How much??

[MiKe85]

I'm going to be building several computers this Summer for some friends..

Of course they want me to do it for FREE, i'd only do this if they hooked up something for me, but they would still charge, so I basically said "Fine - I'll just charge anyway." (Come on now, money is money afterall http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif)

I'll be putting all of the parts in his computer, install windows, and installing all of his drivers for him.

If you had to do this, what kind of price range would you charge?

Thanks for any input!!

[hawkeye177]

I would charge between 50-100 dollars for someone I dont know. For a friend i would charge between 30-60 dollars

[MiKe85]

Thanks hawk..

I was actually thinking of charging around $50.

Any other prices? Or is that pretty much the range?

[This message has been edited by MiKe85 (edited 06-26-2001).]

[muno]

If the person was she I'd do it for free, if he, ~200mk (35$) is sufficient. This is, of course if it's a 2hour job. If it takes the whole day then it would be something more - after all, if something goes wrong, it's not my fault =)
The standard charge for companies here is 500mk(~80$)/h.
-M

[MiKe85]

Thanks for the input muno.

[NDC]

Personally, I don't like building systems for friends or anyone. When something goes wrong related to hardware or sofware, they'd call me up with 20 million questions or at the worst ask me to come over and take a look at it for them. When I'm bored, that's fine. But when I have things to do and they want their systems back up and running, it can be a burden. Charging them to build their system for them makes me feel even more responsible to get their system working again. I just don't like having to worry about it. It makes me feel bad saying that I don't want to help them..




[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 06-26-2001).]

[SoopaStar]

well, in case you are curious
At Best Buy to install an operating system, it is $60. That is if the customer has their drivers. If they do not, and have no clue what brand they are, we charve another $30-60.
The diagnostic and work fee per hour is $60 ($30 per 1/2 hour)

For friends...I dont charge. They usually hook me up in some other way...food beer..whatever. What comes around goes around. If they aren't my best friend...then I may consider some kinda fee. For building a PC and installing the OS and drivers, I think $50 per PC is fair.

Paul

[AuraEdge]

I build too...And I get those calls.
And I have a busy schedule too sometimes.

My friends dont mind paying me for some reason...some pay me even when I dont ask for it.

My going rate is 10% of complete system for friends, and 15% if your my friend's friend (I'm thinking of kicking back like 1-3% back to them for referral, but thats kinda shady..maybe its a good idea? I dont know). This can go for a whole system, or buying and installation of any parts such as harddrives, PCI cards, and stuff like that. I do friend's repairs for free usually, but friends' friends I usually charge a flat $40, if its just a software prob, and more if its hardware that needs to be replaced.

This is still alot less than many other places charge. I used to work for a place that charged $80/hr for labor or repairs (which normally took 2 hours even if it took me or my boss 30 minutes to fix), system building in his books was always 2 hours labor, AND he charged a 30% profit margin on parts over that. And he didnt shop around..he got everything from one of 4 warehouses (which are all on Pricewatch by the way, around the median of the price range for that product). 10%-15% doesnt seem like that much now does it? compared to $160 + 30% on parts.

I get those calls, and they usually bring the comp to my house to fix it. If I'm friends with them, I'll either go to thier house or theyll come to mine with the comp. If thier like secondary friends, they almost always give the comp to our mutual friend, and he/she brings it to my house. I ask for a week to fix it, which most people find reasonable.

I guess my rates are a little high, but I can still usually beat Dell/gateway prices for same system because I buy from cheap shops on Pricewatch. In addition most of my friends know how much I know about comps and troubleshooting, and I think they trust me more than some dell guy who they never seen before.

And I like building systems. Fixing them is a pain if I have to do a house visit, but I dont mind doing it in my own personal workbench at my house.

This was a major pain in college, cuz my roommates brother kept wanted me to walk over to his dorm and tell him why his mouse wasnt lighting up (loose plug) or how come his computer wont turn on anymore (bad monitor, RMA'ed it), but it doesnt happen too often. And a couple walks across campus is worth 200 someodd dollars. Also with the RMAing stuff, and late deliveries, it gets to be a problem, but they'll usually understand its not your fault.

I cant build someone a comp, charge them, and leave them hanging...its just not right. one of the major selling points is the tech support from a friend, whos reachable by phone, IM, whatever.

Maybe it's only cuz I like building systems that I keep doing it. I'm sure if I found it a hassle, I wouldnt care about customer satisfaction or anything like that. But friends know friends who need thier comp fixed, or just need comps. And since thier not your friends, you dont have to feel bad for charging them. Just be professional about it, and people, even your closest friends, will treat you like a professional...at least when it comes to building comps anyways.

BTW this is totally not my job. It's just side money. Side moneys always good though. Ive made about 5-6 in the last year, an I have one pending right now. But no complaints yet...not even from the guy who had to send his screen back for RMA.

And think about it this way. If your friends bought a comp from Dell or Compaq, and they had problems, and they knew you knew alot about computers, do you think thier gunna call you first, or the company? Your getting that call either way, might as well make some money from it.

[MiKe85]

Thanks for that great post AuraEdge!

[daveleau]

For a friend, I would charge about $20 or a free night out of beer to do it. BUT if you say tell your friend that you will do it for free, then you should do just that. Who cares if money is money. Your word is your word and a friend is a friend. There are plenty of other opportunities to make money.
Dave

[Warthog]

Personally, I'd do it for free for a good friend (depends who). It all depends though....because I mooch off my friends all the time - they give me rides (have no license), I borrow their stuff, etc. etc. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif.

Warthog

[MiKe85]

Well since he doesn't give me rides, doesn't let me borrow money, and for some reason i'm always buying HIM Lunch... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Also on another note, I've sold some of his car audio and haven't charged commission..I wanted him to sell something for me, he wanted 15% commission. (What kind of friends do I have anyway!! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif)

daveleau:
Since he can't legally drink, and I can't legally drink - That idea is out..

[This message has been edited by MiKe85 (edited 06-28-2001).]

[MiKe85]

Thanks Charmler..

[Ritalin Kid]

I usualy charge $100 flat rate to completely build and setup a computer.. friend or not simply because of the time it takes and possible time you might have to spend on it in the future. Repairs are usually $10 to come to the house (rural area + Cadillac = $$GAS$$) and depending on the amount of work I charge about $10/hr to install and setup hardware. Software I usually charge a flat rate of $25 to install whatever you want. Most of the expense is the gas usually when I get a call they live 30-40 miles up a Mtn. or in a valley in the middle of nowhere.

[zskillz]

haha dave.. $20 bucks or a free night of drinking...

I suppose those would be equivalent if you weren't going out to the bars... sheesh, my buddies and I easily drop $50 bar tabs separately on friday nights...

well, at least we used to easily drop them.. .now we're all broke, so we drink 30 packs of keystone light... mmmm

-Z

[hallam2003]

hello all, beautiful morning here, oh man, I'm going back to sleep, the sun is up already?

anyway, i don't charge a flat fee, if it's a friend, I ussually try to get in 50-75 dollars (USD) if it's someone i don't know, then I'll try to get 75-125, mostly on the low ends though. but, like i said, i don't charge a flat fee. I just buy the parts, then, say the total came to 867.92, I'd ask for a check for probably 925. I've found it work good this way. And they never have to know how much you made off them. Most of my friends have no problem tossing the extra money, mainly because they have NO idea. When the prices get higher, my % gets higher also. I figure with all this money going through here, it might be kinda risky, and I don't have the money to replace stuff. BUT, if a client is wondering if they should go to the next level with something, like say from a 32MB video card, to a 64MB, I'll lower my price just a little bit, so they can fit it in. because, hey, i get to play with it too, why not make it cool? I'm currently building a systems i made $65 off of, for a friend.

Hallam

[MiKe85]

Not a bad method hallam.
In my situation, I just told my friend what to buy and he bought it, I haven't spent a penny for him.

[Sixpac]

I think Charmler has a really, really good idea going with burning a CD rom.

I work at a place where I get stopped in the hallway about home computers all the time and they ask me all sorts of questions but got so overwelling that I had to say.

Sorry but during work I can't help you out because I am so busy so I told them that I would charge $30/hr CDN. WELL, it took people a while to start paying me but that was after a few went to a tech place and they were charged $70/hr CDN and up.

But for the new systems I do for people I usually charge a flat rate on top of their quote at about $100 to $150 CDN. So for 2 -3 hours of work thats pretty good and the customer, friend whatever gets a good deal too. Plus going into a alot of tech shops takes 3 to 4 days to get your computer back and a lone person can usually turn it around in one night.

Oh and hallem is right too, getting to install all the new cool toys for other people and configing their systems lets me look at all the new cpus/vid cards and stuff so I am like doing tests of the equipment so I can figure out what I might want when I upgrade.

Sixpac>>>

[This message has been edited by Sixpac (edited 06-29-2001).]

[MiKe85]

Thanks sixpac, and everyone for all of your input.

[Timbob505]

Hey guys, I started out building for free because it was fun and I enjoyed it (plus I was still learning) It was very much like a little 10 year old playing little league and loving practice twice a week. You just liked to play http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif Well, now I charge 10% on parts and its free for me to come fix it (at least it was when they lived within 5 minutes of me!) I think starting out doing it for free is a good idea because that way people can refer your name to someone else who needs a computer, then I tell people upfront that I will charge them 10% of the cost of parts and this works well. It is usually about $60-$80 (US) and people find that VERY reasonable. I hope you figure something out for your mooching friend, Mike! Take care and good luck to everyone!

Timbob

[MiKe85]

Thanks Timbob, I think I will charge him around $35-50 unless he is being nice to me that day.. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[daveleau]

Wow, reading your posts about your friend and his money dealings, I must say I would charge him what I would charge anyone else. A friend does not charge you commission on a sale, nor does he blow you off when you need a ride. Some friend!

Dave

[MiKe85]

That's not a bad system to run by hawk! Thanks!

dave:
That's what I am thinking, just to charge him regular price.

[Warthog]

Commission??

I'm selling all of my friends Dreamcast stuff on Ebay for free. He offered to give me money when it was sold, depending on how much he got for it! I'll take it, if he doesn't mind, but I don't really care http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Charge him full or close to it.

Warthog

[hawkeye177]

I would give him some choices.

free= No service (All you did is put the parts together, right)

$20= Will give you some service where it will be the most convinent for me.

$40= Will try to fix your computer within 2 days of the call

$60= Phone support and will try to fix your computer within one day

$80= Will help you as fast as I can

$100= ???????