What to Charge

[Guff1988]

Ok my dads boss has a 2001 custom built server that he got from work and is now taking home for personal use. It has 2 partitions and 2 different OS's and i am supposed to clear the HDD"s and install a fresh XP. This is all good because thats all easy but he said lemme know what i owe you and i was like stunned usually people just offer me money or assume its free. So the question is what should i charge for clearing 2 HDD's one with 2 OS's...It would only take about an hour of work(mainly because XP takes 25 minutes to fully install)

 

[Tordenskjold]

im not sure less than professional i guess.. maybe 20-30bucks?

 

[Nukem]

Well, are you going to install all the updates, anti-spyware, anti-virus, etc... on it or let him do that? If you do all the above I'd say 50.00 for the time you spend depending on the connection speed for downloading all the updates and such... But as they say, one hand washes the other... it could lead to some "washing of the hands" so to speak from dad when/if it's needed...

 

[blitzkrieg1]

Standard rate is $50 an hour. considering that it is custom built, take the time before hand to get the latest drivers for his hardware ( this could take some time or not), Also to show that your worth that much go out of your way to clean up the innards so to speak (PSU fans, cpu fans, any other dust bunny locations)
Then setting him up with fresh and current versions of AAdaware, spybot S&D, and an AV (AVG is Great), a good browser (Firefox), then take the time to find out if he needs you to set it up for him at his home.
All in all if this guy is a good business man and you do quality work, you could easily charge $150.00 bucks.

Just make sure he would like the extra setup (I bet he will)...
Be the salesman on this, your dad is throwing you a bone, and his boss would be a great reference for future easy side money.

 

[ulater6000]

Charge $20-$25

 

[Tordenskjold]

dont put firefox on it.. like cmon it might be great but i bet this buisness guy wants programs he is used to and he doesnt want a program (no matter how similar) he has to learn about. He will no doubt rather have ie... otherwise i agree..

oh and price.. if u do all that i reckon 40-50bucks an hour.. no more.. ask him what he is willing to pay...

 

[blitzkrieg1]

I bet that business guy wouldn't notice the difference except, speed & security & that he gets to click on a cooler icon

 

[kaname]

or get an IE shortcut icon to point to firefox, I doubt he'd realize what he's using.

EDIT* But seriously, charge him less then the standard prof. rate and put extra work into it (like the virus and spyware scanners) and let him know about the extra work and he'll keep you in mind for future projects he needs help with, and like blitzkrieg1 said, a great reference.

 

[Guff1988]

Yeah i had panned on going over the top. I will Leave IE on it because Firefox doesnt work on all websites. I will add all the latest drivers and clean it up and i will get adaware. He wil probably get an expensive Virus scanner so i will leave that out after all the drivers/cleaning/HDD wipe i think ill do $30. Thanks guys!

 

[Nukem]

no problem... as long as you and your client are happy... that's what matters...