If you were asked to....

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Build a PC for someone how much would you charge or would you do it for free?

Monkey

 

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If for a friend, I'd do it for sh1ts and giggles. For a living, I would charge maybe 10 - 15 % of the cost of the system. God knows if that's a realistic fee or not, I think I may put a minimum of £60 or something like that.

 

i'm dutch and jewish. i don't do anything for free.

aaanyway, it really depends on who it is. if it's someone really really close to me, sure, i'd do it for free (meaning the hours i put in, not the cost of the components). if it's just a relative or an acquaintance, i might charge either by the hour or for the whole deal.

 

How much do you charge for the hour
(And yes...I'm still talking about PC's)

Monkey

 

hehe, as for pcs, it depends, on my available time, the person i'm doing it for, the complexity of the system. about €10,= per hour as an average.

 

look i can build a pc in 30 min... so 25 quid should be good.. if it takes longer 30...

 

Ummm.... Really? It takes me a lot longer than that, especially if it's a Windows pc. Installing the OS, all patches, and the necessary security software takes a long time as I won't put allow a computer out the door that I wouldn't put my name on, and an unsafe, no OS computer is not something I would put my name on. If I'm installing Debian it doesn't take me nearly as long to get the PC up and running.

Since no PC can be considered to "built" until it's usable, just how do you figure you can build on in 30 minutes?

 

I charge £50 standard as it takes roughly 3hrs to build the system and install all the software needed and any updates. If it takes longer like about 6hrs for a serious machine then we're talking about £80 or more. recently I have been fixing alot of my friends PCs and when I tell them I normally charge £20 for that kinda thing they still turn their noses up!! I mean most places charge you loads more...but I am nice so I do it for free...but I expect something in return if it aint cash...haha...so Zimbo how can u build a machine in 30min?

 

Thanks everyone for the reply.

The reason I was asking was I have been asked to build a PC by a work colleague. The budget is £299.00, he wants 512MB, 17"TFT and a printer that's all in one.

He said he would consider going extra for a decent monitor.

He's a complete novice when it comes to computers and still hasn't worked out where the on button is.

However, he has had a couple of quotes from local computer places. He said he wants to use it for surfing the net and admin.

Any suggestions?

Monkey

 

Thanks Arroryn that's good advice, I can see problems already arising considering the fact he doesn't know much about PC. I'm sure he would be on the phone to me a lot!

Monkey

 

Agrrr!! i knew i should have edited that meant before installing the OS!

 

I am just finishing a build for a friend. It is being done on a semi-business level. I put a 2.4 gig 64-bit AMD processor, a gig of ram, an NVidia card with 256 megs of ram, a 250 gig hard drive, a DVD/CD r/w drive, a new case and a 450 watt power supply. The motherboard has built in 6 channel sound, firewire, 6 usb ports, and ethernet card.

I built it as a dual-boot XP Pro and Debian machine, and charged $1020 dollars for it. $700 of that went into my cost on parts and I will deliver it to him next time I go to the town where he lives. I also installed the hard drive from his old el cheapo computer as a secondary hard drive.

 

building a machine in 30 mins isnt out of the question
building one to a decent standard without a fully automated production line might well be though!
i generally tend to spend a good few hours building a system where possible, and do fresh installs of all the OS and patches (unattended ofcourse) rather than imaging the hard disk, i cable tie in the right places to allow optimum air flow, and run several load simulations over the course of an evening to make sure all the hardware is not DOA or nDOA

 

cable ties.... hmmm, i might well try that trick? any other tips?

 

wow, I know there is a difference with currency, but I think you guys are cheap. I know people that charge $20 to $25 an hour, plus gas if they have to go pick up parts. And a minimum of $25 even if they just walk in the door to push the cord all the way in the outlet.

 

Cables ties are a must have CM, specially if you ever work on that comp again. Makes life easier. I even like to cable up all the cords behind the desk so they aren't all over the place. I have nice bright yellow and orange ones. Prettyyyyyyyyyyy.

Can I get a mod to remove this second post. I don't know how I manage to post the same thing 5 mins apart.

 

Very True Sparky, do you charge for the support?

Does it come under emergency call out charges like plumbers do?

That's the bit I'm not sure about!

I like to help people as much as I can, after all good advice should be free. Unlike PC world who offer bad advice and charge you!

Monkey