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Thread ID: 49287	2004-09-15 02:56:00	what would you charge?	robsonde (120)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
272533	2004-09-16 00:33:00	Metla, What do your Accountan and laywer charge you @HR, app? I know what some Hton and Tauranga firms charge I am curious. D.	drb1 (4492)
272534	2004-09-16 00:34:00	More then what they are worth.	metla (154)
272535	2004-09-16 00:55:00	and i'll tell ya a tiny little secret that should put Wanganui into context... My shop rent costs a total of $328 a month,thats $82 bucks a week,I seriously doubt you could get that in Hamilton or Tauranga. And if i put my rates up to $150 i would not only be still waiting for my first job,i would be doing it while tarred,feathered,and chased out of town. Aside from that,the prices you charge has to take into account the customers your looking to get,pricing yourself too high for the home consumer would be the deathroll for the average small business,	metla (154)
272536	2004-09-16 01:05:00	Metla, I understand and agree with all that, your personal charges are not unrealistic for your reigon. We have to compete with people who have you sort of real estate overhead it is not easy. That Particular installer has installed in your reigon at that price. I was curious as to the level of professional fees in general, for the reigon	drb1 (4492)
272537	2004-09-16 01:08:00	> no mans skills are worth $150 an > hour,not unless they are saving lives. You are dead right when you say you wouldn't get any work if you charged $150 per hour Metla, you have to match your market's capacity to pay for computer services, but I disagree strongly with your view on value as quoted above. Companies and individuals will pay those rates if the service offered provides that real or perceived value. I charge $150 ph "out of office", $100 ph "in office", $75 ph travel time and 75 cpk vehicle costs + parking and any other disbursements. My clients willingly pay those prices because their payback is far greater, and almost all of my work comes word of mouth from satisfied customers. I am not a lawyer, accountant or professional engineer, I am an individual with saleable tecnical skills. Spence	Spencer (5624)
272538	2004-09-16 01:34:00	Interesting discussion . I tend to agree with the ones who place a value on their skills and knowledge that the market will stand rather than trying attract custom by being cheaper . I have a business in a non IT technical field . I charge per hour, same in the office (where I spend most of my time) as in the field, travel time is charged per hr at the same rate unless the travel is out of town (I don't charge full rate for sitting on a plane, cough! usually), 62 per km over 20km and I dont't walk out the door or start anything for less than $500- . Different industry but, there are people in a similar line of work that work on fixed rates or very much smaller hourly charge . They do this either, because they don't rate their own skills or simply don't have the requisite skills yet and so offer a lesser service, they want to work at high volume, they're cowboys posing as the real thing and feeding off the skill and integrity of others . All these people come a cropper sooner or later with debris left scattered in their wake, with perhaps the exception of the first group . I know this because I often get paid to sort out the mess and get the finger pointed in the right direction for cost recovery purposes . If you have the skills, don't devalue yourself or the market, raise the bar in all respects . If enough in your industry take this approach, watch most of the cowboys squirm and fold, the expectation of their potential clients has just been raised and with it their scrutiny of them as individuals and their business . Cheers Murray P	Murray P (44)
272539	2004-09-16 01:51:00	> (I don't charge full rate for sitting on > a plane, cough! usually) I agree with not charging full-whack for travel, but all time during "working hours" needs to be earning income, and while sitting in a car or plane you can't do work for anyone else . That's why I charge 50% of my site rate . I don't think 62cpk is really enough for vehicle charges though . If you have to maintain it in good condition for professional image reasons, you need a buffer beyond normal "cost of ownership" figures to cover the cost of getting carpark door bangs, bumper scratches and various other nicks and knocks fixed . I have had three serious damage incidents to my unattended vehicle in carparks over the last 2-3 years, one so severe that the front passenger's door wouldn't open . That was a 4WD door opened with a boot behind it in my estimation, it wasn't a scrape or normal contact damage . Spence	Spencer (5624)
272540	2004-09-16 02:04:00	> Interesting discussion . > > I tend to agree with the ones who place a value on > their skills and knowledge that the market will stand > rather than trying attract custom by being cheaper . > > I have a business in a non IT technical field . I > charge per hour, same in the office (where I spend > most of my time) as in the field, travel time is > charged per hr at the same rate unless the travel is > out of town (I don't charge full rate for sitting on > a plane, cough! usually), 62 per km over 20km and I > dont't walk out the door or start anything for less > than $500- . > > Different industry but, there are people in a similar > line of work that work on fixed rates or very much > smaller hourly charge . They do this either, because > they don't rate their own skills or simply don't have > the requisite skills yet and so offer a lesser > service, they want to work at high volume, they're > cowboys posing as the real thing and feeding off the > skill and integrity of others . All these people come > a cropper sooner or later with debris left scattered > in their wake, with perhaps the exception of the > first group . I know this because I often get paid to > sort out the mess and get the finger pointed in the > right direction for cost recovery purposes . > > If you have the skills, don't devalue yourself or the > market, raise the bar in all respects . If enough in > your industry take this approach, watch most of the > cowboys squirm and fold, the expectation of their > potential clients has just been raised and with it > their scrutiny of them as individuals and their > business . > > Cheers Murray P You can't get word of mouth untill you have a stable of satisfied customers,nor-can you get customers by being the most expensive in town with no established word-of-mouth . . . . ,especially when the doors have just been opened so to speak . How did you aproach it when you first started in your line of business?	metla (154)
272541	2004-09-16 02:49:00	ok firstly modem: cost to me $28 (retail - ouch) charge $35 travel charges vary but generally within this little town $5 outta town $10-$20 depending on distance labour $40 ph with min $30 . . . . . . . . . . so bottom line for install, and internet setup here in town half hour minimum:$30 travel $ 5 modem $35 total $70 or more likely cause when setting up the internet theres often setting up AV/firewall/antispyware, and teaching the user how to use those progams and get around the net . . . . . say at LEAST an hours work . . . . . . . . . so then the bill would be $80 If you are of the mind, and only a few here are but it is noticable, that one should charge only $20 per hour then I must say that fixing pc's is obviously not the only income source you have otherwise you aint been in business very long at all and you wont be staying long . . . . . . . . . you'd be cuttin your own throat . . . . . . . . . . I have expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . for example about $500-600 per month in advertising . . . . . . . . . . telephone, home line and mobile . . . . . . . . . internet (MUST HAVE), . . . . . . . . . . . . . . postage . . . . . . . and also parts . . . . . . now I dont always buy parts just as required in fact like any 'ready for anything' tech I NEED a stock of certain parts . . . . . . . to me that's an expense i need to cover untill or unless I sell them to a customer during the course of work . . . . . . and what with having to carry harddrive/ram/cpu/modem/usb cards/ etc etc etc I figured out the other day I had $650 worth of *new* parts on hand and also a lot of *2nd hand* ram, cpu's, etc etc etc . . . . . . . basically I need to carry round almost a whole pc in new parts . . . . . . . . . now it's taken me about two years to get to the point where my business will support me and my wife and pay the bills, fortunately we already own the house so only have rates not a mortgage or rent to pay although I could now afford to do this with a little purse tightening . This has taken me several thousand dollars of advertising and building up parts and building up customers . I get 2-3-4 new customers each week and some of these are from word of mouth so I must be doing something right ! Now if you are in the business of fixing pc's and you try to do it as a mobile tech for $20 per hour you are NOT going to make enough money to cover all your expenses and have enough to live comfortably on afterwards it's just NOT going to work that way . . . . . . . . . its a rare day when you'll get 8 hours consistent work . . . . . . . . . this situation may very well be different in a shop . . . . . however I love what I do I get a lot of satisfaction out of it, and I get to cruise from job to job and can organise my day to please myself . . . . . 'sorry mrs jones I'm much too busy to attend to your problem today will tomorrow be ok?' (going fishing today lol) . Building up a business is a very slow process i remember when I first started out I was happy to get three calls in a week . . . . . . . sometimes I'd only get one, (it's amazing how people still say to me 18 months after I started advertising on a regular basis in the local rag with a reasonably *visible* adver - 'oh i just saw your advert for the first time the other day' . . . ) Anyway while you are building your business you got to eat, keep the car goin, pay the phone bills, advertise, and etc etc etc, (womens hair dye sessions are NOT cheap - even though I'm happy to pay for my wife to have them :-) . . . . . . . . . . ) so as some of you have said . . . . . . . . . . . . . . charge what you think your skill level is worth bearing in mind the local market and DONT CHARGE TOO LITTLE just because you are only 'playing' at being a tech . . . . . . . . you wont charge too little if you are really relying on that money as your sole income, and again you wont charge too much cause you'll lose repeat custom . . . . . . . strike a balance . . . . . . . what I charge suits me and I KNOW i'm providing good service from the constant referrals I get from people . I also provide a different service to that which is provided by the, (5 I think), local pc repair shops . I'm mobile . . . .	drcspy (146)
272542	2004-09-16 02:55:00	Wow - this topic has gone OTT - I'm switching off! LOLOL	Greg S (201)
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