The business of computer repair

[Gosugod]

I had a question for alot of you tech gurus. I've noticed alot of you are part of the professional repair business. I live in Missoula, MT and was employed by a computer repair shop for about a month before being fired. I'm going to list a few things and tell me if they sound reasonable or how much you charge?

Labor on-site repair: $75/hr
Labor off-site repair: $95/hr
Kingston DDR PC3200 512MB RAM: $119.99
Firefox and Thunderbird: $37.50(30 minutes of labor they said)
AVG Anti-Spyware/Spybot/Adaware SE Pro(all 3 pro editions): $99.95
Windows Re-Installation: $120-$150
Cleaning Service which consists of
-Spraying out the insides and keyboard etc with a can of compressed air
-Anti-Spyware package included
-Deleting ALL temporary files(including a few other areas Disk Cleaner doesn't find)
-Customize the start menu by organizing it differently.
-Turn off system restore(which I disagreed with)
-Uninstalling software that they'll never use
-Running defrag
This package includes alot of things. But each thing really only takes about 5 minutes a piece. This whopping cleaning package was priced at


$239.95

I got fired because I had an arguement about a couple of the prices being really high. Especially the ram considering you can get it for about $80 cheaper anywhere else.

 

[Rik]

Well i wouldnt pay prices like that, but then i know what im doing with pc's. Built over 50 so far and counting.

 

[TimeParadoX]

Those prices are outrageously, if they made non-technical customers pay that much for stuff that takes 15 minutes I would have quit myself :|

If I ran a business that repaired / built computers I wouldn't charge THAT much, especially the RAM part since it's DDR1 PC3200 ( old in my opinion ) is stupid :haha:

 

[Gosugod]

With this one customer all we did was run a Windows Repair from the cd and he charged her $150 for labor. I got so incredibly fed up with the place I had to talk to him about it. Didn't work out so well....

 

[sghiznaneck]

Well, I've been running my own shop now for nearly a year (1st anniversary is this November), and have to admit that if I charged those prices, I'd be out of business. So far, two other guys in my area were listed in the local phone book when I posted last year, along with one major shop. Suffice to say, I just renewed my printing for the next years phone book, and it's now down to the big shop and myself. I've had a lot of customers complain they had the shop work on their computers (laptops included), and were not satisfied with the price or the work since they usually had the same problem when they brought it home. The big shop will put in hardware that in my opinion was never needed just to jack the price up.
I do in house work by appointment and also work out of my home. I only charge $45 for a service call, and if it needs more than an hours work, I give them the option of having me take it to my home or taking it somewhere else. If they select me, I forgo the service call fee and only charge them for labor and any parts if needed. It may be underselling my talents, but the area is economically depressed and I know what I can charge and what sells. The business has been much better than expected for the first year and I'm really glad that I've not only kept up with it, but didn't make a mistake that the other two independents did (opened up shops and had to pay for rent/lease, utilities and went way overboard on inventory without really scoping out the market and stocking what is really needed for day to day inventory). I started this business with $2,500 inventory in November 2006, and by the time January 2007 came along, it was pretty much depleted and had to reorder.
I feel that eventually I will have to either move out of my home or build an addition on my house to accomodate the business. I've also employed a young kid who just graduated from a local technical institute. He's not full time as of yet, but I subcontract out some work to him when I'm really busy and pay him a decent $10/hr. Before I make a decision on his full time employment, I have to feel him out and see how he reacts to the clients and how we get along. So far, it's worked out well for both of us since I'm still making money and he's getting the experience he needs.

 

[tipstir]

I had a question for alot of you tech gurus. I've noticed alot of you are part of the professional repair business. I live in Missoula, MT and was employed by a computer repair shop for about a month before being fired. I'm going to list a few things and tell me if they sound reasonable or how much you charge?

Labor on-site repair: $75/hr
Labor off-site repair: $95/hr
Kingston DDR PC3200 512MB RAM: $119.99
Firefox and Thunderbird: $37.50(30 minutes of labor they said)
AVG Anti-Spyware/Spybot/Adaware SE Pro(all 3 pro editions): $99.95
Windows Re-Installation: $120-$150
Cleaning Service which consists of
-Spraying out the insides and keyboard etc with a can of compressed air
-Anti-Spyware package included
-Deleting ALL temporary files(including a few other areas Disk Cleaner doesn't find)
-Customize the start menu by organizing it differently.
-Turn off system restore(which I disagreed with)
-Uninstalling software that they'll never use
-Running defrag
This package includes alot of things. But each thing really only takes about 5 minutes a piece. This whopping cleaning package was priced at


$239.95

I got fired because I had an arguement about a couple of the prices being really high. Especially the ram considering you can get it for about $80 cheaper anywhere else.

Good an honest tech we could use someone like you... A lot of business are just play crooks.. I won't deal with them...