Anyone repair/build computers 'on the side?'

[TechHead87]

A buddy and myself (mainly myself) are thinking about repairing/building computers on the side. Would being "certified" help business any? What about insurance in case of accidental FUBAR?

What are good prices to charge for software/hardware repairs? What about building from scratch?

I met someone who wants me to build them one from scratch. They are willing to buy parts. What should I charge?

 

[effowe]

Good luck on getting any good business. There are tons of people out there doing the same thing, it will be hell trying to compete with them with such a small operation.

 

[Nik]

The market is completely flooded with people doing the same thing. Unless you have some serious capital to get you started, you don't have a chance. There have been COUNTLESS threads on these forums about the exact same thing and the advice is always the same -and always right!

Plain and simple good advice? Don't.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Good luck.

 

[mchammer]

I bet people would like in home setup and repair services for a reasonable price. I for one would not want to go in to a stragers house and fix their PC they probably look at porno on. You however may know the art of ninjitsu, and have nothing to worry about.

 

[clickynext]

I do it for free to help people out... the above posters are right, the market is full. Most people will want to go to a proper store to buy a built computer. The rest will either go to their computer-knowledgeable friends, or other people like you doing the exact same thing.

 

[TechHead87]

I've mostly been doing it to help out people I know (100% success rate so far, knock on wood). But now, it's like all their friends are needing help. I work a full-time job, so it's hard for me to find time to fix their systems.

Now, I'd be MORE than willing to make 50+ bucks and take a 'sick day' from my crumby full-time job to help others out.

 

[ScottFern]

Have you looked on craigslist lately? Everyone and their mother has a home PC repair/building business. I thought about it, but decided it wouldn't be worth the pain.

 

[theknight571]

I've thought about it too... and to me it's not worth the hassle.

I work on family/firends PC's for free ( oops...I mean beer ).

I did, build a PC for someone that my neighbor knew and I tried to make it fool proof.... but after 10+ support calls in the first week... I said to myself... never again. I now help people who ask me to build a PC for them buy a Dell, unless I know they know what they're doing.

I also hesitate because I don't want to be trying to clean up a virus and accidently wipe out a hard drive... I don't want to be the one to wipe out a lifetime of pictures... just not worth it.

 

[Tobolo]

I have done this the past year or so. Its definetely not a full time thing. Around I was charging $50.00 per hour for a house call. As for building a comp. You should buy the parts and then give them one whole price. BUT it will be hard to make it worth for them cause Windows XP is $200 for a new version. For an extra 100 you can but a new dell with monitor and everything.

 

[waggy]

nope nobody on ATOT has ever thought of this before. heck the market is in need of some geeks thinking they can do it!

 

[Fritzo]

I did this for a while, and would never do it again. People in general are a pain in the ass to deal with. No matter what you do or how "certified" you are, people are going to complain about how you screwed them over and how "crappy the computer you made is". Expect 11pm phone calls from the guy that can't stop cranking it on porn sites and yelling because his computer keeps trying to call India. Expect grandma to call at 7am because the "yellow thingie isn't opening up the blue square and letting her see stuff." Expect Joe Business to call because he blew out a power supply and he's loosing $10000/hr because of this (yet he deemed it safe to spend $400 on a computer), mostly due to the fact that he has his computer plugged into a 50 ft. extension cord that in turn is plugged into 1 outlet with 8 other devices and the circuit breaker keeps popping.

These are all actual problems I had to deal with, and I only did this for a year. No thanks. Go buy a Dell.