People who work on other people's computers...

DO not know if this is the right forum, but I will try anyway.

When you do side work on someones computer, what do you usually charge? Flat rate? Hourly?

What would you charge just for a format and installation of windows, patches and softeware?

Thanks so much.

 

I will do it free-of-charge. Seeing their computer in good condition is good enough satisfaction for me.

Besides, I don't work for anybody at all.

 

I don't play with other people's computers, other than helping them install stuff, since it typically takes forever to track down what they've already got in and their setup preferences.

If I take mine in for professional work (admittedly slightly off-topic from your question), that's typically hourly. But my top-notch shop has no minimum charge -- if something takes 10 minutes, then they just charge 1/6 hour.

 

For my company, it all depends on what we do and how many systems we are cleaning. We can easily beat Geek Squads prices, no problem at all.

If we are doing a 1-time service, it is a per-service fee.

If we are doing a scheduled maintenance, then it is done per hour.

 

What is the geek squad fee?

 

All I do is pay per service , never hourly . May be it isn't correct to mention exact price but... For reinstalling Windows , install pathces ,security software and other software , restore back-ups (all you need) I take 30 Bulgarian levs (which is exactly 15 euro).

For cleaning computer for malware I take 24 Bulgarian levs (exactly 12 euro).

For installing software or other smaller assistance I take 3 euro , sometimes do it for free (it depends on my mood and the service , of course )

I also take part in lots of forums/newsgroups where I don't charge and do it just for fun and for the "thank you" afterwards

 

They do a per-service fee. For instance, if you have them come out to your house and do a spyware/malware cleanup, they'll charge you anywhere from $175-$250.

We charge $75

 

depends on the "who"
for friends and family next to nothing
for friends of friends depends on their means,

on the lower end they often have systems that arent worth (in total), the time ot would take to secure them (P2 K6 lowend P3) and are typically boxes with both far too much OS overhead and bloatware to function properly anyway. I try to get them into an affordable stripped down and secured +1GHz and a decent amount of RAM to do what they want to do on their box. I typically will tack $200 on top of the basic fair market price of the components and explain that upfront. Its an attractive offer since they can see what previous boxes Ive done can do. (getting more from less)

however not all my clients are poor so that can scale up to a $500 flat fee, again that includes basic securing, software installation, and performance tuning with considerable education. Phase one in my studio\lab, Alot of the basic work gets done concurrently with other work so a straight hourly is a bit difficult to determine. The final phase in their house with their network\peripherals. And I generally have a wide timeframe to get the first part done with a final "evening" of familiarization and follow up remote consultation.

I generally also toss on some customization, but from previously developed graphics and a large bag O tweaks, which seems to make quite a bit of perceived value impact.

What Ive been attempting to do is offer a package of security, performance tuning, education and personal optimization\aesthetics. If I can build the perceived value of that high enough within the right demographic, all this might start to make some financial sense.

 

Thanks for the responses!

 

I do it for free as well, basking in the satisfaction of my own work is enough for me lol! Sometimes they insist on paying and won't take no for an answer in which case i which case my fee is one good meal

 

I only do stuff for friends and family and I charge by the cup of tea

I do get old hardware donated or exchange for favours, eg I got my web hosting for free (my friend has a rented server) by helping him out with a few things, i've been given 120gb hdd recently for some work and over the past 6 months I've accumulated enough bits to build my brother a 1.3 celeron based machine with 17in monitor for a birthday present.

I find that doing stuff for favours or donationware builds up a great network of contacts, if HDDs go crash at night, or ram fizzles out, I have a fair few contacts who can help me out at short notice and once or twice has been more use than £££ in my pocket.