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Thread ID: 87374	2008-02-18 23:42:00	IT charges. . . . .	nofam (9009)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
641836	2008-02-19 00:37:00	Normally $98 an hour...callout works out at $115 an hour and $98 an hour after that. Usuaully end up charging less than that too. :lol: Those prices you quoted are very expencive! I know the Feeling - My charges are $90.00 / Hour, with a $20.00 call out - usually I dont charge the full amount either. If you walk in and its a quick 5 minute job, as some of them are, I'll charge less. Usually though you can tell within 5 -10 minutes if its a work shop job. Usually if A PC has to be back at the workshop I charge a set fee for work + parts if required, as while somethings scanning/ installing I can be doing other things. Offten get people ringing and asking for prices ( fair enough) and some say " well I Was quoted $35.00 an hour by ???? - why are your charges higher ? Oh and I need it fixed like yesterday - its urgent - I cant live without it. I usually answer - depending on how much of an Ar**Hole the person is being - thats because they could be cowboys and you get what you pay for. Then usually follow up after they moan at my prices - well go to them, as you know my charges & you know theirs - and politely say - have a nice day and please feel free to call back if I may be able to help you. 8 times out of 10 they call back within a week (some the same day) saying they got some one else in and the PC's still knackered, can I come and see them and fix it :rolleyes: ( I Smile to myself and say to the person- when will some one be at home - and make an appointment) - man tempted to charge more then. Then you get the ones who want you to fix every thing over the phone and get it for free. Other professions - well our washing machine blew up a couple of weeks back - called around some repair places ( as you do) cheapest was $75.00 to come out to my place and that covered the first 5 minutes as well of inspection - Then $20.00 per 15 minutes after that.	wainuitech (129)
641837	2008-02-19 00:38:00	$150? :-O I'd say $40-$60 is a good rate which most home users will be happy to pay. I got a mailer the other day some guy was offering his services at $30! Then you have small businesses and upwards where 'Mr lol i come 2 ur house on mah bike and fix ur pc ezy' just doesn't cut it so I'm guessing $100+ for that with a real service company.	jason_f90 (3544)
641838	2008-02-19 01:20:00	When I go on site I take up to $80,000 (yes, $80K) worth of specialised diagnostic test gear with me, and rather than charge labour and instrument usage (you have to recover for instrument use because calibration costs are horrendous) I charge a flat $200 per hour. I can save a client from junking thousands of dollars worth of gear and the cost of new replacements, or losing production for days, but every now and then one screams. The last one to complain refused to pay more than $150ph so I reduced the hourly rate, wrote back in all the travel time, vehicle km, and research time then dropped the total by a symbolic $100 and they finally agreed to cough up, having won a pyrrhic victory. Now that HN charge $150ph for computer repairs I can make a fair case for upping my rate to $250ph for working on megabuck equipment. :) Seriously, if you are delivering value for money stand solid on your charges, but if you know you made a pig's bum of the diagnosis and could have done it much faster, adjust your account accordingly and learn from the experience. Hint: Spray& Wipe is cheap and so are paper towels so always clean the gear before return or collection. In my earlier days of radio & TV servicing, every cabinet was vacuumed inside to remove dust and cobwebs then cleaned and polished. Works for selling thing on TM too, I'm amazed how many people sell as-is and covered in crap when a good clean takes 5 minutes and will up the value immensely. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
641839	2008-02-19 01:31:00	I know the Feeling - My charges are $90.00 / Hour, with a $20.00 call out - usually I dont charge the full amount either. Snap! Speaking of charges, what are people paying their accountants for doing their annual accounts?	CYaBro (73)
641840	2008-02-19 01:56:00	Snap! Speaking of charges, what are people paying their accountants for doing their annual accounts? About the same or more if your accountant earns 80K a year or more. A lot of higher up accountants are in the 120K+ bracket pa especially if they are chartered accountants. My dad does mine ;)	vitalstatistix (9182)
641841	2008-02-19 03:09:00	Well I charge $50 an hour with a maximum of $150 not inc any hardware. $50 is the least someone will pay. Tough it actually took 30 minutes. I'm not religious about it, I don't time it to the minute, don't charge callout but then I won't go miles anyway, they can come here.	pctek (84)
641842	2008-02-19 03:45:00	I wonder whether HN would contract out their repair work. If so, they would pay their contracted repair expert $X per hour, then load extra on for themselves. It works that way if you go to certain stores for items, such as venetian blinds. Whereas, if you are lucky enough to deal directly with the venetian blind company, the price is up to 1/3 less than that quoted by the store. Cheers, Marnie	Marnie (4574)
641843	2008-02-19 04:00:00	I wonder whether HN would contract out their repair work . If so, they would pay their contracted repair expert $X per hour, then load extra on for themselves . It works that way if you go to certain stores for items, such as venetian blinds . Whereas, if you are lucky enough to deal directly with the venetian blind company, the price is up to 1/3 less than that quoted by the store . Cheers, Marnie They certainly don't seem to contract out here - they have a little workshop right behind their customer service desk . That's the other thing that bugs me too - you can get away with charging a little more if you're experienced, and able to do a lot of different kinds of work . . . . But you have to wonder how many servers those techs have built . . . None of the guys there looked a day over 20! :p I know there's a lot of young, smart cookies out there, but frankly, I think it's easier to justify $150 an hour if you've got credentials & experience!! Come to think of it, they used to charge $80 just to fit RAM . . . . if that's not highway robbery, I don't know what is! :confused:	nofam (9009)
641844	2008-02-19 04:10:00	Heres a question - How many service technicians would crawl under a house, run networking / clamping cables, some of the crawl spaces under houses are very tight, Some places have god knows what under them - cat ???? - and what do they charge for the service ? In case any one wonders I do that sort of thing as well. But do others charge more for "getting dirty" so to speak. ?	wainuitech (129)
641845	2008-02-19 05:32:00	I do odd jobs for friends a family . . . $40/hour for software jobs $60/hour if I need to open the case . if I was running a business I would be charging about $75/hour . In the past I have changed as much as $150 for 10 minutes job . way back in 1999 and the person has a windows NT4 . 0 system . the person had lost the admin password for a server . they had been quoted $700 for a full re-install and bring back data from backup tape, system out of action for 3 days . I walked in and said I could have the system back up before the end of the day at a cost of $150, customer was very happy . I booted off a linux floppy and did a password reset, keep in mind that in 1999 there were a lot fewer techs who knew that trick . the job took 10 minutes and the customer was very unhappy, "anyone could have done that!!, why should i pay $150??" my only answer was that "if anyone could have done it then why diden't they do it for themselves?" the bill was paid will little grumbling . . . . . . they are not just paying for the time we spend, they are paying for the skills . if they had the skills then they would DIY and not ring a tech .	robsonde (120)
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