywork just like anyone can learn to fix/build a pc.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I'm sorry but I simply cannot agree. Replacing components in computers and changing software settings is not skilled at the same level as plastering, plumbing, getting a perfect spray finish on paintwork, and suchlike.

 

["andy"]

you can go learn to do any of those on a college nightcourse that takes the same time a building/repaiing pc skills night course would take.

just because you find it easier than other things doesnt mean everyone does

loads of blokes on the sites at work who are skilled tradesman wouldnt know where to start with fixing there pcs. they pay someone to fix it or go buy a new one.

 

[Azagoth]

our gardener charges £15 an hour and his work is no easier than yours.

You have a gardener?

 

[Sweetloaf]

I think £35 per hour is too high. As people have mentioned you can get a plumber or gas man for less than that and regardless of what people say that job requires more skill, more training, more risk to the individual and more overheads for the guy involved.

Your price is obviously your choice but £20 per hour would be my upper limit. If my PC goes wrong I've learned how to fix, this knowledge was easy to obtain however I couldn't fix my central heating if it broke down. Not just through lack of skill and knowledge but also by law.

Most people that can afford to pay you £35 per hour are probably in reasonable jobs, are reasonably intelligent and could work it out themselves. A lot of others that feel £35 is too much are probably on £7 per hour flipping burgers.

 

[Wicksta]

I agree with sweetloaf and fox, it's not skilled labour.

 

[[TW]Fox]

loads of blokes on the sites at work who are skilled tradesman wouldnt know where to start with fixing there pcs. they pay someone to fix it or go buy a new one.

If you are going to continue to miss the point then I'm not going to argue with you any further. Stop thinking the term unskilled labour is some sort of derogatory term because it's not. It's also not strictly linked to pay either. The guy who services my car at BMW has his time charged out at £90 an hour but he's not a skilled worker either - he simply changes oil and replaces filters..

Generally speaking skilled workers were those which could be described as economically productive - ie, they produce something themselves.

 

["andy"]

im not arguing about skilled/unskilled labour. im arguing that 35quid p/h is easily justified

i dont understand.

your bodyshops not producing a new wing though is it , its just repairing it like huddy repairs software

a plumber doesnt produce anything either. they build pipework from components just like huddy would build a pc from components

id argue that a plumber fitting a new pipe under your kitchen sink or fixing leak is a hell of a lot easier than fixing a pc


people wont see it as skilled on this forum because we all know how to build a pc in our sleep. post the same topic on a forum where tradesman hang out (if theres such a thing) and they will probably be saying the opposite

 

[Wicksta]

id argue that a plumber fitting a new pipe under your kitchen sink or fixing a small leak is a lot easier than fixing a pc

Thats like saying "Installing MSN Messenger is a lot easier than installing a central heating system".

 

[[TW]Fox]

Now which is the easiest - wiring up an entire house, by yourself, electrically or removing some spyware and installing a new hard drive.

 

[TheDean]

You are simply swapping out components or reinstalling software.

Ohh ho ho my boy. You really have no idea do you?!

 

[benneh]

Now which is the easiest - wiring up an entire house, by yourself, electrically or removing some spyware and installing a new hard drive.

Diagnosis is a skilled labour though no?.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Ohh ho ho my boy. You really have no idea do you?!

Tell me more about the hugely complex and dangerous world of home computer repairs. I know nothing about it, it's only been my hobby for 14 years.

 

[Sweetloaf]

Now which is the easiest - wiring up an entire house, by yourself, electrically or removing some spyware and installing a new hard drive.

In fact you may as well compare the largest domestic job in both situations.

Building a PC for a customer from scratch or installing a brand new central heating system from scratch.

One could be performed by and individual with a little sense and an instructions manual (lego style) one could not.

 

["andy"]

Now which is the easiest - wiring up an entire house, by yourself, electrically or removing some spyware and installing a new hard drive.

theyre both easy.

wiring a house takes days though, maybe a week on your own and a big house hence the high cost

a hard drive less than an hour

Tell me more about the hugely complex and dangerous world of home computer repairs. I know nothing about it, it's only been my hobby for 14 years.

theres nothing difficult about any of the trades you mention either though. if they had been your hobby for 14 year youd find them easy too

Thats like saying "Installing MSN Messenger is a lot easier than installing a central heating system".

no its not . its like saying installing msn is like fitting a connection on a pipe. theyd both take people who know what they are doing 2 minutes

 

[TheDean]

Tell me more about the hugely complex and dangerous world of home computer repairs. I know nothing about it, it's only been my hobby for 14 years.

If it has, then you would know full well that it is never neither simple, nor straightforward!

 

[Wicksta]

Desktop IT workers in overinflated opinion of themselves shocker.