What do you all charge?

S

steve617

New Member
I am just curious for those who work on their on what prices do you all charge to remove virus and spyware. I am not actually in the business but seems like I am getting more work by word of mouth. Do you charge an hourly rate or by the job. The last 2 days I have repaired 3 PC's that were customers. 1 took just a little time one took about 3 hours (I could do it faster now) The other at BSOD plus some bad Rogue's which took me about 4 hours. I also updated their systems with a current antivirus and deleted so unneeded programs in their startup. I'm not out to make a living at it but may persue it more of a part time job. Thanks for any info.

Steve
 
this is a tough one, i have just 10 mins ago had a pc dropped of needing sorting out

this person who dropped it off was advised to go to someone who does it for a living, he charged £70 to get rid of a few virus's and get the pc back to working conditon (basicly re-installed windows and added anti virus and firewall-free aditions)

now he dropped it off at mine because i said i would do it for less than half the price

i do it for friends only so i cant charge them full price, some have just given me a case of beer which was nice :)
 
friend rate = pay me in beer or dinner

client rate starts at $75/hour and goes up from there depending on the job
 
I dont ask for anything atall i just hope they give me a little something then if not the next time i see them i charge them :P
 
I like Tlarkin's way. if i know you and i like you, it'll be free or very small.

If we aren't acquaintances, things get pricey :D
 
Well I told them both $20 since I knew them. Both said NO. one gave me $40 and the other I am picking up in a few mins. She called and said she had my money in a envolope and said it was more than $20. One of them I drove to their house about 20 miles to fix it. I figure $20 would cover gas and lunch. I told both they did not have to pay me that much. Both were very happy with their PC's.
 
tlarkin said:
friend rate = pay me in beer or dinner

client rate starts at $75/hour and goes up from there depending on the job
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Yours works well for me.
I have a friend that builds and is an Intel rep.
Fair price for a build. I can't ask for more.
Always good equipment, all the options and tells
me. Very few i have ever charged. Mostly family
and friends. payment is mostly a steak and beer.
if it needed a wipe then might get a little money
but never asked. I try to avoid working on them
mostly. When people call its always a disaster.
12 hrs later have to wipe. If i can't fix it in 2 hours
i will wipe. i will not play with it.
 
$35 an hour for people I don't know. Friends and family practically free.

35 is a steal compared to geek squad etc... I am a college student so it works well for me plus I am not certified, just have a very good understanding of both Macs and PCs though 9 times out of 10 it's a PC problem lol.
 
Depends, friends i just ask for a few bucks, just to reformat or remove viruses i charge people i dont know well varying amounts depending on the intensity of the spyware, usually $25-50 total though. Building a system around $50, maybe more if its a higher end system with watercooling or such.
 
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$25 to remove malware/virus. $50 to actually build a system, install windows and all software needed.
 
I went and picked the money she left today and there was $50 in there. I was very happy and told her on the phone that $20 was plenty. However I did drive 20 miles to their hose and spent about 4 hours on their 2 PC's. So I guess its OK they were happy with the service.
 
I have a set price of 30, for basic virus, malware, os reinstall, cleaning, etc. If it consist of hardware problems or something that takes me well over 4-5 hrs to do i usually charge 50 plus parts.
 
At my computer shop we charge $40 to remove spyware,virus,malware,etc. We charge $30 to reinstall OS. For dust removal we charge $15. For a computer build the costumer pays what we pay for the parts then $75(with XP $90 for vista) to build it. For upgrades or parts replacement it all depends on the part usually it is no more the $30.

For friends I will remove virus,spyware,etc for free. When I build a computer for friends I usually just tell them to pick me up the newest rock or metal CD or pay my way to a movie.
 
I don't really do spyware/virus removal or build computers anymore unless it is for friends and that I just charge beer and/or dinner. I do however do server installs, deployments and data management on the side every now and then for businesses and that I charge $75 an hour for.
 
Man, some of you guys don't value your time, or just value it low.
From what I've seen Tlarkin is at a good price point with $75 per hour being the lowest (not counting friends).

I thought my prices were low at $75 for the first hour and $50 for all remaining. Frankly they are low, however I feel it's a good price point for my services.
I also have a set price for what would be considered an a "Overall Tuneup". Right now that's $95, but I'll most likely raise that to $120 or so.

I completely understand wanting to give people a good value and all that, however are your services and knowledge not worth a fair amount as well?
 
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Well, I have 2 other jobs besides working on computers in my spare time. I only need it to supplement my income, divorced and paying child support takes a lot of money and then trying to pay all the other bills as well.

I also want to give good service and not rape anyone like Geek squad does. I don't want to overcharge and not get repeat business. Sure, I have some clients say that I don't charge enough and will give me more than what I ask for, but thats only a few clients. Right now, my business is only word of mouth, I'm not advertising at all. If I were, I would have to quit my part time job. I just don't want to quit my part time job and have a period of a month or so where i get no computer work, which would actually hurt me. As we all know, computer work can be sporadic at times. I've still got a few lined up to work on but after that nothing. It always seems that it gets busy right before christmas with new system builds.
 
vroom_skies said:
Man, some of you guys don't value your time, or just value it low.
From what I've seen Tlarkin is at a good price point with $75 per hour being the lowest (not counting friends).

I thought my prices were low at $75 for the first hour and $50 for all remaining. Frankly they are low, however I feel it's a good price point for my services.
I also have a set price for what would be considered an a "Overall Tuneup". Right now that's $95, but I'll most likely raise that to $120 or so.

I completely understand wanting to give people a good value and all that, however are your services and knowledge not worth a fair amount as well?
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My rates change on the job. If they want me to set up a 10 computer network it is going to be over $100 and hour easily. If they want me to come in and set up 10 email accounts, well that is easy and I can do that for $75 from my office at home via VPN or remote desktop.
 
johnb35 said:
Well, I have 2 other jobs besides working on computers in my spare time. I only need it to supplement my income, divorced and paying child support takes a lot of money and then trying to pay all the other bills as well.

I also want to give good service and not rape anyone like Geek squad does. I don't want to overcharge and not get repeat business. Sure, I have some clients say that I don't charge enough and will give me more than what I ask for, but thats only a few clients. Right now, my business is only word of mouth, I'm not advertising at all. If I were, I would have to quit my part time job. I just don't want to quit my part time job and have a period of a month or so where i get no computer work, which would actually hurt me. As we all know, computer work can be sporadic at times. I've still got a few lined up to work on but after that nothing. It always seems that it gets busy right before christmas with new system builds.
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Sorry to hear about the first part and I understand your reasoning on the later half. I would just personally find it hard to make the time and go through all the trouble for that amount of pay. However if that's what works for you, then that's that :good:.

tlarkin said:
My rates change on the job. If they want me to set up a 10 computer network it is going to be over $100 and hour easily. If they want me to come in and set up 10 email accounts, well that is easy and I can do that for $75 from my office at home via VPN or remote desktop.
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Very true
 
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