What would be a reasonable amount to charge people for in home computer repair, software updates and clean up

Question

I do not know if I should charge hourly or a flat rate. I would like your opinions and what you would consider paying for in-home computer service.

Answer 1

Nicholas L, I found a huge list of repair shops. http://www.findcomputerrepair.com/New-Ha... I'd try calling one or two of them and see if they can assist you.

Answer 2

I charge for the amount of time I am on the computer. If you leave it to format, not wasting your time, I barely charge for that. Usually after my job is done, anywhere from 25-100 dollars. Depending on what kind of work you are doing. But charging hourly means you better be working on it the whole time, or your just like the geek squad and stealing the customers' money.

Answer 3

I had a guy who charged me $60.00 an hour and i have to say that is the last time i will ever ude him

Answer 4

What is your background and education in computers?

The more education you have the more you can charge.

Hourly is best, otherwise people will keep you forever by adding stuff on.  Or you could charge xx dollar for the first 3 hours plus x dollars per hour after.

Answer 5

You should definitely charge hourly as every situation is unique.  If you are doing serious repairs I would charge at least 50 or more an hour.

Answer 6

If your good and have the correct software/hardware tools and some new spare parts.  If you make the effort to save the customers data not just format and rebuild like the kids do, a reasonable rate in my area is $50 an hour.  With experience you can bid by the job.

I also make adjustments based on where the work is done.  A rush job that must be done at the customers location will cost more than a job I can do in my own shop.  

Much of computer repair work takes a long time, but not constant interaction by the tech. The highest rate I’ve charged was $150/hr but I also barter with the family dentist and our auto mechanic.

Answer 7

charge a base rate X for first 2 hour. whether or not you take 2 hours is irrelevant. after 2 hours, per hour at rate y which is slightly lower than X/2. The rationale is that you need to spend time to get there and ...etc, so effectively, first 2 hour rates are fixed, regardless of whether you take 2 hours to work on the comp.

Answer 8

$95.00 for the first hour

$55.00 each hour after

HOWEVER, what I have seen from techs is that they do quite a bit of "learning on the job."  I resented paying for their "education" and told them so.

After that, we had a very honest relationsip with the tech telling me, "I'm only charging you for 1.5 hrs instead of 2.5 because I ran into an unknown area."

I do all of my own cleaning, upgrading, repairing etc but if I didn't, I would gladly pay the rates I listed but would be extremely unwilling to go over two hours.

If however, it would save time and expense to repair off site, you could offer to convert the hourly rate to a flat rate plus transportation.

Most often, if I work on my machine for 3 hours or more, I am not actively sitting and watching it!  I may run a test and go to another project.  So you can "play"  with the time factor

Answer 9

I charge 30 an hour, I am pretty cheap, and usually only do work for friends, family and co-workers.