What is the going rate for building a pc?

LeeMaher92

How much do you charge for building a pc? Is there even a professional service for things like this in Ireland? I’d imagine it could be a pretty lucrative side venture for anyone competent enough to do it!

wotzgoingon

It's a smaller market than you would think. And then also once there is a problem which would happen quite often people would blame you and expect you to fix it or replace parts etc..

beauf

LeeMaher92 wrote: »

...I’d imagine it could be a pretty lucrative side venture for anyone competent enough to do it!

You'd be wrong.

Stokolan

LeeMaher92 wrote: »

How much do you charge for building a pc?

A bottle of beer and a packet of tayto is my premium rate.

K.O.Kiki

€50-90 for the building process, maybe a small call-out fee?

I've only built for family/friends so TBH I charge in beer & provide 1 free after-build call.

deceit

I always build for free for anyone that needs help. I love building pc's so it helps scratch an itch for me without getting in more trouble from the missus .

Hard to hide new pc's versus just parts upgrades

Cordell

My last build took me 3-4 hours from unboxing the components to presenting the system to the customer (my son). I would say it's difficult to do it faster while doing it well as to make it into a business. Putting the parts together is not where it ends, you still need to install all the software and test it thoroughly before it's done-done.

tuxy

LeeMaher92 wrote: »

for anyone competent enough to do it!

So anyone with an IQ above 80?
That's the thing, anyone that wants a custom PC can easily learn to do it. Everyone else will just buy pre-built. I guess you are also left with a few people that lack the confidence and are happy to pay but that's a small market.

Cordell

It's not that easy, or it is only if you already know a thing or two about computers and you're technically inclined.
Otherwise, you can do some very expensive mistakes.
Have a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jciJ39djxC4
Summary: originally on The Verge there was a video tutorial on PC building that got so many things so horribly wrong, looking like some weird April's fool joke. Sadly, it wasn't - it was published in September. Imagine going with that on your newly purchased high end gaming rig that's still in separate boxes.

beauf

Its just that there's a lot of people who know how do to it. Most of whom (as per previous comments) will do it for free.

Joeface

Hard to charge , getting to build with new parts is enjoyable and didn't cost the assembler anything . Nice coffee or when I drank an interesting beer

killanena

There is websites that you can order parts off that offer to build the system for you for an additional fee.

Tbh though there is plenty of people who just enjoy doing it and will probably do it for free.

LeeMaher92

I’ve gotta admit I’m pleasantly surprised by the feedback I’ve gotten from everyone, it seems the pc building community is a very generous one and the fact that so many people have said they’d build a complete strangers pc for free just for the fun of it is pretty cool!

killanena

You get a great sense of fulfilment when a system you just put together POST without issue

.G.

killanena wrote:

You get a great sense of fulfilment when a system you just put together POST without issue

But if it doesn't and its not yours, that's when the fun/headaches start!

killanena

.G. wrote:

But if it doesn't and its not yours, that's when the fun/headaches start!

Aye I guess that's true
Unless you get it to POST after some troubleshooting which would be an even greater sense of fulfilment

I always recommend ordering parts of amazon though for the simple reason that if a part is faulty you can request a replacement and they will ship it asap and give you a free post return label to return the faulty part within a Month or so.

Saying all that I wouldn't do it as a business as it will only end up costing you with after sale support, warranty etc.

Joeface

Depends on the rules .

mine is " if everything goes smoothly , something is seriously wrong "

you need an error along the way .

killanena

There is a game dedicated to it. And it sells well lol.
Thats proof enough that a lot of people just enjoy the experience of it.

What I would love to do is my own custom case and water cooling rig. Like build it into a tablet or something. Funds don't allow that in the near future sadly.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/621060/PC_Building_Simulator/

K.O.Kiki

I keep looking at custom loops and thinking "that would be so cool" but I've always managed to buy parts that need special bits

e.g. my new GPU is a Gigabyte G1 Gaming.
Not the greatest performer or PCB, but they changed it juuuuust enough that standard GTX 1080 waterblocks don't fit.

ogsjw

Joeface wrote: »

didn't cost the assembler anything

It's work, and some know-how you have accrued over years. Not saying you must charge people, but the justification is easy to come by.



Look at it as paying someone you know won't build a PC like The Verge guy. :pac:

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I keep looking at custom loops and thinking "that would be so cool" but I've always managed to buy parts that need special bits

e.g. my new GPU is a Gigabyte G1 Gaming.
Not the greatest performer or PCB, but they changed it juuuuust enough that standard GTX 1080 waterblocks don't fit.

They look cool, but I'll never build with watercooling again. It's like SLI for me. Too much ball-ache, on top of existing PC pains. Last time I had a Corsair AIO, and an AIO'd card too. So much coil whine, was the opposite of quiet. Too many reasonably priced or free air cooling propositions that perform great these days. That jayz2cents fella has posted so many videos about how water cooling killed or delayed a rig, or needed a rig to be pulled apart again (that one is too common in particular on his channel), I just shake my head. I got content to create and enjoy, let's get on with it!

TerrorFirmer

I wouldn't get involved with charging just to build though. €50 isn't much good if you accidentally break something and suddenly you owe them an explanation and €2-300.

ogsjw

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I wouldn't get involved with charging just to build though. €50 isn't much good if you accidentally break something and suddenly you owe them an explanation and €2-300.

Not charging absolves you if you break something? Not sure that's the case...



Are you saying you just don't build for people to avoid that scenario? That I could understand.

mordeith

I've only built for myself but I've repaired loads of laptops for people I know (software and hardware). Last job was replacing a screen. I only charge for the parts and a few beers. I just get satisfaction for diagnosing an issue and getting a piece of tech up and working again.

TerrorFirmer

Didn't say that though. Big difference in risk between building once or twice a year for friends or whatever, and actually trying to make money at it by building with parts supplied to you on a regular basis.

Very different to selling full systems where you'd be taking away from a larger profit if you damaged something.

ogsjw

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Didn't say that though.

What does the first sentence in your last post mean in that case?

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I wouldn't get involved with charging just to build though.

TerrorFirmer

Not sure what the issue is but I said

I wouldn't get involved with charging just to build though.

It means exactly what I said? I wouldn't get involved with charging people €50 to assemble PC's for them. There's far too much risk for me.

I've no problem building the odd PC for a friend for free of course, but that's not going to happen more than once or twice a year so the risk is minimal.

Whereas if you decided to start a venture offering to build with supplied components at €50 a pop....you're liable for the full cost of any component damaged during assembly. And obviously you'd be hoping to build a fair few PC's for people rather than just one or two.

ogsjw

So when I said "Are you saying you just don't build for people to avoid that scenario? That I could understand." that is what you meant. Sorry, when you opened with 'didn't say that though' it threw me off. Now I understand. Yeah, the risk is there if you have butterfingers I suppose. Or pets or small children in the hoose.

beauf

Parts can and do fail on install. Also if you make a mistake. It's not worth the risk is you are going to have to cover the cost.

Anyway the point is that there is actually no money in it. Margins are too small. Fun to do but can be a lot of hassle.

ogsjw

beauf wrote: »

Parts can and do fail on install. Also if you make a mistake. It's not worth the risk is you are going to have to cover the cost.

Warranties/consumer rights are a thing for exactly this eventuality, and if you're doing business you should have a contract anyway, in this case, a contract that says parts may be DOA and that may delay a build.

beauf

I was referring not simply doa but the builder damaging something while building it.

ogsjw

And we already covered that I think. Dunno what a seasoned builder would be 'breaking during install' though. PC Building is relatively idiot proof.