Anyone here do PC repairs on the side? How much do you charge?

[Arkitech]

Just curious what you guys get for your services. How much do you charge for say cleaning a virus from a system or reinstalling an OS? Also any of you guys repair other devices like IPhones, gaming consoles etc..?

I'm trying to supplement my income by taking on some side work, just want to get an idea of what I should be charging.

 

[child of wonder]

$75/hour.

For family I charge $50-$60/hr.

Less than that it's not worth the headache.

 

[daw123]

I repair PCs for friends and family for free.

I wouldn't offer my services outside of friends / family, because I could see it being more hassle than its worth.

Have you had a look online for rates?

For example, techguys detail their charges on their website (this is in the UK though):
http://www.thetechguys.com/

 

[SKORPI0]

Family for free.
Friends, tell them I don't have the time.

 

[Arkitech]

$75/hour.

For family I charge $50-$60/hr.

Less than that it's not worth the headache.

Wow, that's a lot. The shop I work in does'nt even charge that much, what area do you live in?

 

[Crono]

For software issues, I charge $15 an hour, or $25 a day. Whether it's cleaning a PC of viruses, spyware, other malware, etc, or reformatting and installing an OS.

For hardware issues, I charge whatever it costs for part replacement + 10 to 15% just for the trouble it takes me to get said parts.

For new computer builds, I just charge 15-20% of the value of the system.
Right now I'm doing what I guess could called refurbishing a laptop purchased off ebay (repainting, cleaning, installing new drive and additional RAM) and setting it up w/clean install of Windows 7 for a coworker. It's only costing me $300 for the Core 2 laptop, so I'm considering upping the fee to $100 flat for myself.

I don't charge family or friends, and the rates I have are for people I'm cordial with on a regular basis, so I see no reason to charge an arm and a leg. I'm not a professional in anything, so I don't mind not charging much.

 

[Numenorean]

I charge $295/hour.

That way, I don't have to worry about being someone's computer fixing bitch like other people.

 

[daw123]

For software issues, I charge $15 an hour, or $25 a day. Whether it's cleaning a PC of viruses, spyware, other malware, etc, or reformatting and installing an OS.

For hardware issues, I charge whatever it costs for part replacement + 10 to 15% just for the trouble it takes me to get said parts.

For new computer builds, I just charge 15-20% of the value of the system.
Right now I'm doing what I guess could called refurbishing a laptop purchased off ebay (repainting, cleaning, installing new drive and additional RAM) and setting it up w/clean install of Windows 7 for a coworker. It's only costing me $300 for the Core 2 laptop, so I'm considering upping the fee to $100 flat for myself.

I don't charge family or friends, and the rates I have are for people I'm cordial with on a regular basis, so I see no reason to charge an arm and a leg. I'm not a professional in anything, so I don't mind not charging much.

Do you provide aftersale support for your builds?

 

[child of wonder]

Wow, that's a lot. The shop I work in does'nt even charge that much, what area do you live in?

Minnesota.

I charge that much because it's not worth the hassle if I charge any less.

At $50/hr I'm not making much more than I make at my FT job. If I'm going to give up free time to work on PCs it has to be worth my while and the compensation needs to outweigh the potential headaches (people thinking you're their personal tech support, blaming you when they later break the computer, etc.).

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I quit doing it period cause it's not fun anymore. I never charged to do it but did it for practice and fun. Now the only thing I want to do is mess with my own computer for my own pleasure.

 

[Crono]

Do you provide aftersale support for your builds?

I've built only about 8 computers in the past 2 years total for 8 different people (aside from family and close friends, which would increase it to 20 something), and I've told them all that I don't provide any warranty, but if they want to drop off their computer at my house in the future to fix it (at cost), I will be happy to do so. I'm not going around to people's houses to fix their PCs, I just don't have that kind of time.

I don't advertise myself or run a business, these are all builds for people who have failed/virus bloated systems from the normal big system builders (Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, Sony, etc) that are no longer under warranty or just to much of a hassle to ship and have fixed. So usually I am just beating the price of Geek Squad or similar professional service, but without any warranty offering.

 

[QueBert]

$58 an hour, on-site only so it's not that bad of a deal compared to everyone else in town. Shops generally aren't any cheaper, and you usually have to leave your PC there a day or 2 at least.

 

[Jumpem]

Those prices are all high. Where my step-dad works they charge $30 per problem (not per hour), and go to the customer's house to fix it.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

No charge for family/friends.

For personal systems, on-site: $100 to show up, that gets you 90 minutes. $50/hr after that. I'll admit, though, that I often don't have to work beyond 2 hrs, so I usually just charge $100.

Business, on-site: $150 to show up, that gets you 1 hr. $50/hr after that.

Disclaimer on my Invoice: I do not provide any tech support, outside of determining if a piece of hardware has failed.

I don't do much business any more - 3-6 times per month - in large part because I've lost interest in it.

 

[Blackjack200]

Those prices are all high. Where my step-dad works they charge $30 per problem (not per hour), and go to the customer's house to fix it.

I wouldn't charge any less than $80/hour if I could fix these things.

When I built my own system I somehow fucked it up and could not get the MB to post. I tried all different shit for months, including buying another system to swap out parts. Finally I threw my hands up and brought it into a shop.

They guy called me 30 minutes after I dropped it off and told me it was ready. I went in and asked what it was. 'Oh, the processor just wasn't seated right'. I paid $80 but he transformed my paperweight into a computer.

 

[Numenorean]

Those prices are all high. Where my step-dad works they charge $30 per problem (not per hour), and go to the customer's house to fix it.

They can't do all that well.

$75/hr is not that bad for a good shop.

 

[amdhunter]

I stopped doing it completely. I get paid good money to fix computers all day at work.

I don't need to make pennies to do that shit on my free time for people who'll only question you afterwards.

 

[killster1]

haha what bunch assholes. If you charge 75 a hour i hope its some super computer because you can buy a new mobo cpu ram combo for a few hours of work price. I give away computers to family and friends and service them for free, it only takes a few mins of time to do anything, worst case i just reinstall or slap a new peice of hardware in. I guess im to nice to charge family or friends 75$ for 5 mins work.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I charge family and friends double what I charge other people.
Family and friends are more likely to think they own you and take advanatage of you.

Never do warranty work unless they are paying you.
It`s not worth the time or hassle!!

 

[amdhunter]

haha what bunch assholes. If you charge 75 a hour i hope its some super computer because you can buy a new mobo cpu ram combo for a few hours of work price. I give away computers to family and friends and service them for free, it only takes a few mins of time to do anything, worst case i just reinstall or slap a new peice of hardware in. I guess im to nice to charge family or friends 75$ for 5 mins work.

Actually doing stuff for free is bad. They'll always bug you for any little problem that way. The best way to do it is to charge enough, that it isn't too much money, but just enough to entice them to fix it themselves.

For my family, I'd guess that would be ~$20. lol

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

I say I charge $60 on the first our of a house call and $30 for each hour after that or on drop-off repair. Then I usually give a discount based on degree of hassle, repeat business, etc. I'll also adjust down on stuff that can consist of a lot of babysitting like virus removals, file transfers, OS installs, etc. I'm cheap and my customers like me.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Actually doing stuff for free is bad. They'll always bug you for any little problem that way. The best way to do it is to charge enough, that it isn't too much money, but just enough to entice them to fix it themselves.

For my family, I'd guess that would be ~$20. lol

I seldom get hassled by family/friends when I fix stuff for them (not just 'puters). The are genuinely appreciative and respectful, and value my time.

People who get excessively bugged with "support" either didn't do a good job on the repair, or do not communicate effectively.

 

[Meghan54]

$50/first hour, $35/hour thereafter if in-home.

$35/first hour, $25/hour thereafter if brought to me.

$25 diagnostic/look-see fee which applies to first hour charge. Keeps the "Can you look at my computer to see what's wrong?" and expect that for free.

 

[Lifted]

Not really on the side, but a law firm here in NYC that's a client of mine once needed a computer repaired (constant crashing) and I agreed to do it. Why? Because they were fine paying my upper rate of $250/hr since I'd be getting my hands dirty. I ended up billing them for 3 hours to track down some bad RAM since their IT monkey wasn't in, but it was obviously worth it to them since they charge $500 - $2000+ per hour, and this was one of only a few computers with a certain app installed.

 

[killster1]

Actually doing stuff for free is bad. They'll always bug you for any little problem that way. The best way to do it is to charge enough, that it isn't too much money, but just enough to entice them to fix it themselves.

For my family, I'd guess that would be ~$20. lol

well i dont really talk to anyone that isnt family and friends. If problem is serious i just swap whole computer i have 3 right now just about brand new waiting for a home or waiting for old computer to die. I guess the satisfaction of them having a good computer is payment enough.