Tech Advice...

§corpion

Some advice please..

I've been asked to take a look at a small office situation, reinstall some corrupt installions of windows, update drivers, install some hardware and buy whatever is needed..

Just wondering what's a reasonable price to charge for this? It's a once off kind of thing that shouldn't take very long..

Any info appreciated

Clinical Waste

.....shouldn't take very long is a famous last saying, and assuming it to be a once off also.
Read the "How much for services" thread for examples on what people are charging.

Odian

Scorp. look at this

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39523

Typedef

I'd say do it for free.
Most work like that I do, do for free, simply because I enjoy it. I do techie type jobs for people, but not because I want nor expect financial remuneration for it, simply because I enjoy pitting my wits against the ailement real or imagined of a system or network. If someone hands me money I generally accept it out of politeness, but in real world terms when I fix a pc and someone says, how much money do you want? I say , none, I do the job because I want to do it not for money, I work for money, but when someone asks me to fix a pc, as I am no longer a pc tech(officially), but a programmer/code_monkey whatever you want to call it, I am flattered, and don't expect payment, fixing the thing is payment enough, I enjoy it. I don't think that is perverse.

I personally would not take 100 quid old money from an individual, I would take 50 out of politeness, but in reality I would not feel right taking anything more than 30 quid old money. Here is the thing though, I always feel uneasy when people insist on paying me for fixing a pc, I would really rather not get paid, I gave up getting paid for that sort of lark and I only do it for fun now end of story, yet in the interests of not offending people I take the money.

That said if you are working for a company and if that company has money, take it, take it all, as much as you can get, companies are things not people, individuals, different story, at least that's the way I would think on this.

irishguy

i will post in this thread as i dont want to be resurecting old threads.do ye actualy charge these rates to 1)friends 2)aquaintents 3) relations? . and how do ye drum up business i would like some casual, part time, light work .mainly because i am going to collage and also i am only 18 and people would laugh at me if i charged them €30 or €40 per hour and would think me uncapeable of undertaking larger projects. although i am fully calple of doing the vast majority of the work its another thing people are hung up on is age if i was 30 with the same knowlage people would be falling over themselves to pay me €30 per hour

Kali

I'd tend to agree with TypeDef here... if I'm asked by a friend or relative to have a look at something, I'll do it, and I will never ask for money in those situations.. if they're nice they'll give you money, if they don't just don't fix their stuff again... all about being polite.

If its a business type situation I'd expect to be paid (two visits of which I have to do tomorrow).. and generally if its done in a formal way they'll ask how much it is... I don't have a fixed fee, I'll charge depending on the job.. anywhere from €50 upwards depending on difficulty, also its obvious but never take the people you do jobs for as being thick when it comes to computers and say it was hard/time-consuming when it wasn't... chances are theres someone in the office who does know a bit and your screwed (I happened to be that person in the office quite a few times in the past heh)

MiCr0

for family etc i charge 1 dinner in their house, cuz it always takes an evening, regardless if you went to reinstall calc or re-roll an os and install scsi everything.
it works out well for every one

Gerry

very good point typedef, its something which is always on my mind when doing a job for friends or relatives. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of refusing the money when they invariably offer, as I am usually quite broke. Back in the day, I used to put up quite a good show of refusing cash from friends of friends or whatever

Quite the ****ing pisser when they don't offer any money though. Worse are the friends (in the vaguest sense, usually friends of friends of friends) who think you will enjoy reinstalling windows for free for them. i.e. you know well beforehand that they aren't going to offer any money.

I'm happy to take 30 quid for a job if I know they are intelligent enough not to be bothering me with every little problem.

I'd consider some of the prices on the other thread a little excessive, as installing windows, office and drivers is not exactly a taxing job. Even if it does take a few hours, it only requires your attention for a tiny fraction of that.

I'm going to charge more in future for little jobs though, because people tend to hold you responsible for everything anyway, whether they paid you well or not.

Clinical Waste

So what if its "not exactly taxing". Its still doing something for someone else who more often than not can & may just exploit you especially if you are cheap/free. Its still using knowledge that you learnt that they couldn't be arsed doing. And never will learn because they have you , their "family" pc expert to keep their Packard-Bells from falling over.
Mechanics, electricians, plumbers, accountants, etc don't exactly do rocket science stuff, but we pay thru the nose for their services without question. All they did was learn their stuff.

I ALWAYS charge, and I always do a good job for it.
If it beyond my help, it goes back to the shop, and I don't charge.

Life's way to short to spend it F*uckin around with other peoples PC problems without gain.

(Do you spend loads of money to impress girls in the hope that just want to be Friends?)

Gerry

As I've said several times already, it depends greatly on who you area doing the work for. For a business, or an idiot, charge more since you will get more hassle.