How much to charge for PC work

Snake Plisken

Hi

Don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I have been asked to sort out some issues on an Eircom broadband setup for some non-tech savvy people, the work will include connecting up a second PC to the broadband, setting up some new email addresses and retriving a lost password on an email account, now it might take 20 minutes or 1 to 2 hours, I'll know when I call around, but having been asked to do some work in the past, I've never known what to charge, do I charge by the hour? And what is a fair rate to charge, I'm not sure what people charge any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Snake

garthv

Uh...nothing?
Its piss easy work, you'd be a sham if you charged for that.

Ghost Train

probably not worth doing for less than 30 or 40euro a visit,
don't feel bad about charging people and other ppl doing service work rip ppl off way more, eg 80euro to look at boiler and tell you to get a new one :rolleyes: , just cause it computer work some people can be scabby

techie

Its only "piss easy" when you know what you are doing!

For that kind of work it would be fair to charge €20-30 per hour imho.

Snake Plisken

Thanks Eolhc & Techie for your helpful comments, normally when I work on relatives PC's I also make sure their anti-virus is uptodate, they have all the latest XP updates and also run virus and spyware checks to make sure their systems are clean, so I think your right that 30 or 40 euros per hour is a fair enough price.

Thanks

Snake

is_that_so

If it's a personal machine I would say €50 all in. If it's a business then you might want to look at more €60 +.

Mr. Presentable

Call a TV repairman and ask what he'd charge to look at your telly.

You've got to ask a minimum 65.00 per hour. If it's a friend of a friend I charge a standard 287.00 for the work, whatever it is. If it's a friend no charge.

And, no, I don't get asked often, but that's the point. I used to spend many evenings in other peoples HDDs for nothing.

parsi

I'd go for €50 - 60 and allow up to around 2hrs. That way you have enough time to give them a demo of the relevant products and a wee lecture on virus protection etc. I also suggest that you bring a usb stick with you on which you have an up-to-date version of free AV (I use Avast) and Spybot and install them as well. It will save grief later on.

Some people prefer to pay you for your time because they then feel that they can ask you to do more paid work at a later stage without feeling that they are being scabby.

Alun

I usually charge €50 for the first hour and €30 per hour after that.

One thing I try and do, especially if it's a tough virus/spyware removal and general clean-up job is to take the PC home with me. There's a lot of hanging around and waiting involved whilst waiting for virus / spyware scans and XP updates etc. to complete, and I feel it's easier to do this at home where I can get on with other stuff while I'm waiting. I can even have 2 or 3 such jobs going on in parallel, plus I have access to another PC to look up stuff on the 'net if I come across something unusual. In those cases I'll usually only charge for the time I'm actually doing something, rather than sitting for an hour waiting for something to complete.

Snake Plisken

Thanks for all the advise guys, really appreciate it

Snake

garthv

Eircom broadband set up = 5 minutes
Connecting another PC to the network = as long as it takes to plug in an ethernet cable
Retrieving lost password = 2 minutes
Setting up new email = 5 minutes

All in all, not even 20 minutes work, be a good samaritan and do it for free.

the_syco

GaRtH_V wrote:

Eircom broadband set up = 5 minutes
Connecting another PC to the network = as long as it takes to plug in an ethernet cable
Retrieving lost password = 2 minutes
Setting up new email = 5 minutes

All in all, not even 20 minutes work, be a good samaritan and do it for free.

Fixing their PC as they use Limewire, etc, and their 14GHz rig is slower than a 386 running XP... as much as you like. Otherwise they'll ring you in 3 weeks time, when the EXACT same thing happens.

qwertz

Keep in mind that with a lot of people if they get something done for them "for free" it isn't worth anything.

michaelanthony

100 per hour. Charge in units of 1 hour.

seamus

You charge just enough so that it's worth your while, but so much that you won't be receiving phone calls every other night, or moans when stuff doesn't work.

Clarity_Process

Anything up to 50 Euro sounds reasonable. I'd support GaRtH_V, and say you should do it for free. But if you don't know them well, charge them.

mukki

i usually charge about €30 for a call out
and the €20 for every other call


usually the later calls are something i forgot the first time

I only provide a repair service to feed my upgrade habit, its great when i can sell my old stuff at cost price

Saruman

Well if i do work for someone i know i do not charge per say.... I simply show up, do whatever is needed and at the end i will get something.. maybe €50 or so. Only if i know them well... if its someone you do not know well then put it this way. A Profesional company usually charges about €150 per hour and thats probably ex vat. So tell them that and then cut it in half.

Garth its all very well being a good samaratin but be real.. unless its family or very close friends then they should pay for your time. At the very least to stop them pestering you every day with stupid questions and expecting you to come around and fix all their problems for free every time they mess it up!! As for your estimates... they are ok in an IDEAL situation!! The password one for instance!! 2mins??? If its an eircom password and they cant remember it then they will probably have to call eircom.. and calling eircom is never 2 mins!! I spent 20 mins being passed around by eircom looking to get them to change an email address on a business account and i gave up when i was given the number i called in the first place!!! I left it with their receptionist to sort out.

CiaranC

GaRtH_V wrote:

Eircom broadband set up = 5 minutes
Connecting another PC to the network = as long as it takes to plug in an ethernet cable
Retrieving lost password = 2 minutes
Setting up new email = 5 minutes

All in all, not even 20 minutes work, be a good samaritan and do it for free.

Driving to and from site = 30 minutes (being generous)
When you find out its a win98 box with a corrupted tcp/ip stack, riddled with spyware = another 30/60 minutes
Hanging on hold/bouncing around Eircom = 30 minutes
The other "little problem" the punter "forgot" to mention = 30 minutes

So it ends up being the best part of your evening/saturday morning. I for one learned that my time is precious to me, and Im not in the habit of giving it away for free. I do an excellent, thorough & professional job, and I expect payment accordingly, same as anyone else providing a service would. Especially during antisocial hours.