Need Advice for Computer Repair

[Guest]

Im Working on a PC for A old Teacher of mine (not a school pc.. his Personal Rig) And i want to know how much should i charge?

What I have done so far

Replace PSU (with old but nice PSU didn't cost me anything)

Virus Removal (1 Malware and 4 PUPs)

Cleaned (OMG IT WAS INSANE air wouldn't even clean it so I had to use a pick)

and Reinstalled XP (but with a Custom patch for Security by me)

 

Also for anyone who wants to know, I have put about 3 hours of work into the pc and here are the Specs

 

HP Oem Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 

1gb DDR2 (512 x 2 667)

250gb 7200 Samsung *not an SSD...* HDD running Sata 3

and an Evga 450W PSU

[dalekphalm]

First, before you agree to work on someones computer, you should be very clear and upfront about what it will cost. It's okay if you don't know the exact cost ahead of time, so long as you state in clear terms something like "Flat rates for these things, billed hourly at this rate for everything else".

 

With that in mind, PSU replacement - $25 for the old PSU, another $25 for install.

 

Virus removal, $50

Cleaning $50

OS reinstall (wait.. why did you bother with the Virus Removal?) $100

 

$250 total would be reasonable.

 

With that in mind, many people don't value Computer Repairs properly. So if you wanted to be the "I'll fix it for cheap" guy, you could say $100 or $150 for the entire job.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

First, before you agree to work on someones computer, you should be very clear and upfront about what it will cost. It's okay if you don't know the exact cost ahead of time, so long as you state in clear terms something like "Flat rates for these things, billed hourly at this rate for everything else".

 

With that in mind, PSU replacement - $25 for the old PSU, another $25 for install.

 

Virus removal, $50

Cleaning $50

OS reinstall (wait.. why did you bother with the Virus Removal?) $100

 

$250 total would be reasonable.

 

With that in mind, many people don't value Computer Repairs properly. So if you wanted to be the "I'll fix it for cheap" guy, you could say $100 or $150 for the entire job.

The funny thing is about the viruses is even if I installed the OS the virus is didn't delete so I had to do it virus removal *very odd I know

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Nolanrulesroblox said:

The funny thing is about the viruses is even if I installed the OS the virus is didn't delete so I had to do it virus removal *very odd I know

Uhm... if that's the case, you did it wrong.

 

When installing the OS, it's important to format the HDD during the process. Formatting the HDD wipes all files from it, and any viruses would have been taken with it.

 

Any data backed up before the format would need to be scanned for infection, of course, but that's a different - and easier - process.

[Troy Bantz]

Unless he has a second hdd where the malware was at, a complete reinstall takes care of them 99.9% of the time.  As a business, I did virus removals for $75, quality used psu I would put at $50 installed, and the virus removal, and new os is normally $50, but custom patch i would do $75.

Honestly, since prices were discussed up front, I would charge for the psu, and os install only for $150 especially on a rig that old.

 

We all start somewhere when working with people.  I personally do diagnostics for free while others charge, but I also usually charge more for a particular repair.  Once the work has been ok'd with a price then I complete it.

The $250 quote isn't a bad one either but with a device worth $20 I personally wouldn't be able to quote the customer that.  I would rather tell them this is my quote but go take that money and find a decent used one for the $200 and I will migrate your data for $50.

[zassou]

5 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

With that in mind, PSU replacement - $25 for the old PSU, another $25 for install.

 

Virus removal, $50

Cleaning $50

OS reinstall (wait.. why did you bother with the Virus Removal?) $100

 

$250 total would be reasonable.

 

.....

i would charge 10% for these things, and still make a happy profit. back in my days as a runner for compuiter chopshop, we would charge software stuff for a flat fee of ~5usd. pirated windows ofc.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, zassou said:

.....

i would charge 10% for these things, and still make a happy profit. back in my days as a runner for compuiter chopshop, we would charge software stuff for a flat fee of ~5usd. pirated windows ofc.

I value my time. I get paid pretty well, so if I'm going to do the work, I'm going to charge what I'm worth.

 

So you'd really do all of the work that the OP described for $25? (10% of $250).

 

If you're not established, or your skills are still pretty basic, then by all means, charge less - it's a great way to build a reputation and improve your skills at the same time. But don't undercharge too much either, because you'll start to be known as the "cheap" guy - which is good at first, but long term, it'll make it hard for you to actually charge a reasonable fee.

[zassou]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

I value my time. I get paid pretty well, so if I'm going to do the work, I'm going to charge what I'm worth.

 

So you'd really do all of the work that the OP described for $25? (10% of $250).

 

If you're not established, or your skills are still pretty basic, then by all means, charge less - it's a great way to build a reputation and improve your skills at the same time. But don't undercharge too much either, because you'll start to be known as the "cheap" guy - which is good at first, but long term, it'll make it hard for you to actually charge a reasonable fee.

the whole stuff, probably. if the customer is asking nicely, if not, 40.

 

back then i would do all the work in ~20 usd, cleaning charges seperately. nowadays im not a pro anymore so i dont know the street price, but around here if you can make 25 a day it would be dreamy.

[dalekphalm]

Just now, zassou said:

the whole stuff, probably. back then i would do all the work in ~20 usd, cleaning charges seperately. nowadays im not a pro anymore so i dont know the street price, but around here if you can make 25 a day it would be dreamy.

$25 is less than I make in a hour (not bragging, it's really not even that much in my field). Obviously your local economy (and the economy of your country) plays a huge role in what you can get away with charging.

 

If the average daily income is less than $25, obviously you're not gonna be charging hundreds of dollars.

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Keith W said:

 

 

I would have just told them to keep their money and put it toward buying a new computer. 

 

Did you actually do a total re-install using media? Or did you use a recovery partition? Or system restore? - Viruses can hide themselves in recovery partitions and system restore files.

 

Some viruses will even get into the BIOS and hide out there.

It turns out the Virus was in a Hidden Partition and I (dont ask why im dumb) forgot to format the Disk and Remove all Partitions 

 

4 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

$25 is less than I make in a hour (not bragging, it's really not even that much in my field). Obviously your local economy (and the economy of your country) plays a huge role in what you can get away with charging.

 

If the average daily income is less than $25, obviously you're not gonna be charging hundreds of dollars.

Well Our Area is Pomona CA (i dont live there but i go to school there... the economy is pretty bad here)  

 

4 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

I value my time. I get paid pretty well, so if I'm going to do the work, I'm going to charge what I'm worth.

 

So you'd really do all of the work that the OP described for $25? (10% of $250).

 

If you're not established, or your skills are still pretty basic, then by all means, charge less - it's a great way to build a reputation and improve your skills at the same time. But don't undercharge too much either, because you'll start to be known as the "cheap" guy - which is good at first, but long term, it'll make it hard for you to actually charge a reasonable fee.

Last time I helped the Teacher i Added a Sound Card and 512mb of Ram to the System and Charged 20$ (they were Brand new parts i found in my old tech bin)

[zassou]

4 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

$25 is less than I make in a hour (not bragging, it's really not even that much in my field). Obviously your local economy (and the economy of your country) plays a huge role in what you can get away with charging.

 

If the average daily income is less than $25, obviously you're not gonna be charging hundreds of dollars.

yeah i know, avg monthly income here is merely ~300 usd, and minimum wage is 170, depending on area. before tax ofc.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, zassou said:

yeah i know, avg monthly income here is merely ~300 usd, and minimum wage is 170, depending on area. before tax ofc.

In our Area, the avg Monthly income is around 1300 (around 17k per year) (but there is alot of people on Poverty in Pomona (from what i have seen anyway))

[dalekphalm]

7 hours ago, Nolanrulesroblox said:

It turns out the Virus was in a Hidden Partition and I (dont ask why im dumb) forgot to format the Disk and Remove all Partitions 

 

Well Our Area is Pomona CA (i dont live there but i go to school there... the economy is pretty bad here)  

 

Last time I helped the Teacher i Added a Sound Card and 512mb of Ram to the System and Charged 20$ (they were Brand new parts i found in my old tech bin)

I assume you're pretty young. Primary or High School at most? In such a scenario, doing this kind of work for a low cost isn't inherently a bad thing. Just don't make it a habit over the long term.

 

I would be hesitant to give away parts for free (since that's basically what you're doing), especially if you paid for the parts. If you got them for free, and it's a favour to a friend, then it's not necessarily bad to give away the parts too.

[Guest]

***UPDATE*****

 

I got 40$ for the Repair not bad but not tooooo good now who wants a soda*

 

 

 

Spoiler

*joking