How much to charge for networking installation?

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:41 pm

I've done some hookups within my office, however I agreed to take on an outside job and meet up with another buisness tomorrow to hook up some computers into a network in a small medical office. Im wondering what would be a fair price to charge. I heard that a network install can cost thousands, but I dont want to rip this guy off. I have yet to talk with this guy and figure out how many computers there will be to hook up, but I just want a ballpark idea for the price of say 5 computers. Thanks.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:45 pm

Figure out how long it will take. Than figure out what your hourly rate is, then multiply it by 1.5 in case it takes longer. And tell him it could cost more if problems arise.

Testiculese · Post by **Testiculese** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:52 pm

$40 an hour if you are experienced, $25 otherwise, or if you're young. (It's kind of hard to keep a straight face when a 15yo quotes $40/h)

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 7:51 pm

I had to go to this one office last week to fix a "problem" they were having with IE. The IE desktop icon was gone and the homepage was broken so it always displayed the "cannot find server" error message. I went in, went into desktop properties and restored the IE icon with customize desktop, then loaded the ISPs home page and set it as the browser home page in internet options. At which point their entire problem was fixed and they were happy.

Elapsed time: 20 seconds.
Amount on invoice I sent: $20 dollars.
Rate: $3,600 USD/hour.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 8:02 pm

Testiculese wrote:(It's kind of hard to keep a straight face when a 15yo quotes $40/h)

Hell, $50/hr worked for me...

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:09 pm

For ALL off site work, I charge $40 callout fee, and then $90 + GST per hour thereafter.

I just charge a woman $180 update Norton AV and get rid of spyware. That was 90 mins + 20 mins travel time. She asked me if $180 was enough...

NEVER charge too low!

Instig8 · Post by **Instig8** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:43 pm

Krom wrote:Elapsed time: 20 seconds.
Amount on invoice I sent: $20 dollars.
Rate: $3,600 USD/hour.

You must drive, run or bicycle really fast. Krom got me beat by about $3k/hr.

BTW, I usually take commissions on my work.

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 11:43 pm

Mobius - You charged someone 180 bux to update norton and clean spyware? You friggin sorry bastard. Quit ripping people off.

btw- you ever hear of the expression of "pricing yourself out of existance" ?

I found a local tech charging some lady 120 bux to install a NIC. I about blew my lid. Insane. For 5 minutes and a 7 dollar part, thats alot of friggin money.

[]V[]essenjah · Post by **[]V[]essenjah** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:42 am

Also keep in mind Moby.... word travels fast through the herd.

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:19 am

Capm wrote:Mobius - You charged someone 180 bux to update norton and clean spyware? You friggin sorry bastard. Quit ripping people off.

Roffl

I'm such a wuss when someone asks me to fix things, because I'm such a nice guy I never accept reimbursment. But then again it is usually for friends and its nice having a few favors to pull in.

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:29 am

Er... lol. Just to install an NIC? The company I'm working for at the moment charges about NZ$10 to assemble an entire computer...

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:25 pm

Thanks guys it was alot of help! I got an idea now.

I'm not affraid to charge alot. We had a plumber come in to our house one time because the pipe that carries water produced by the air conditioner (as a result from condensation) got clogged and backed up. All he did in the 20 minutes he was there was cut off the plastic pipe, cleaned it out with a garden hose, re-attached it by gluing it back together, and charged us $120 dollars for something I could have done. Of course I wasn't there at the time. But there are alot of people out there in various professions who try to rip you off.

But thats not my intent, I just want to be fair and not undercharge.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:52 pm

Well, on the job I did for this guys office: he ordered a DSL from the phone company and had me install it for him, so I picked up a linksys BESFX41 router for him, and installed his DSL and while I was at it I installed XP SP2 on one of his computers (the one that had the IE icon disapear no less).

There was a problem with their phone lines and the DSL modem, they had 4 wire phone lines to handle two lines on one cord, which naturally caused big problems with the 2 wire line filters that came with the DSL so I had to have the phone company come out and redo the wires to make the second line work while the DSL was installed.

It was a couple days later when I called up and checked to make sure everything was working properly that they mentioned the problem with that PC, I told them I would come in and fix it. The total invoice I sent them was $150. $80 for the router, $50 for installing it and the DSL and getting their LAN up to speed, and $20 for dropping in and fixing IE.