DescentBB

Anyone know what the going rate is for on-site service?

A buddy of mine, his neighbor's tree got struck by lightening. Set the neighbors house on fire. It also took out several things in his house, including his PC.

I went over and checked it out, determined is MoBo, CPU or RAM was toast.

He ordered a new MoBo, CPU, RAM, and a new HD just in case (Good thing too cause the old one wouldn't boot but could still be accessed).

Anyway, removed the old equipment, installed the new stuff. Re-Installed his OS (Vista Upgrade, so had to install XP First then run the upgrade), once the drivers were loaded I started recovering the data off his old drive, copying it to his new one.

In total, from initial Diag to system restored, took around 4-6 hours.

I was not going to charge him anything but he insisted, said his home owners insurance would cover it.

Any ideas on what I should bill it for?

The going rate to get a professional tech to your house is about $100/hour.

Well i think the going rate should be whatever it costs for a new desktop or laptop for you

I myself when I do work people I usually charge about $35 or so a hour, and I am also very considerate if I am running a virus scan or just sitting through a OS reinstall, to be flexable on not charging a whole hour just for me sitting there.

I charge $40/hour for the first hour, and then $20/hour after that. So for a 5 hour visit I would charge $120.

I charge flat rates. Consultation is $40. Standard labor fee is $65. If it's severe work such as storm damage, data recovery, or massive spyware cleanup, my rates can vary from the standard $65 to $150 or more, depending on how much work it was.

For a job like that, I'd ask for $80 or $140.

Data Recovery was the big part - had to move all his documents off an old drive onto the new one, as well re-install a bunch of Apps and import their data off the old drive

(simple copy from the old drive woulnd't work)

All in all - I spent prob a total of 6 hours working on it, at less than $50/hour. (Bill was $275, and was itemized)

Again - I was not going to charge him at all because hes a friend, but since Insurance is paying for it, he insisted. Just wanted to write down a fair price.

Thanks guys.

Good choice. Every place that I have worked professionally, I've charged $50/hr and I was very easy going about certain things such as sitting through a virus scan or data recovery. If I did the job on-site, I would charge the full rate, but if I could take it back to the lab where I could work on it over a period of time while doing other things as I waited... I wouldn't charge the full amount of time that I spent on it. That way, it would encourage the customer to allow me to take it with me where I could work on it, while I could accomplish other goals at the same time, such as running the store and taking calls or working on other PCs.

I've never charged $100/hr though. That is a bit pricey for most of my customers and they won't bite and go somewhere else that charges less.

If the machine is too badly damaged, and the price range is nearly what they could spend on a new machine, I always tell them buy a new machine if the price is too high. If it has a warranty, I tell them to send it back over going through a repair and advise data recovery.

If it is a client from a certain business that is likely to be a repeat customer and bring a lot of business in, I may charge lower rates or not charge all the hours to ensure that I satisfy that customer completely.

I wouldn't leave the house for under 500.00

Roger that.