for those who build pc's for an income

[John Prophet]

Well I disagree somewhat that a home based guy cant sell and compete. I can sell em all day for 699 and make some decent profit. (not saying I DO sell em all day, but saying that at that price there is still some profit margin). Of course the trick is getting stuff cheap, like tons of rebate stuff! lol.

Anyway, I will tell you about a little job I just did.

I was laying in the bed praying, lol..."Uhh, Lord, uh, maybe I need a sign about this work at home stuff, etc etc"...so before I get the words out of my mouth the phone rings. Some guy wants to know if I can come out and look at his computer....said he got my name from some dude which I never heard of. So I get there and he has my name written down on a piece of paper and beside it the name of my business which is on my business cards...now, I have only ever printed up like 10 business cards sofar! lol...and a few flyers etc....my aunt has a cafe style restaraunt that does probably a few thousand peeps a week so I put flyers up along the wall where her customers have to stand and wait anyway. But I dont think any of those flyers had my biz name on them. They were just for used dells etc.

So I have no CLUE how my name got around to this guy.

Anyway, I go to his house...he has a Dell that came with ME and he has put upgrade XP home on it....said he been having probs since he put XP on there and it been going downhill for a while...he also had a few viruses in quarantine etc. He let his antivirus run out and had tried to put Mcafee on after the fact but it was 2 late. So anyway, I told him straight up that I would be better off to just reisntall the XP from scratch. So I took it home and formatted/reinstalled...I saved his email address book and his favorites and a few things like My Documents. (ez CD Creator5 plat snagged me a little until I found out it needs a patch for xp).

So I took it back out to him the next day, installed a few progs he had, like Mem turbo, weatherBug etc. He has cable and of course XP recognized that without any work on my part. I also did the Windows Updates while I was there.

So I guess I had maybe 3-5 hours in it...plus two trips to his house. He never asked ahead of time what I was charging...and I havent figured out a good standard rate yet...so I was thinking $50 then I figured it wasnt enough so I figured $75 wuld be a little better. So I had to go to my car and he said "tell me what I owe you and I will go ahead and write the check out" so I said "Oh I figure about $75 will cover it"...and he said something like "well thats very reasonable" or something similar. So when I got back inside he handed it to me and said "i went ahead and made it out for $80". Thats the second time someone has done that. So possibly he was expecting to pay more like $100 or something. I am still feeling out what to charge etc. the local store I used to work at charges $49 flat fee for repairs if you bring it in and $49/hr if they go out.

So it is possible to get your name out there with a little effort. You could concievably buy cheap advertising for instance like at a restaraunt where tons of peeps come thru the line every week...offer to give the owner some $$$ or $25 from every sale you make or something like that. Another idea I had is to put up flyers on the mirrors at the place I get my haircut...they have these huge mirrors sitting there with very little on them....think of the 1000s of peeps going thru there weekly...sitting there bored....peeps of all demographic varieties...MANY of whom will buy comps, cd burners etc, and many who need some tech work.

A high school teacher of mine found out I sell comps and he wanted me to help him pick out one and wanted me to install it etc...so to make a long story short he wanted a dell and he went to this place in town and they quoted him 1050 plus tax so I quoted him same EXACT system, installed for 1050 no tax, lol. I will end up paying about $834 total for it...(I got it without speakers and modem, and I picked up the EXACT hk206 speakers and logitech Dell oem mouse at directron and saved about $25 right there.) of course he could have waded thru dells website and got the same deal...but he wanted someone to set it up for him and hook up his old printer etc. So for a few hours work I will net over $200. So IT IS possible. (I hate that there is a Dell dealer in town though...yuck, thats even worse than the online stuff.)

The people I rent from own several large apt complexes here in town...they were here putting a new tub surround in and dude sees my comps sitting around and starts asking me about them etc...I told him I sell them etc...he says "well you oughtta go over and sell one to (the peeps who I rent from)"...he said they are getting ready to buy 3 and have not decided who to go with yet. So there is business out there to have.

to me, they key is SERVICE, as in the personal touch....I have heard LOTS of reitree aged people saying they would get comps but they dont know how to work em etc etc. these peeps have some disposable income to spend and if you spend some time helping them then there is $$$ to be made. the dude I just did the work for was very appreciative , he said "you dont know how much I appreciate this"...and he said he will probably get a DVD player from me soon cuz his grandson wants to watch dvds. So you see that good business leads to MORE business.

if you one is a good, honest person and are willing to take some time with people then I think you can find a market. I have just started doing this so word hasnt had time to get around much but its only a matetr of time since I leave my customers happy. if one is a lowlife cheat and just wants the peeps $$$...hehe, good luck buddy.

I have a feeling that if you do right by people you can have more business than you can handle pretty quickly. of course I am single and it doesnt take much for me to make ends meet, but this is ALL I have been doing for a few months now....beats the heck out of working for the crook I used to work for and getting $8.25 hr to do the same stuff.

JP

yeah, I agree with what partsman says about the image. I have a little tercel and I never wash it, lol...so I now that doesnt look too good when I pull up to a persons house. Plus I have a beard! (egad, we all know you cant trust peeps with beards).

But I think image is very important and a home based guy could go as far as getting a certain outfit he wears...something along the lines a comp tech or phone tech type outfit. And have your house clean if they come by to look at comps etc. So far I havent done any of those things but I SHOULD be doing them...there is always room for improvement. you can be PROFFESIONAL even if you work at home. When you print up flyers, make em look great and dont misspell like I do in my threads!

[John Prophet]

Whats a "whiteout"? lol. You mean snow?

Oh yeah, another idea....you sort of want to think about what circles your word of mouth is going too. There were tons of customers who came into the store I used to work at who I WOULD NOT care to have as a customer of mine. Think of it this way...the customer Tazman spoke of...with the old ragged out junkheap, trying to nurse it along, who has to wait till payday to pay etc etc. I wouldnt even bother with peeps like that, and you can probably screen em out on the phone....just tell em its $30 just to come out or something like that.

The main reason is to think about the customer base you want....this dude who drives a 74 pinto, lives in a '69 streamliner mobile home, makes $17000 a year and has 4 kids.....is he going to have any money to spend on comp stuff?? And he will be the guy most likely trying to get something for nothing and the guy who whines the most cuz you cant turn his piece of junk into a screamer for free. he is the guy who calls you out to do one simple thing but he doesnt tell you about the 97 other major problems with the comp. AND HERE IS THE MAIN PART.....what kind of friends does this guy have???? DO YOU THINK HE HANGS OUT WITH CEOS?? Uhh, I doubt it, he probably has a circle of friends and co workers who are more or less in the same boat with him. So even if you make $10 net after driving out to him...what kind of word-of-mouth will he give you??? More guys like him calling you??? No thanks. So that is one thing to consider. This guy I just did the work for....I hope he tells allllll his friends....cuz the people he knows are probably retirees like himself who are doing okay and like computers as a way to pass the time...they are not gonna be gamers who need constant attention...and they arent going to nurse along a P133....they dont mind spending $$$ if you give them their moneys worth.

So if you set yourself up as a "handyman" or something like that, I think you are setting yourself up for small returns on your time investment. Better to try to set yourself up as a premium type guy...a guy who knows his stuff and is punctual and efficient. A guy who listens and can handle the questions or find the answer quickly. There are peeps who go to the dealer and pay BIG bucks to get their cars worked on and then there are guys limping around with 400000mile beaters who go to "some guy that uncle cooter knows". Which customers do YOU want?? Which type of tech do YOU want to be. A little thought along these lines goes a long way.

To me if you offer to come out TO the people and TAKE YOUR TIME with them and explain things to them and help them get the most from their computer...to me that is a PREMIUM service...even Dell doesnt do all that. And if you do that you shouldnt feel bad about getting paid decently to do it.

What you also have to KNOW is that peeps today are LAZY and people are BUSY also....so take that into consideration...MAKE IT EASY for the people....you do all the legwork for them and they will pay you for it. but dont mess around with dreamers who arent realistic...thats like a black hole.

JP

[ragtop]

Just like any other business, you gotta do your homework. Call up a few places in your area to find out what they charge, and start out by charging a bit less to get some customers. If/when your name gets around and business starts to take off, you can start to increase your prices a little bit.

Just don't forget that once you start doing work for people, you have to be available to provide tech support whether you want to or not. Some people just have a habit of messing things up. You might install a new hard drive for a guy, then two months later his motherboard takes a dump and he blames you for it and expects you to pay for it. Fortunately that's only a minority - but you have to be willing to deal with those cases when they arise.

[Dokeman]

i own a computer shop and my reates are as follows

$45/hr in store labor, 1hr min
$75/hr on-site, 1hr min.

Never had too many complaints or nuthing like that. I have had a few ppl complain i came to their house and stayed 5 min and then handed them a $75 dollar bill. But other than that, not too much. Not that i would care if they did complain. I would just remind them that they are b*tching on the their dime

[John Prophet]

True...one idea that might come in handy is to make a ghosted image of someone comp either before you work on it or after, depending on the situation. If its a repair I would make one before in case they try to say you messed it up worse lol...you can always say.."no problem, let me put those 47 viruses right back on for you and Ill be on my way"

if its a new build you could keep a ghost handy for the 47 times they call back and have a problem, like they got a virus or something or their grandkids deleted files or whatever....that ghost could save some time.

Also , what I usually try to do is just flat out tell them that some probs just cant be fixed without a rebuild. And also the old line that car mechanics use "buddy, I wouldnt put any more money into that if I were you"......that way you canscreen the 10-15% of calls that are going to be those nightmare things like some dude trying to watch dvds on a p133 with 14 viruses.

In the case of the hard drive I would just flat tell him a hard drive has nothing to do with a motherboard going bad...but yeah, those peeps are ruff to deal with...thats why in the long run you come out ahead with a little selective screening.

Case in point...my ex boss sold this comp to a lady who didnt like the bosses wife...they had some sort of family disagreement etc...that was mistake #1...mistake #2 was selling her an emachine (a mistake no matter who you sell it too)...mistake #3 was upselling her the whole enchilada, printer, scanner etc etc...more to go wrong. Ends up we were out there like every other day...she lived in the sticks and wasnt pleased with her modem performance...(hehe, county phone lines, you know the story)..then this went wrong, that went wrong...she got mad at several of the employees..the boss came down telling us to handle her with kid gloves etc etc....I wanted to ask him was the sale really worth it. And he knew she would be a problem AHEAD OF TIME...how could he NOT KNOW???? So I would say there are times when you dont really want the sale/business.
JP

[Tazman]

True...one idea that might come in handy is to make a ghosted image of someone comp either before you work on it or after, depending on the situation. If its a repair I would make one before in case they try to say you messed it up worse lol...you can always say.."no problem, let me put those 47 viruses right back on for you and Ill be on my way"

JP - I actually have done that . I was upgrading a VERY old HP for a Jaguar dealership. That was their main computer that the billing, etc. was done on. They were running Win 95 with 32MB of ram on a 2gig HDD. This was last year btw. The office manager used Works for productivity, no anti-virus protection (30+ viruses). Anyway, I threw in more memory, hard drive, burner for backups, and ran a bunch of tweaks. She kept calling saying her printer wasn't working (wasn't on ), her fax program wasn't working (Win Fax took over when I installed Systemworks). Anyway, her pestering me and calling me back 5 times in 3 days was enough. I went back there the final time, told her I was gonna restore the computer EXACTLY the way it was before I first got there, pay me for the parts, forget the labor 'cuz if a Jag dealer can't afford to buy a new computer to replace a six year old one they can't afford to pay me for the hassle this "lady" was giving me. She got all of her problems back and seemed happy .

As for everything else you said, I couldn't agree more. I think what you've said about service, information, market, integrity would hit the nail right on the head with my business. If any of my customers (NY and FL) read what you wrote, they would say that descibes me to the "T". I go the extra 20 miles and put 200% in what I do. I am also confident that there isn't any shop within 200 miles (if not more) that can match the price / workmanship / service / Window tweaks that I do. I know that for fact. As do my customers. Problem is there aren't a whole lot of knowledgeable people in this area. That and the fact that it seems nobody wants to spend money.

As for the seniors, I have found a huge calling for what you said when I'm in Florida and will persue it when I back down there in a few weeks. I really don't mind teaching people - from purchasing and what to look for, explaining emails / anti virus, digital photos, etc. as long as they retain it. I have gotten so sick of spending an average of 7 hours per day on the phone to the same customers on how to defrag or why they can't get online (umm, call your ISP, not me). When I say I'm gonna start charging phone time I'm suddenly the a$$. How many other people are on the phone telling people how to get a better print image of thier photo at 11pm. I guess they don't relize I start at 5am and got to 12am 7 days per week. To them, they are the only customer (I guess it should be that way).

Anyhew, I'm not normally as cynical as my previous post - just one of those weeks .

BTW JP, if you keep on the same line of thought I have no doubt that you will find much sucsess in anything you do.

Mike

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

That is the only thing I fear, are the people that assume that techsupport is free and anytime they call, I helped This guy, (who had a relic, I was running a Duron 750, but Athlon 1.2's were out I know that. His was a 486 DX33 4Mb memory and a huge 200Mb hard drive, well he wanted everything in the world installed (har har) Was running Win95OSR2 (to keep size down no need to upgrade) then he bought a fax/multipurpse center, hooked it up, that wouldn't work, I ended up fixing that, then he calls me freaking saying there is something wrong with his keyboard, he won't read the description of the error, I go there and it's keyboard stuck failure (his space bar was wedged down) then it was a program said it wouldn't run without more memory, It was just horrible. I later stopped returning his calls, and told him that if he wanted anything else done with his machine or any kind of tech support he would have to replace the computer, he hasn't called back since.

[Emc2]

dear...god...you people write too much sometimes....I haven't read everything above, but here's my $0.02

Seriously, professionalism is a must if you want any kind of client base. And by learning a few selling techniques and the right lingo, you could sell joe down the street your old system and make him think the world of it.

And then, on top of that, you can't try to convince someone that they need more power, when in all actuality, they can live off of a geforce2 32mb card, 20gb hard drive, 12X burner, and onboard sound with $25 speakers. Many could live off a celeron rather than a Pentium 4, and the same would be true for Durons if they were still around.

You really have to know the clients in your area. Start with friends, co-workers, or acquaintences, and word of mouth will eventually spread.

And no matter how stupid about computers they may seem, you cannot think of them as complete idiots! Period. If you do, you'll probably wind up just like Byte M.E. Computers...

More so in my case as I have developed a very bad case of impaitience for idiots

tisk, tisk...what did people call you when you got your first computer? Looking back, what would you call yourself?

[elroy]

I've found most home users won't pay for the time involved. They don' t realize how much time it takes to install a new HD, new O/S, new anti virus, media player, internet connection etc etc etc. Then tweak and adjust everything to perfection. Of course when I take it back it runs like new or usually better than new. But you start telling a home user it is $50 an hour for 4 or 5 hours and they turn pale and look like they're going to seize up.

[Retsel77]

Hi all, this is my first time in these forums. It seems very cool so far. Well back to the topic at hand, I am also considering doing pc repair and techical support as a side business. Now my question is what kind of tools (i.e. laptop, screwdrivers, etc.) does one need to start this business? And what do you guys take with you to the customer's place?

Retsel