Pricing questions

[carrot]

I do a (very) small amount of consulting for people who want a new computer. It's mostly just people in my neighborhood. I am trying to figure out a way to fairly charge people. My thought was 10% of the parts they buy and 15$ an hour labor (for me to put it together and configure it) I'm not certified in anything though. For those of you who do this kind of thing, Is that a feasible price?
Thanks.

[Erik]

I don't know about the percentage of parts cost. I mean if you are going to be assembling everything, installing the OS and any software I would just come up with some set price. People tend to like knowing it will cost $x for a complete system.

Why would it be any harder/more expensive to setup a top of the line system as compared to a cheap one? Same basic parts being put together, same amount of time to do the work. It just seems odd to me, and personally probably wouldn't pay someone who charged like that.

If it is something you do on a fairly regular basis come up with a few pretty standard systems. Pick like a low, mid and high end setup. Figure out how long it would take to assemble and test, and get setup and ready for delivery. Charge for the parts plus your time. Also make sure it is clear who is supplying what software if any.

[classicsoftware]

$15.00 per hour? Are you a cashier or a PC technician?

Certification means squat. You can do the job or you can't.

How much of a warranty do you want to give?

How long does it take you to build a PC?

[carrot]

The 10% of parts wasn't actully my idea... it was my uncle's and he is the only person I have charged that to.
Certification means squat. You can do the job or you can't.
THANK YOU! That is EXACTLY what I wanted to hear. WOOT!

Anyway, what kind of pricing tier would you guys reccomed?
Thanx for the speedy reply!

[classicsoftware]

Answer the rest of my questions and I can guide you as to what kind of pricing structure you can use.

[sassie05]

Here are a couple of threads with some useful and somewhat related info.


http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=42636

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41786&page=1&pp=25

[saphalline]

Why would it be any harder/more expensive to setup a top of the line system as compared to a cheap one?A system with onboard video & audio with a single stick of RAM and just one optical & hard drive is a lot easier to build and configure than a system with two vid cards in SLI/CrossFire with all 4 sticks of RAM and two optical drives and 4 hard drives! Then if you start adding things like an X-Fi sound card, case lights, 3rd-party cooling devices, etc - the "extras" work can really add up! There are also other tasks that fall into the "extras" work, such as flashing new mobo's with the latest BIOS - which require an older CPU as a "common denominator", so to speak.

When all is said and done, your building fee should be included in the parts. Charge 30% on top of the parts and leave it at that (excluding software of course).

[Erik]

To me that would just be more time spent setting things up and billable hours. I know that the more complex you make a system the harder it will be to configure and get up and working optimally. But also the fact is that a battom of the line PCI-E card and top of the line one will still take the same time and effort to setup.

Charging a percentage of the parts cost as a wy to gauge build complexity, and thus time to complete, is fine. I just think a percentage of the parts plus an hourly wage is an odd choice. One or the other, basically you should end up in the same neighborhood anyway.

[classicsoftware]

I think you should mark up the parts and charge a fee to build it. You have to answer my questions. If it takes you an hour to build it, I think you should mark up the total costs of the parts, include shipping, by about 10% and add $50.00 to build. That's as is with NO warranty. If you are going to replace defective parts you need to charge more.

[saphalline]

But also the fact is that a battom of the line PCI-E card and top of the line one will still take the same time and effort to setup.Not really. Well, perhaps for the actually building part of it, but the percentage on parts (at least for me) includes consultation and system design. A top of the line vid card has special needs, like a more expensive PSU, a better chipset/mobo (to make it worthwhile), and more cooling concerns (which implies a better case and more fans).

But the others have good points. If you can crank out the builds like crazy, then the "build fee" should be small. Or if you can build in parallel (like a long bench with build stations) then the "build fee" should be small. If, however, you can only really work on 1 or 2 systems at a time and if it takes you more than 3 hours to set up a system (which is more realistic if you also install Windows) then you'll need a higher "build fee". Or you could separate your fees into just a hardware build, and a hardware + OS build.

It's up to you. Figure out what works best with your methods.

[carrot]

I thought that i was subscribed via instant email to this thread because i got an email after the first reply. However, I didn't get anymore notices that people had replied so I though it was just another one of my dead topics. :D
Anyway, in response to classicsoftware's questions.
1. No warranty except what the manufacturer provides and even then I let the customer deal with it.
2. It takes me anywhere from 3 to 8 hours to build it and install windows depending on how many problems I run into.

Thanx again for all the help!

[classicsoftware]

Ok, so lets say you buy the parts for $300.00 + 10.00 shipping. Mark it up 10% and you got $341.00. Now ad $100.00 bucks to build and you get a total profit of $131.00 for three hours work. About $40.00 per hour round figures. Thet get a custom built system for $450.00.....

This is on a system with no add in cards.

No go for a high end system with add in video and sound card and build it for $150.00 + parts...

That's what I would recommend.

Simple system with everything on board cost +10% +100.00

More Complicated system cost+ 10% +$150.00...

Play with the numbers and see if this makes sense to you....