How much to charge for computer repair

[Beachnative]

I have a similar situation. My girlfriend works as a receptionist in a salon. The girls there know I do computer stuff. The first problem was an old computer they use in the back for an old database, but mostly used to play internet radio. I attempted to fix their computer only to have the video go on me (it was a homemade Biostar desktop machine), but I replaced it with a newer Intel Core2Duo machine and it's been running great. Because I got it fixed (replaced) and working better, I get free haircuts for life!

The owner later had me work on her old Toshiba laptop. The keyboard wasn't showing all keys when pressed, and the power button was flaky. Another coworker of hers came to me with a laptop and a busted screen. I'm only charging for parts, but the coworker with the busted screen wants to pay me more. I was thinking $25-$35 dollars, but I "am" the nice guy, but also feel I'm not 100% qualified since I don't yet have my A+ certification which I'm working on, (and obligated since I get free haircuts -- maybe I should have opted for a bikini wax, haha).

The A+ cert is nice to have but does not qualify you for charging what you should be charging, it's a friggen piece of paper. Busted screen? parts + $80. Laptop repairs can be a real pain and those parts can get expensive.

I had a Sony laptop owned by a friend who took it to Best Buy to replace the power connector. She asked me to look at it. I went to Radio Shack and bought a $5 connector and took about an hour to do the whole thing. I asked her if $80 was too much and she handed me a crisp $100 bill then told me BB wanted $200.

Never underestimate the value you bring to the table and most of all don't give it away.
When I first started fixing PC's I was taken advantage by trying to be the nice guy. Then I started charging more because I was doing everything for cost and was swamped by people asking me to fix everything (my wife's jazzercise group took advantage of it).
After working relentlessly on the over flowing amount of computers in my office(home) my wife said no more free or dirt cheap service. It pissed off a few people but I had ammo to tell some of them.
" I fixed your computer weeks ago and now it is back for the same thing. I asked you to buy a paid Anti Virus solution and you removed the free one I installed. Unfortunately you have a virus again. I'm now charging a flat $75 bench fee to fix it when I get a chance. I have 7 more computers to fix. I was doing this for cost but it seems that the pattern developing is if people don't pay for repairs then they tend to disregard my instruction and have the same issue again. If they pay for it, they listen. "

One person blew up on me but most of them were sincere and understood thanking me for what I had done in the past...then taking their computer to their "nephew" who knew how to fix it.

It weeded out those that did not value MY time instantly.
Never underestimate the value you bring regardless of having a piece of paper...... I

 

[40s]

From my experience in SoCal the starting rate is $60 per hour.

 

[anti-painkilla]

It depends on whether you make a living off it. I don't. I charge a box of beers.

It depends on what I get out of those people, close mates and family nothing, I accept a koha (donation). Everyone else a box of beers. The issue I have with doing stuff for free is others not appreciating what you are doing for them. Would they take a quick look at your accounts or take in your suit for free?

As others have said, do it for free and they will expect constant free support for everything technical.

 

[Rick Williams]

I have tinkered with building and repairing PC's for at least 15 years. When I first started it was a hobby, I'd buy a build kit from tiger direct or new egg and put together a nice machine in hopes of selling it. If I made a 100 bucks I was happy (wasn't really in it for the money) but then I would get calls a couple years later with a bad PSU, Hard Drive or Motherboard and since these were friends I didn't want to rape them on repairs which I was okay with but it sure wasn't worth my time; they would tell their friends and being a nice guy I would rebuild or fix their machines as well for 50-75 bucks. Since I had a fulltime job it wasn't about the money but about the time and frankly I just started getting sick of all the extra work and people calling me and trying to get free advice or work. Now I just send them links to the tools to repair their machines and if they really want me to fix it 100-150 for a rebuild on my timeframe. Most of the time their machine is a few years old and I'll point them to an online sale. You can find a decent laptop for under 350.00 if you are a savy online shopper. Unfortunately with the cost of new equipment being so low I feel it's difficult to charge more than 50 percent of the value of the machine you are working on. Each circumstance is different (i.e. the board/ PSU/Display is dead and they need their data) and you can spend hours troublshooting things. I agree with several other posters, come up with a fair price sheet based on what you think your time is worth (50-80 percent of what Best Buy charges is a good start) and maybe offer a 20 percent discount for friends. I look at a plumber who walks into my house installs a 35 dollar part in less than an hour and charges 350 bucks and I know I'm smarter and have more skills than that guy but the difference is your customer can buy a new laptop for 300-400 bucks but it would cost me 20K to replace the plumbing in my house so repair is the only option. Final point is this is a tuff business and you are not going to get rich doing it unless you have big volume and hire cheap labor.

 

[1peterrr20]

hi,
Its totally depend on how much repair work will be done on your computer by the shop who repair your computer. First they check the problem on your computer then they tell you how much you should pay for the repair work according to the problem found in your computer.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

MAGNETIC SCIENCE FUN

 

[kollol]

Normally I charged 25 for windows reinstall,10 for data backup and 20 for laptop system service (clean inside all dust and change cpu pest).

 

[Beachnative]

Normally I charged 25 for windows reinstall,10 for data backup and 20 for laptop system service (clean inside all dust and change cpu pest).

Are you in the US? if you are you are a fool!

Way to devalue what you have learned...

 

[anti-painkilla]

Normally I charged 25 for windows reinstall,10 for data backup and 20 for laptop system service (clean inside all dust and change cpu pest).

Are you in the US? if you are you are a fool!

Way to devalue what you have learned...

Depends on his situation, if he is still relatively new to it all, it is a great way to practice as you would get lots of work. Also depends on how much those around you can afford. If he makes a living from this, then I agree that he is devaluing himself, but cannot say without more info.

 

[The Kasafist]

How much time did it take you and what is the value of the computer?

 

[Stian Sapiens]

I work as a computer tech at a place I've been for about 2 months. I get paid 9/h but they aren't busy enough to where that's worth it but keep me around so I do my own thing taking care of the shop and putting work in on all the old equipment they have lying around and putting items up for sale on the net. I made a friend pretty fast the other day and through conversation I offered to design a new system for his needs and I am trying to figure out pricing. I was probably going to help him out by recycling otherwise unused parts I have, and get a list of things from newegg or tiger direct and have him billed on parts while I have a supplemental price on my work. What would one say the general price should be? I naturally want to bro the guy down for rep and continued experience, as well as give him an up front flat rate instead of that contingent hourly crap I could screw anybody over with.

 

[anti-painkilla]

I suppose you could ask if you want him to teach you to build a computer or just build it.

I would negotiate a fixed price for hardware and software, a wee bit more if you are teaching him as well. You are probably looking at 2-4 hours all up. Part selection, build, software. What is the time worth to you? Sell him the spare parts as well.

 

[seogoat]

85 to swap a fan lol sounds like rogue traders

 

[CityguyUSA]

DON'T BE NICE GUY AND DO [removed] FOR FREE.



Why? Because your customers don't value your time.

I was charging $30/hour in 1/2 hour increments. Customers would always try to beat me down in price and just drag ass about fixing it. Thinking I'm some slug begging for work.




I charge $75/hr for home PC & $100/hr for commercial work. If I fix it in 5 minutes it's half the hourly rate.


When you charge more you have less BSing time with the customer. Be direct, be serious, be professional!

Do what the customer asks and leave. Give them a brief written explaination of what you did and why. Include suggestions in it.

Don't stick around and BS with them after you are paid they will try to get you to do other stuff for free....I don't want to sound like a jerk but I've seen so many games played by customers trying to get stuff for free but when you need a favor from them or service from them...just watch how the tables turn on you!!!

Don't be a chump!

Watch the language. - G

That seems appropriate to me. In fact I think $80 is more appropriate. The problem comes when repairs exceed that value of the machine. Many people aren't buying $1,000+ machines often opting for the $400 machine. They don't have a comprehension of how much time it takes to repair PC's and then when people under bill it just makes it worse or when you have someone that offers phone or remote support that doesn't even truly understand what the real problem is and only manages to perform a repair that lets it survive a few more months till the user is right back to where they were before.

However, I just had to rebuild a Win8.1 laptop which took almost 8 hours just due to whatever process the manufacturer used to overlay the OS. It was a friend of mine so it was pro bono but it hardly seems fair to charge someone $640 nor could most people afford such a bill yet if your car computer would be replaced it would cost at least that much. That poor system performance still took 8 hours of my time. So what do you tell people? Just go buy a new machine it's cheaper than repairing what you have?

Or take the case of installing a new board and for whatever reason or combination of hardware and software it just doesn't work you could spend a lot of time trying to coerce the board and still end up with a non-viable installation. Should I have to eat that service fee? It's not my fault the board doesn't work but I still had to put the time into dealing with it. The user doesn't see it that way. They say you didn't do what you said and they don't want to pay. I say I didn't purchase the board nor did I purchase their PC and I was just the middle man trying to help them. But they don't understand that it's a possibility that it just won't work. How long do you spend trying before you decide that it's not resolvable? Perhaps another escalation with someone's tech support and another 15 minutes are all that it will take or not.

 

[Beachnative]

Be upfront and honest. No free estimates if you have to drive to their location, a flat $35 for that, then deduct it from the total price if you do spent time and fix it.
If it's your shop and they bring it to you then the first 10 minutes are free, that's it! Also if someone does bring it to you at your place of business then a flat fee is acceptable because they are coming to you. I'd charge a flat $80 bench fee meaning you'll do anything to fix it for that fee baring any hardware related costs or whacko software glitches. If you buy hardware that isn't needed you cannot bill the customer for it. Also if you are learning something and doing it for the first time and it takes you 8 hours you cannot bill for the total time unless you have explained that upfront...and yes there are people that give you the green light to start but the red light on paying. BE HONEST!

Don't be a [removed] , honesty keeps you in business!

Watch the language. - G

 

[victoire]

Oh, actually, I would say, a computer repair fees are too high, your friends there is no professional in this area it? You can find them help busy

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[Medlik]

I got a quote of $125 + tax for malware removal and backup of old photos and documents, Is that a fare price? dude said 85 for malware removal and 40 for backup.

 

[Rayven2]

I got a quote of $125 + tax for malware removal and backup of old photos and documents, Is that a fare price? dude said 85 for malware removal and 40 for backup.

I'd say that's pushing it, than again I'd do it myself. However 85 for malware removal is steep.

 

[elewis]

I got a quote of $125 + tax for malware removal and backup of old photos and documents, Is that a fare price? dude said 85 for malware removal and 40 for backup.

I'd say that's pushing it, than again I'd do it myself. However 85 for malware removal is steep.

Depends on how bad the pc is... Personally i'd charge less for an OS install then malware removal. I mean is the malware totally screwing up your pc to where it wont even boot or is it just slowing things down? If hes doing a backup and recovering your data at that price tell him just to reinstall the operating system after he recovers your data your less likely to have issues 2 weeks down the road.

 

[Rayven2]

I got a quote of $125 + tax for malware removal and backup of old photos and documents, Is that a fare price? dude said 85 for malware removal and 40 for backup.

I'd say that's pushing it, than again I'd do it myself. However 85 for malware removal is steep.

Depends on how bad the pc is... Personally i'd charge less for an OS install then malware removal. I mean is the malware totally screwing up your pc to where it wont even boot or is it just slowing things down? If hes doing a backup and recovering your data at that price tell him just to reinstall the operating system after he recovers your data your less likely to have issues 2 weeks down the road.

Yeah that's true, if it's a really bad case than it's understandable. I was leaning more towards minor issues with a couple scans and check up

 

[strecker1969]

i had one friend who brought me the slowest pc ever, i swear it was horrid. it littelry was a 20min to boot completly. ran super anti spyware on it over 1500 items, updated and such a second time and then removed antoher 700 things.

 

[Ceotase]

I've been doing this for about 20 yrs and have tried a few different billing models. I charge $150/hr + 1/2 hr travel time. I bill in 1/2 hr increments when working remotely. I've settled on a mix of two billing models. 1. Attorney hourly billing model and 2. Medical Doctor hourly billing model. It really doesn't make a difference why a customer needs your help. It's really a matter of what your time is worth. If you're in an apprentice mode then use a lower rate. If you're in a full time consultant mode, use a competitive rate for your time and expertise not whether it's a malware infested machine, setting up a VPN or replacing a motherboard. If you're a hobbyist , that's a whole different ball game.

 

[escoville]

I have a friend who is a mechanic. He works on peoples vehicles on the side, and he said that he always adds $.72 to the bill. People always will ask why is the bill $xxx.72? He says his answer is that the $xxx is for knowing how to fix the issue, and the $.72 is for the labor. It's a rule I've lived by ever since.

 

[RockyMark]

The charges for repairing totally depends on you. But before deciding on the charges, there are some important things to be considered like the market charges for the same, your expertise, your perception in the customer mind and the cost you incurred along with the profit you look for.

 

[Audreyampier]

I think this shall e an impossible one.

 

[Incadius]

If you go somewhere in pc world £500 or something is really asking you to buy a new pc. Fix it yourself with assistance in Tomhardware forum and knowledge of your own varies between 0 to 80 (depending if you need new kits).
Its up to you, increasing your own charge would be great unless if its your buddy in need and you feel sympathies with him give him a good value, otherwise go like they usually do $ per hr rate + materials.

I've found this to be very bad idea if you are charging for computer work. The only people that get free work are my parents and immediate family. Friends, aquaintances and near strangers all get the same price, which is $40 an hour for labor, regardless of what I'm doing. I charge for the first hour, and then in 15 minute incriments after that. This usually pans out fairly close to what other people here suggest in pricing. OS reinstalls with Antivirus installation and basic security setup on the system ends up being about $80. Simple virus removal tends to be around $40 or so. I do have one exception, in that I will set up someone's new WiFi routers with a secure SSID, or set up new computers with antivirus protection for $20, or even free in a lot of cases. To me, it's important enough that my customers be protected against the easy hacks and malware that can really screw their computers, or identities, up that I'd rather spend the little time securing their computers for free than to have to take all the time it takes to clean an infected system later. And lets face it, that's just good PR.

My dad used to do plumbing and refrigeration repair, and he learned the buddy lesson the hard way when he gave deals to people he was really close with. Those same people bragged about the deal, his other customers hear about it and angry customers start saying he's ripping them off. Also, when he had to charge the close friends more because of material cost or longer job, they started saying he was ripping them off, too. So it really ended up biting him from both sides.