Asking price?

[dyamond]

I was just asked by my friend's boss if I would like to come in and perform maintenance on their pc’s, install programs & printers, etc. They currently have no one, said their last guy was WAY overpriced and did basically nothing and everyone in the office knows about as much as a brick does about computers.

I told them, I'm not the smartest person in the world, I don't have any certs and I can’t promise to fix everything but I can certainly do basic stuff and would love the extra money. Problem is, I have no idea what to charge. I don’t want to make it too high and make it seem like I am ripping them off but I haven’t a clue where to even start asking? Any ideas?

[DavidGP]

Well Dya

I would say it depends on how long you spend their, but say double your normal jobs hourly wage and that should cover it.

or a blanket $50-100 for a basic cleanup (you know CCleaner and defrag etc) then download and install printer drivers, and install what apps they need and once installed do a cleanup with CCleaner and then a reboot to text the apps.

I always do a reboot in front of a client or friend (more likely friends these days I charge a bottle of wine only) just so they know its working and if they call me again that its not working it wasnt something I did as I left it working

[LauraR]

I would agree with David, dy.

Charge them enough to make it worth doing, but you don't want to charge as much as a shop. If they were to take it in and have someone do it, around here, it would be probably $120 from what I've seen.

I'd go with $50-$80 depending on how much they want done and how long you think it'll take you.

[DavidGP]

I would also add, go prepared and have a USB pen with many apps that could aid you in cleaning and maintaning a PC.

So the likes of

Ccleaner
Malwarebytes (good to check for malware while their)
Superantispyware (good to check for malware while their)

Spywareblaster (good to add and tell them it helps it prevent some malwares if they manually updat once a week, show them how to do it)
Defraggler - good got defrags
Revo Uninstaller
Diskdiggler* - good for recovery
Startup Lite* - aids seeing if un-necassary startups are running at boot.
Disable Autorun (but if XP latest updates will have dont this by default)
Cubic Explorer* - is a great free portable (grab the zip file download) Explorer app, good for location files etc
StartupCPL* - good for managing startups, but if you deem them not needed just delete with CCleaners startup option list, but if you want to disable use StartupCPL.


* = USB friendly apps that dont need installing, can get Ccleaner portable and other common geek used apps etc

etc etc on the apps as there are many good free portable apps and ones to install to help you maintain a PC and manage it

[TimW]

How many computers are we talking about? Will you need to do any regular maintenance? If so, how often?

[DavidGP]

Originally Posted by TimW

How many computers are we talking about? Will you need to do any regular maintenance? If so, how often?

Good Point TimW in that if this is going to be like a contract then up front $$ is needed and it may affect what I would charge over a one off, friends rate type thing, as if its for a company bought PC then they may get tax relief on maintanence and that should up your price as they are gettings cash back off your hard work.

Gte a few more details as to what you would be expected to do and for how long, is it a once only deal or a monthly thing.... monthly may actually do you well as it maybe quick easy cash.

[dyamond]

Wow guys! Thanks for all the super fantastic advice! This is why I love you guys!!

Basically, it's a small dental office (my dentist) and he has 2 maybe 3 computers. It would be a continual thing, not just a one time thing, from what I understand. Right now, all he is looking for is someone to de-crapify the PC’s and install a few apps and try to keep them de-crapified and slightly speed things up, if possible. I already informed him that because of the age of the PC's it might not be possible to make them as fast as they once were and he understood that.

[DavidGP]

Hey Dya

Thats sounds good as you already gave them then "it may not make them super quick as Hardware is old" speech, so then your $$$ in and I would buy a 8GB USB pen and add some tools to that for dealing with their PCs (some listed in my post earlier, we can advise on more later), think a $80 a month price is resonable.

Would want to assess the PCs first and run AV apps to see if they are malware infected, run a defrag, upadae Windows and apps and cleanup with a start inital cleanup inspection fee of $100 then $80 per month...

[TimW]

And since it is a Dentists office, you might want to talk them into purchasing a back up hard drive to make sure that all their records and dental info does not get lost due to a crash!! That would add to your initial price and would impress them as to your future thinking!!

[Fred_G]

Barter might be a good option as well, depending on how much you spend on dental care in a year. I do the same type stuff, plus build computers for my old boss, and I get pretty much free car repair, he gets free computer work. I pay for parts, he takes care of labor, and he provides the computer parts, I take care of the labor.

If you go cash per hour, charge at least $50 an hour. But, you can do multiple spyware scans at the same time. I also have an old CRT monitor, keyboard and mouse set up, so if it is a non critical computer, I can take it home, and get it cleaned up, updated, decrapified, and ready to go in a couple of nights at home. All while enjoying a glass of wine, and cruising the forums.

[Colemanguy]

Make sure your not too cheap, as you will become there call because i can't use this mouse right, or other minor issues.