thinking about building computers part time..

[anonboy]

Just as a way to supplement income, so keep that in mind when you answer any questions.

I've been working with computers for a little over a decade but really got into them about 4 years ago. I've done 2 successful builds and played around with many others. I know my way around my computer so I thought maybe I could use that knowledge for a little financial gain.

I've never done anything like this before so i have some questions and concerns, would be great help if people with experience building computers could help!

1. Price to charge for the intial build?
I was thinking a $100 flat fee, I've heard some people charge %'s...

2. Warranty
This is a big thing...I dont want to spend every waking hour answering phone calls because somebody doesnt know how to run a firewall or doesnt know how not to download trojan-filled programs. It automatically becomes my fault of course . Now with that said I want to be able to provide some piece of mind to a customer as far as hardware is concerned.

So I was wondering if anyone had a template i could work off of that has proven to work well and cover their hind-end.

Which brings me to the next point...

3. Charging for repairs
I want to have some sort of hardware warranty, but I dont think i want to deal with all the problems people can get into with software without getting paid for it. Not sure what sort of hourly rate would be good...I heard $45-60 per hour but that seems a bit high I dont know though.

Also i heard charging for commuting time is standard..?

I'll be asking around my local area to see what some people charge etc, but I'd like some good info here as well.

Feel free to add anything I might have forgot about! Thanks.

 

[magomago]

I dunno seems kinda difficult ATM without using really low quailty parts or something...especially considering you can get complete systems for the average joe for like 400 dollars at best buy

 

[StraightPipe]

--nice system

 

[anonboy]

Ya that was another concern...hitting the market in between joe user and someone who can build their own comp without any outside help.

 

[magomago]

I think its not as much as hitting the market as much as it is trying to find it. Most people really are "average Joes" who'll buy a 2.6Ghz Celeron over a 2100+ Anyday...

I find it hard to convince to people to buy a certain quality parts when they see another computer for 400 dollars less and don't care as long as it works...

Then again these are the same people who say that the high end Dells make Great Gaming systems

 

[anonboy]

ya then their $400 investment breaks down after 2 months and they end up calling you heh

 

[T9D]

..

 

[Bleep]

The cost of the operating system is going to eat you alive.

Bleep

 

[0roo0roo]

its a worthless skill.

 

[StraightPipe]

student versions are usually less then $100, for XP pro. but that leaves no word

I wanted to do the same, but it didnt work out, the price is hard to beat without succumbing all your profits. I do help lots of people with UPgrades, and software probs for minimal fees, $30-50 to reformat, $10 for pci card or RAM (exept in those mini cases). IDE drives are $20. I usually do a lot of bullsit for them too, like update virus defs and run scans, scandisc, defrag, delete unused software, build smalls networks to share files/isp's.

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: Bleep
The cost of the operating system is going to eat you alive.

Bleep

 

[Mitzi]

The golden days of making money by building PCs are long over IMO...

I used to build PCs to order in my spare time, in fact back in 1998 I made over £5,000 (I know because I used the money to pay for my then new car), nowadays I wouldn't consider building one for anyone except me. You can't get the components for as good a price as years ago, people seem to expect a lot more support nowadays and companies like Dell more or less have the market cornered as far as I am concerned.

My advice...Find a different revenue stream.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Originally posted by: jfano

Originally posted by: Bleep
The cost of the operating system is going to eat you alive.

Bleep

Unless you can get an OEM discount, this will take a deep bite out of your profits.

 

[smp]

You're probably better off mowing lawns.

 

[brianp34]

student versions are usually less then $100, for XP pro. but that leaves no word

You couldn't use a student version anyway, most likely, as it would violate the EULA (unless you built all your machines for students).


Even if you could turn a profit, offering any kind of warranty would really be a pain.

 

[anonboy]

so the general consensus is there isnt any money in building them...what about maintenance and repair, is it feasible to do that to earn some extra cash on the side? seems like there would be a market for it...

 

[brianp34]

You'd have a much better chance turning a profit doing maintenance. Again, you'd have to worry about a warranty and what you would and would not cover. Providing tech support to someone who is computer illiterate is excruciating.

 

[Bleep]

If you want to make a little money on the side I have a suggestion.
Get yourself a good turntable and redo old LP records for people, record them into your machine clean the music up with Gokdwave or some other good editing program and burn them on a CD. Charge whatever the traffic will bear. Very easy to make a lot of money if you want to. You will be amazed at the amount of records people have that are willing to pay really good to preserve their records and the music of their youth.

Bleep