PC repair business advice

[Harper]

Whats your take on pick up and delivery. I do not really like working on a clients computer inside their house unless its something I have done before and can do blind folded. Other wise I like to take the computer with me so i can concentrate when I work on it, and not have the client starring down my back watching my every move. Nevertheless, is pick up and delivery something I should stay away from? and if not how much should I charge for pick up?

My view on onsite service is this. If you are activly doing work on site, then stay there. However if you are just waiting for the next screen to pop up on Windows Xp/Vista/7 install, then extract the computer and do it at your office/workshop instead. The problem clients have with you is that they see you just sitting there waiting for the screen to change, and in the meantime they are still paying you to do this.
When then it comes down to asking them for money, they get extremely funny with you as you give them a bill for a 3 to 4 hours work where all you have done in there eyes in sit on your *** waiting for the screen to change and you are pressing the enter key or putting in a serial number.
Same goes with scanning for viruses. That can take hours and you are doing thing nothing.
And this really goes heaps for data recovery. unless the customer is payng be by the hour, I normally just set data recovery jobs to run over night as they take any thing from hours to a few days.

You know that feeling that you get when the taxi driver is taking the long way home or driving at 10 under the limit. It's the same feeling that customers get with computer techies when they just sitting there waiting for a screen to change.

If the case of where i need to install windows or scan for virus or do a few hours work where the computer is doing all the number crunching, I offer to extract computer and charge a flat rate for the work carried out. I then explain to them that I either take it back to my office where i charge a flat rate, or they can just continue paying my hourly rate. And in the meantime, i will not be doing much but sitting on a chair waiting for the screan to change. I warn them of this just incase they do not want me extracting the computer and I am stuck onsite doing nothing but the one job.

Also form time to time, you will get some dodgy people walking your office / workshop insisting that they watch you do your work. I don't mind this provided that they don't mind me charging them by the hour. Don't let these guys make you fall into a trap of charging a set price. I had this one {insert ethnic minority] that drilled be down on price for the service of the computer. And then he insisted that he stay at watch me to my work inhouse. I don't mind some one is going to watching me like a hawk on site. After all, I might steal some thing. But when it's inhosue, that a different problem. It means that suddenly i have to mind them as well as do my work. It's no different than me being onsite.
If it's onsite, I don' mind them watching me as I am charging by the hour.
If it's in house, it's drop the computer off and I will call you when i am done. Otherwise, I go back to my onsite rates.
Mind you some of these people are creepy and I am convince that they are hiding a stash of CP some where on thier hard drive. They want to make sure you are not calling the police.


So far, this year, I have only charged one customer for sitting on my arse for 6 hours. He was a CEO of a company. All his data on his hard drive and he had a presentation due the next day. The hard drive crashed and there was no back up. And he wanted up to the minute progress updates every 30 minutes or so (more like he was constantly calling me). As I realised that it was going to be a long night, I did warn him that I if he wanted that level of service, then we will be paying by the hour for as long as it took. And he expected it. He got his data back and I got paid for actual hours I had to put in.

 

[SThompson86]

My view on onsite service is this. If you are activly doing work on site, then stay there. However if you are just waiting for the next screen to pop up on Windows Xp/Vista/7 install, then extract the computer and do it at your office/workshop instead. The problem clients have with you is that they see you just sitting there waiting for the screen to change, and in the meantime they are still paying you to do this.
When then it comes down to asking them for money, they get extremely funny with you as you give them a bill for a 3 to 4 hours work where all you have done in there eyes in sit on your *** waiting for the screen to change and you are pressing the enter key or putting in a serial number.
Same goes with scanning for viruses. That can take hours and you are doing thing nothing.
And this really goes heaps for data recovery. unless the customer is payng be by the hour, I normally just set data recovery jobs to run over night as they take any thing from hours to a few days.

You know that feeling that you get when the taxi driver is taking the long way home or driving at 10 under the limit. It's the same feeling that customers get with computer techies when they just sitting there waiting for a screen to change.

If the case of where i need to install windows or scan for virus or do a few hours work where the computer is doing all the number crunching, I offer to extract computer and charge a flat rate for the work carried out. I then explain to them that I either take it back to my office where i charge a flat rate, or they can just continue paying my hourly rate. And in the meantime, i will not be doing much but sitting on a chair waiting for the screan to change. I warn them of this just incase they do not want me extracting the computer and I am stuck onsite doing nothing but the one job.

Also form time to time, you will get some dodgy people walking your office / workshop insisting that they watch you do your work. I don't mind this provided that they don't mind me charging them by the hour. Don't let these guys make you fall into a trap of charging a set price. I had this one {insert ethnic minority] that drilled be down on price for the service of the computer. And then he insisted that he stay at watch me to my work inhouse. I don't mind some one is going to watching me like a hawk on site. After all, I might steal some thing. But when it's inhosue, that a different problem. It means that suddenly i have to mind them as well as do my work. It's no different than me being onsite.
If it's onsite, I don' mind them watching me as I am charging by the hour.
If it's in house, it's drop the computer off and I will call you when i am done. Otherwise, I go back to my onsite rates.
Mind you some of these people are creepy and I am convince that they are hiding a stash of CP some where on thier hard drive. They want to make sure you are not calling the police.


So far, this year, I have only charged one customer for sitting on my arse for 6 hours. He was a CEO of a company. All his data on his hard drive and he had a presentation due the next day. The hard drive crashed and there was no back up. And he wanted up to the minute progress updates every 30 minutes or so (more like he was constantly calling me). As I realised that it was going to be a long night, I did warn him that I if he wanted that level of service, then we will be paying by the hour for as long as it took. And he expected it. He got his data back and I got paid for actual hours I had to put in.

Thanks for great info once again! So you are saying you use " charge by the hour " like a mental game with the client, as in you kind of mentally persuade them into letting you take their computer by stating that if you stay in house you will be charged hourly vs flat rate if you take the system. What do you normally charge per hour? I have yet to charge by the hour yet.

Thanks again

 

[Harper]

I would not say it's a mental game or any thing like that. I am normally a busy person and I can make better use of my time in the office than I can do onsite.
It's also more fare to the customer. Like to back up, format, reisntall windows, install drivers, update service packs, apply windows up dates, it's about 3 - 4 hours. In that time frame, the actual amount of work that i am doing is about 1 hour.
I can make better use of my time if I take the computer into my office and work on that sort of stuff there as appose to working out on sight.
Example on how I make better use of my time is this..... while I am waiting for windows to install itself, I can quick download drivers for the computer at the same time on another computer. I can not do that onsite, but I need a working computer before i can do that, and I really can not depend in my client having a dependable internet connection. I still get the occassion client on 56k or no net connection at all.
And even if I am not downloading drivers, I can make better use of my time in the office by
* being able to work on more than one PC at the same time. KVM switches are very useful.
* Being able to carry on with various other tasks.
* Plus if my client is not exspecting the PC back the same day, I really don't mind doing an over night burn in test to make sure that there is nothing else wrong. Nothing more embarassing that serving a PC and the customer gets a BSoD when they boot it up.

The charge by the hour is by no means any mental game. If I out on site for 3 hours, I expect to be paid for those 3 hours and I working 100% for the customer. If I take the computer back to the office, then I can do another work, so instead of charging that 3 hours, i might only charge 1 or 2 depending on the mount of work that needs be done and how much I can expect to get from this customer.

As for my rates......
Onsite Home / SoHo - $80 per hour . First hour chargable, then charged at $40 half hour blocks
Pensoners - $60 per hour. First 30 minutes charable, then charged at $15 per 15 minutes. Must have pensoner card, and must be about a 15 minute drive from my home or office location. I have no interest at charging those rates if I have to travel any real distance.
Small to Medium Business - $120 per hour. First hour chargable, then charged at $30 per 15 minute block
After hour rates
I got my 2 rates. My call in advance. This is where some one called me up during the day, but they are not avalable until later on at night. Can i don't do pensoner rates during this time either.
7pm to 8pm - Call in advance +25%, Emergency call out +50%
8pm to 10pm - Call in advance +30%, Emergency call out +75%
10pm onwards - Double time because obviously it that bloodly important for you as it can not wait until tomorrow morning.
BTW, minus 3 hours on those times for saturday nights and I want 2 or 3 hours minium depending on where i am located.

As for my in house work, it really depends on the work.
I still work on my $80 per hour, but I do work on the following
Reinstalling windows = 1 hour work
Back up data/ Reisntalling windows / Scan Data / Restore Data = 2 to 4 hours work
Virus Scan and Clean up = 1 to 2 hours depending on the type of work that need to get carried out

Pretty much with the above, i want to make sure that i am not billing the customer any more that 4 hours. The last thing I want my customers telling me is "I can almost by a new computer for that price"

Data Recovery = Depend on the customer, medium and type of data.
Most of the time, 1 to 3 hours @ $120, but with a no find no charge.
But if I have to call in out side help, there is a $150 quote feel regardless if they find any thing or not. Business customers i will ask for the first hour chargable.

All the above prices does not include additional parts or software.



The other question is this... warranty.
Hardware Faults - 12 months
Software Faults - 2 weeks
VIrus/Malware - 5 minutes. Make sure you show the customer that you have scanned the computer for viruses and there is none found before leaving.

I get some people that complain about the Virus Warranty and I explain to them like this.
IF your computer was a car, then a virus car accident and I am a panel beater. You are not going to have car accident and then expect tha panel beater to cover you if you have an accident as you are leaving his work shop. It's no different with viruses as I have no control over what you do with your computer.


Overclocking/Tweaking - Well that's your ****ing stupidity, not mine.
Bad BIOS flashes - You care to explain to me why you where messing around with your bios?Z
Yes. I get plagued with these 2 overclocker wanna-bes at my work. They constantly messing around with their computer and ****ing it. I seem to be there to un****ing their mistakes.
And about once a month I have the Mom-And-Dad-With-Son's-Friend-Who-Tweaked-Computer come in.

 

[SThompson86]

I would not say it's a mental game or any thing like that. I am normally a busy person and I can make better use of my time in the office than I can do onsite.
It's also more fare to the customer. Like to back up, format, reisntall windows, install drivers, update service packs, apply windows up dates, it's about 3 - 4 hours. In that time frame, the actual amount of work that i am doing is about 1 hour.
I can make better use of my time if I take the computer into my office and work on that sort of stuff there as appose to working out on sight.
Example on how I make better use of my time is this..... while I am waiting for windows to install itself, I can quick download drivers for the computer at the same time on another computer. I can not do that onsite, but I need a working computer before i can do that, and I really can not depend in my client having a dependable internet connection. I still get the occassion client on 56k or no net connection at all.
And even if I am not downloading drivers, I can make better use of my time in the office by
* being able to work on more than one PC at the same time. KVM switches are very useful.
* Being able to carry on with various other tasks.
* Plus if my client is not exspecting the PC back the same day, I really don't mind doing an over night burn in test to make sure that there is nothing else wrong. Nothing more embarassing that serving a PC and the customer gets a BSoD when they boot it up.

The charge by the hour is by no means any mental game. If I out on site for 3 hours, I expect to be paid for those 3 hours and I working 100% for the customer. If I take the computer back to the office, then I can do another work, so instead of charging that 3 hours, i might only charge 1 or 2 depending on the mount of work that needs be done and how much I can expect to get from this customer.

As for my rates......
Onsite Home / SoHo - $80 per hour . First hour chargable, then charged at $40 half hour blocks
Pensoners - $60 per hour. First 30 minutes charable, then charged at $15 per 15 minutes. Must have pensoner card, and must be about a 15 minute drive from my home or office location. I have no interest at charging those rates if I have to travel any real distance.
Small to Medium Business - $120 per hour. First hour chargable, then charged at $30 per 15 minute block
After hour rates
I got my 2 rates. My call in advance. This is where some one called me up during the day, but they are not avalable until later on at night. Can i don't do pensoner rates during this time either.
7pm to 8pm - Call in advance +25%, Emergency call out +50%
8pm to 10pm - Call in advance +30%, Emergency call out +75%
10pm onwards - Double time because obviously it that bloodly important for you as it can not wait until tomorrow morning.
BTW, minus 3 hours on those times for saturday nights and I want 2 or 3 hours minium depending on where i am located.

As for my in house work, it really depends on the work.
I still work on my $80 per hour, but I do work on the following
Reinstalling windows = 1 hour work
Back up data/ Reisntalling windows / Scan Data / Restore Data = 2 to 4 hours work
Virus Scan and Clean up = 1 to 2 hours depending on the type of work that need to get carried out

Pretty much with the above, i want to make sure that i am not billing the customer any more that 4 hours. The last thing I want my customers telling me is "I can almost by a new computer for that price"

Data Recovery = Depend on the customer, medium and type of data.
Most of the time, 1 to 3 hours @ $120, but with a no find no charge.
But if I have to call in out side help, there is a $150 quote feel regardless if they find any thing or not. Business customers i will ask for the first hour chargable.

All the above prices does not include additional parts or software.



The other question is this... warranty.
Hardware Faults - 12 months
Software Faults - 2 weeks
VIrus/Malware - 5 minutes. Make sure you show the customer that you have scanned the computer for viruses and there is none found before leaving.

I get some people that complain about the Virus Warranty and I explain to them like this.
IF your computer was a car, then a virus car accident and I am a panel beater. You are not going to have car accident and then expect tha panel beater to cover you if you have an accident as you are leaving his work shop. It's no different with viruses as I have no control over what you do with your computer.


Overclocking/Tweaking - Well that's your ****ing stupidity, not mine.
Bad BIOS flashes - You care to explain to me why you where messing around with your bios?Z
Yes. I get plagued with these 2 overclocker wanna-bes at my work. They constantly messing around with their computer and ****ing it. I seem to be there to un****ing their mistakes.
And about once a month I have the Mom-And-Dad-With-Son's-Friend-Who-Tweaked-Computer come in.

Thanks man. I would like to charge $80 an hour, but I think that would scare some people in my area. The last thing I would want to do is over charge, but then again undercharging always sucks to especially when I get a computer to work on, and it turns out to have several unknown things wrong with it. Thats when things become a headache, when I feel like I did not charge enough. I always try and settle on a price that meets in the middle. A price that is ok with me and ok with the customer.


BTW you have some killer post responses. Most forums I have been on do not take to kindly to newbs and newb questions. + rep rep rep

 

[Lexluethar]

My rates are comparable to Keyboard Cowboy. And i agree with everything he's said - most of which is just good standard business practice.

I charge 75 an hour, and for things like installing an OS, installing hardware / software I charge a flat rate. With that said I do take those computers back to my office to do the repairs. Because I can sit there for 3 hours installing the operating system at their house and charge them 230 bucks, or they can allow me to take it to my shop and i'll charge 100 since it is only about an hour of actual time.

Just realize like any business endevor you are going to learn as you go. I've learned to have customers sign a waiver before and after repair. Before explaining that things that are damaged or lost before i begin work are not my responsibility (like a virus destroying data or them smashing their hard drive and data being lost. I have them sign something afterward stating what services have been done and that they agree to pay the current rates for those services. So if they flake out and don't pay you or pay lat you have a mini contract that you can take to court if needed saying hey you have this persons signature agreeing to these charges.

And about pricing, if you want this to be an actual business you HAVE to charge more than 40 an hour (i realize that is euros but the exchange is similar to dollars). The people you see advertising they only cahrge 40 an hour don't make ANY money on these transactions. If they do it equates to 5 dollars an hour if that. You have to thing of the advertising costs associated with getting that client, gas, travel time, expense of actually doing the work, time spent writing up the invoice, cost of insurance and the general costs of running a business (time spent creating the business, insurance, LLC or sole proprietorship documentation and regsitration, etc). THEN AND ONLY THEN are you actually paying yourself.

I've only been doing this for 2 years now for real (did about 10 just dinking around and pocketing 40 dollars here and there to fix a computer) and i'm only now breaking even so the business pays for itself.

In terms of business, do you have a business plan written out? What are you financial goals for the business, who are your largest competitors, who is responsible for what in the company. Is it setup so you both have 50% of the shares in the company, what happens when one person wants out, what happens when someone wants to buy in? These are all of the questions that are answered in your business plan and articles of organization that should be in place before you make one in-house stop to fix a computer. These documents will also allow you to open a checking account for the company, get lines of credt and loans if needed.

 

[SThompson86]

In terms of business, do you have a business plan written out? What are you financial goals for the business, who are your largest competitors, who is responsible for what in the company. Is it setup so you both have 50% of the shares in the company, what happens when one person wants out, what happens when someone wants to buy in? These are all of the questions that are answered in your business plan and articles of organization that should be in place before you make one in-house stop to fix a computer. These documents will also allow you to open a checking account for the company, get lines of credt and loans if needed.

Thanks for the advice. This is just something I do on the side just for some spare money. I am not trying to make this my full time job. I already work at corporation as an IT technician.

But yes, I am asking questions so I atleast do things right when I do stuff on the side.

 

[Harper]

Thanks man. I would like to charge $80 an hour, but I think that would scare some people in my area. The last thing I would want to do is over charge, but then again undercharging always sucks

This is where i don't actively advertise my rate. Like some time if it's a quiet week or period, i will go as $60 just to get some work it. Also depend on the customer too. If I see that they don't have too much money then I will might not charge then the full $80 or my full time out site. Especially if they have been nice to you and it's an easy job.

The reason why I don't set my prices in stone is for the following reason
1. I want to be flexible on the job with people.
2. I want to be able to charge more if I know the customer can afford it.
3. I want to be flexible on the job depending the skill required. Just about any one can install windows xp. However setting up a client servr network requires more skill and should be charged more.

Also... once I get to know the customer and I have them coming back again and again on regurale basis, I might start jacking up the price on them. I am not going to start suddenly highing them with rediculous prices, however i do have some of my long regulares where i might start bill $90-$100 instead. And then use the excuse of "economic climate" as an excuse. Provided that I have been looking after them extremely well, then they will not mind paying that little bit extra.

And I feel that it's fully justified too.
Been doing this for 10 years now, and I have been compairing the price of every thing else going up compaired to the price of my rates.
As i sead to my former boss few years back when we moved from $60 to $80 an hour. "We have been charging $60 per hour for the last few years and we have not moved one our rates. But in time, the price of petrol seems go be going up by about 10c per litre each year."

Thanks for the advice. This is just something I do on the side just for some spare money. I am not trying to make this my full time job. I already work at corporation as an IT technician.

But yes, I am asking questions so I atleast do things right when I do stuff on the side.

The problem with doing that is that you better make sure you do not have a conflict of interest between your real job and your side job. I have seen that happen lots of times. I have experienced that a few times too.
last thing you want is your customer getting in the way of your full time day job.

 

[SThompson86]

I see what you mean. I had a situation like that the other day where I mis-judged this client. They needed a system reformat, and I figured 70 would be good for them. The client was so enthused with my 70 dollar offer that I knew I could have said 100 and got that.. Nonetheless though I did earn a customer, and like you say I will learn with experience.

as for getting in the way of work. I do not really do enough business to have a conflict, and I always let my customers know I work and I am in school.

 

[Harper]

yes. You will learn from experience. Like have learnt alot over the years.

Like I am normally careful around my friends or family friends and exspecially acqaintances. Te problem that some people have is just because they know you, they expect that you will work for peanuts.
Most of the time friends don't have a problem. I scatch thier back, they scratch mine.
However it the family freinds or acqaintances that I have a problem.