considering starting a custom PC building service in my local area

[mobobuff]

Custom computer service businesses only USUALLY work in small towns, and even then your advertisement tactics have to be top-notch, as well as your service (obviously).

 

[RaiderJ]

I say keep hobbies just that - don't confuse them with work!

 

[OutHouse]

considering starting a custom PC building service in my local area

you really have no clue on how much money and time a venture like this will cost you.

I dont even work on friends or families computers. once you pop that case or do a windows update they own your ass and will call you for EVERYTHING.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: tranceport
repost.


This thread will end up with you realizing you cannot compete with dell.

Depressing, but you're absolutely right.

However, you can compete with Best Buy and other shops on computer services, since you can reproduce your intellectual property practically on demand at very little cost. Your intellectual property is your knowledge, skill, and experience, which you can leverage without expenses that Best Buy has such as retail space, employees, huge utility bills, et. al.

Services such as repairs, upgrades, networking (wired or wireless), security, internet setup, remote administration, backup and restore solutions, training and education are all in fair demand and will be as long as there are computers. You could even branch out into digital home convergence and integration of the PC with home theatre or automation. You'd be surprised at the number of people who buy sh-t then need help with installation and setup. They often would rather pay a knowledgeable person to assist them in-home than to use the 'toll free' number and be put on hold for an hour, only to have Radishma try to guide them through it in broken English all the way from Calcutta.

Agree with this. Forget the hardware, there's no margin in it and it will be a pain. Do the services. You can easily beat Geek Squad prices and you will know that since a person paid for a service the first time, they don't expect free service the next time--so "tech support" has an associated cost every time. And technically assisting non-technical users will, as mentioned, always be in demand. It is more flexible than the hardware arena, no stock to worry about, not any of that nonsense. Going into a private PC business now would be like trying to start a garage within which you make cars from scratch. You cannot compete with Ford or Toyota, so don't bother. What you can do is fix cars, though...what you can also do is general maintenance, troubleshooting, virus cleaning, network setting up, maybe even cabling and all that for computers and home video or basically any gadgetry crap people don't know how to do or don't want to do.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: Citrix

considering starting a custom PC building service in my local area

you really have no clue on how much money and time a venture like this will cost you.

Not to mention how much of your sanity.

Nothing better than a frantic call while you're eating dinner because some granny "can't find her internet." And don't think you'll get away with that 30 days of support crap, you will get calls months and maybe even years later. Plus god forbid you install one of these computers and the next day their dishwasher stops working, because you can bet your ass your computer caused it.

 

[OOBradm]

#1, just to back myself up, I had a low end computer built on newegg for $308 including OEM winxp.

I appreciate all of the advice from people who have attempted this before. Living in a college town, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a market here for computer repair/virus removal/etc. Perhaps I'll go that route.... and when I get home back to my small town where I am essentially "that smart computer kid", I'll take some time to tell all of the people i've helped to spread the word to any of their friends that need any sort of computer help. And up at college here, i'll post flyers around campus for cheap repairs/upgrades/installations and show my prices compared to geek squad.

Sounds less risky, easier for me, and still lucrative enough for me to afford pizza money

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Consulting is where the money is, custom pc business bubble burst about 8 years ago

 

[Marinski]

why spend $1000 on a customn built pc when you can get an HP pc, monitor, and printer combo for $500

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: OOBradm
#1, just to back myself up, I had a low end computer built on newegg for $308 including OEM winxp.

i will have to call shens on that.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: OOBradm
#1, just to back myself up, I had a low end computer built on newegg for $308 including OEM winxp.

I appreciate all of the advice from people who have attempted this before. Living in a college town, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a market here for computer repair/virus removal/etc. Perhaps I'll go that route.... and when I get home back to my small town where I am essentially "that smart computer kid", I'll take some time to tell all of the people i've helped to spread the word to any of their friends that need any sort of computer help. And up at college here, i'll post flyers around campus for cheap repairs/upgrades/installations and show my prices compared to geek squad.

Sounds less risky, easier for me, and still lucrative enough for me to afford pizza money

That $308 may be possible at a certain time, but repeatable probably not. Also a pretty decent portion of that 'Dell' price although low is for the service over the first year.

10 years ago finding deals was very nichey. Many of us here were building great machines for $1500 that others were paying over $3k for. Today you are lucky to shave $500 off a $3k system and even then most people are still going for $300-400 machines that are extremely overkill for their basic needs.

If they have a gamer in the family they can pick up a $200 video card and most would be happy.

Those that are dropping $700+ on CPU's and GPU's are usually able to shop themselves or are in the 'throw money at a problem to make it go away' crowd. The latter are going to shop name brand even if they pay more to avoid any hassles down the road.

You can take our advice or leave it. There are still people selling machines to people at what I would call a disservice to them. Even when I am approached to custom build something for someone that just doesn't want a 'crappy Dell', I can show them those Dell's are really not so crappy and that the sub $750 PC market is a very competitive market offering great bang for the buck.

Most people that buy have said how surprised they were on how fast that 'crappy Dell' was.

It's a no brainer and I don't have to do anything usually but help them pick it out, set them up with AV/Spyware and help configure their network/wireless...I have a handout I give now and most people can help themselves with it.

I work IS for a large fortune 500...most of my questions come from associates and their families. I could possibly turn my expertise into a profitable business, but I have done the self employment thing and while you gain a lot in some aspects I would loose a lot in others like my company paid benefits that add up to about another 50% of my salary.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: OOBradm
#1, just to back myself up, I had a low end computer built on newegg for $308 including OEM winxp.

I appreciate all of the advice from people who have attempted this before. Living in a college town, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a market here for computer repair/virus removal/etc. Perhaps I'll go that route.... and when I get home back to my small town where I am essentially "that smart computer kid", I'll take some time to tell all of the people i've helped to spread the word to any of their friends that need any sort of computer help. And up at college here, i'll post flyers around campus for cheap repairs/upgrades/installations and show my prices compared to geek squad.

Sounds less risky, easier for me, and still lucrative enough for me to afford pizza money

That $308 may be possible at a certain time, but repeatable probably not. Also a pretty decent portion of that 'Dell' price although low is for the service over the first year.

10 years ago finding deals was very nichey. Many of us here were building great machines for $1500 that others were paying over $3k for. Today you are lucky to shave $500 off a $3k system and even then most people are still going for $300-400 machines that are extremely overkill for their basic needs.

If they have a gamer in the family they can pick up a $200 video card and most would be happy.

Those that are dropping $700+ on CPU's and GPU's are usually able to shop themselves or are in the 'throw money at a problem to make it go away' crowd. The latter are going to shop name brand even if they pay more to avoid any hassles down the road.

You can take our advice or leave it. There are still people selling machines to people at what I would call a disservice to them. Even when I am approached to custom build something for someone that just doesn't want a 'crappy Dell', I can show them those Dell's are really not so crappy and that the sub $750 PC market is a very competitive market offering great bang for the buck.

Most people that buy have said how surprised they were on how fast that 'crappy Dell' was.

It's a no brainer and I don't have to do anything usually but help them pick it out, set them up with AV/Spyware and help configure their network/wireless...I have a handout I give now and most people can help themselves with it.

I work IS for a large fortune 500...most of my questions come from associates and their families. I could possibly turn my expertise into a profitable business, but I have done the self employment thing and while you gain a lot in some aspects I would loose a lot in others like my company paid benefits that add up to about another 50% of my salary.

i baught my dad a $400 dell 4 years ago. it still works great for his needs. only thing he upgraded was the monitor (came with a 17inch crt, he got a 17 inch LCD).

it still works great. i just go over every few months and clean it up. but i am very impressed with the machine.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: OOBradm
Okay, so my friend and I are consider placing an ad in the local newspaper for a custom PC building service.

here is a snippet from the ad which basically describes what were going to offer:

1) Customizing and designing a computer tailored just for you by understanding the intended purpose of your computer and considering your budget.

2) Order all parts for your new computer, assemble it, and install any software that you desire.

3) Deliver your new computer to your home or office, set up your computer at your desk, and make sure everything is running perfectly before leaving.

4) Also, feel free to call us within 30 days after we deliver your new computer regarding any questions or problems you may have in reference to installation and/or operation of your new customized computer.


Now, basically, i just plan on ordering the parts from newegg, tigerdirect, etc and then building the computer for them and charging a little over cost so I make some money.

My big concern is what about return/replacement policy. Is it going to be an issue with newegg if, say, something goes bad and my customer tries to RMA the part with the receipt with my name on it? I've also considered keeping all of my customers' receipts on file and if anything happens they can go through me for replacement.....

any thoughts on this?

You expect your customer's to RMA parts of your PC to Newegg? You're kidding right?

If you don't know that you're the one that RMA's the parts to Newegg and not your customer, you have no right to even think about starting up this business.

 

[intogamer]

It would be better to be an Authorized Dell Reseller... charge them $100 to "clean up" their Dellz...

 

[ultimatebob]

Just for shiggles, I just tried to build a PC without OS and Monitor for under $300 using only Newegg... and I pulled it off with cash to spare!

Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price



POWMAX MATX3304-S Silver SGCC Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 230W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811145004
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$15.00 Instant
$39.99
$24.99



EXCELSTOR Jupiter Series ESJ8160 160GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822210001
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

$46.99



ASUS A8V-VM SE 939 VIA K8M890 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131069
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

-$5.00 Instant
$44.99
$39.99



LG Beige IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-H30NB - OEM
Item #: N82E16827136125
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$17.99



Genius SP-S110 - 2 Piece Stereo Speaker with P.M.P.O 100W and Compact Design for Slim Monitor, Beige - Retail
Item #: N82E16836110035
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$4.99



SpecResearch SMART-1B Black PS/2 Standard Multi-Media Keyboard Mouse Included - Retail
Item #: N82E16823157013
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$6.99



Kingston ValueRAM 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400 (PC2 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model KVR400D2N3K2/1G - Retail
Item #: N82E16820144166
Return Policy: Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy
-$5.00 Instant
$33.99
$28.99


AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Manchester 2.2GHz Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500DKA4CG - OEM
Item #: N82E16819103604
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy

$39.99
Subtotal: $210.92

Combine that with a Linux distribution and a used CRT off of eBay, and you got a computer for under $300 including shipping.

 

[TheKub]

Who the hell is EXCELSTOR?

 

[KMFJD]

Originally posted by: Citrix

considering starting a custom PC building service in my local area

you really have no clue on how much money and time a venture like this will cost you.

I dont even work on friends or families computers. once you pop that case or do a windows update they own your ass and will call you for EVERYTHING.

So true....i refuse to fix systems after work hours, not worth it unless they are willing to pay me, but of course it's expected for free...

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: TheKub
Who the hell is EXCELSTOR?

I don't know, but they're cheap You can get a WD for about $5 more.