Hourly rate?

Tim Burton · Post by **Tim Burton** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:54 am

I usually fix friends' computers or people in my church. Due to that, I don't charge them much, usually about $15-20 an hour. I was just asked to fix a guy's computer who I don't know. What is the going rate? He has more than enough money, he just doesn't like BBY and the corporate store's service.

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:53 am

I charge 40 to look and as a minimum. Then tell them whats wrong and what I would charge to fix it.

You could figure out a flat min. fee and then charge your normal hourly rate from there.

KnightRid · Post by **KnightRid** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:19 am

I dont charge anything.

But being disabled and bored off my ass most of the time, it helps alleviate some of the boredom, so its a win win situation

Mike

Now if they want to give me something, I wont deny it, but it is all up to them.

Locally I have heard some places charge $75 up front then $anywhere from $75-$125 per hour to fix plus parts. I believe the $125 is for house calls. TOTALLY ridiculous charges!!! PLEASE dont charge them that much!

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:05 am

Depends on how much time I have.. If I have time I charge little, but if I'm busy and don't want to to it I'll shoot out a high $60+ an hour price and to be honest everytime I have shot out a high price they still jump at it... Guess too many people are getting burned at Best Buy and Circuit City here in STL.

Darkstar · Post by **Darkstar** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:06 am

If they want to bring it to me , I dont usually charge anything ( but i accept hardware and Beer

) I think Bubba's advice is reasonable, but even though you dont know this guy, he must know about you from someone you do know , and might know what you usually charge people.

side note...

Last month i fixed a guys laptop, and he casually hands over a Seagate 750GB Sata, saying "can you use this?" LOL this was after paying me $50

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:17 am

if you don't know the guy $40 an hour for something easy is more than fair... If he wants data recovery charge more as that is harder and most stores won't do that. Be careful for stolen goods though... I've had a few people bring PC's that needed to be formatted or had a missing hard drive that were stolen.

ibleet · Post by **ibleet** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:59 pm

I dont charge anything for one simple reason. I am not a certified computer repair person. I also enjoy working on computers, and helping others. You charge people in your church? If they insist on paying me, I tell them to dump it in the offering plate. Im not judging, im just a bit surprised. I do know that time is money.

If I dont know them, I wont fix it. Not being rude, but because Im not certified and its not a business for me.

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:07 pm

I'm sure many of us aren't certified and are fixing peoples computers. I only have an associates in computer networking and a certificate in information systems security. I still charge to fix peoples computers.

My boss is super lucky that I only charge him $20 to reformat his PC, but anyone else, that rate would be much higher. Anywhere from $20-40/hr is fair enough to me. I charged another co-worker $150 to reformat her system, install all of her programs and update windows fully, install new memory, secure her wireless network, and a couple other small things. I should have charged her a lot more, but I was being generous since she was uncertain of my skills.

Tim Burton · Post by **Tim Burton** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:30 am

Ok, thanks guys. We settled at $50 an hour plus fees. Ends up he dropped it and the insurance company wants me to price parts out (The thing is a total loss), back up any important data and re-install it into the new laptop they provide.

moon111 · Post by **moon111** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:07 am

The most I've ever charged is a flat $40 fee, or if they're doing an upgrade, I get to keep the old part. (If I want it.) But this has been for people I enjoy etc. If it were someone else, or like you was busy... it would be higher.

I really don't like working on a system somewhere else. If they bring it over, I'm much more inclined to help. I can swap my part, download a file, or play a game while their Windows installs. Making a bunch of small talk while they watch you wait drives me crazy.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:29 am

Tim Burton wrote:Ok, thanks guys. We settled at $50 an hour plus fees. Ends up he dropped it and the insurance company wants me to price parts out (The thing is a total loss), back up any important data and re-install it into the new laptop they provide.

$50 an hour plus fees? I'm guessing you meant to say parts? That is very reasonable and with your knowledge you should be able to get it done quickly and more importantly RIGHT...

Cash is king and while I am not a not a certified computer repair person I'll put my knowledge up against one any day. ;) Some of the best people in a trade were self taught or learned from peers. A poor example of this that we all know is Bill Gates... Who woulda thought a college drop out would do that.

Tim Burton · Post by **Tim Burton** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:02 pm

I meant parts, doh!

Yea, I'm not certified, but when I was at BBY a couple of years ago, they would pull me out of the Camera department and have me fix the computer the Geek Squad couldn't.

Cypher · Post by **Cypher** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:16 am

All my fees are $50.00 per hour. That does not include parts, or tax on those parts.

Some services I offer have different rates (Data Restoration, etc).