What do you charge for tech work.....?

[aircooled]

Not exactly hardware, but probably the most appropriate place to post....

This is for those of you that do work on the side (not your primary job).

How do you base your fee... hourly?? or flat rate the project..?

Like I said, this is just for side jobs, not building a computer for your bud ;-)

I'm just trying to get a feel for what a small business owner would expect to be charged for some general IT work on the side.

Thanks all!

 

[Adul]

Some times hourly, some times a flat fee

$35/hour is my rate with a min of 1 hour

 

[hungrygoose]

$50/hr. here......i charged 35/hr. for a about 2 years but decided that those one hour jobs weren't worth the time and gas for only $35

 

[teckmaster]

I do it just as side work and since I don't need the money that bad I only charge $20 an hour, with an hour minimum charge.

 

[AdamDuritz99]

I charge 15 an hour if in town with a minimum of one hour. Kind of low, but i live in a realitivly small town in Tennessee. Things are cheaper around here. I think i'm going to start charging 20 an hour though.


peace
sean

 

[tweakmm]

One thing to keep in mind, if you charge too little, people will assume that you arn't a good tech. Most people associate price having a direct corilation to quality of service

 

[aircooled]

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Ameesh]

i work for beer and pie


a pecan pie and a 6pack will get you a couple of hours.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

It depends on who I'm working for.

nik

 

[TallBill]

well.. my company charges 100-150 an hour.. you'd NEVER guess how much of that i get

 

[StageLeft]

$400/hour with a minimum of one week work and $200 per diem.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: bob970
well.. my company charges 100-150 an hour.. you'd NEVER guess how much of that i get

You probably make around $35 hour

 

[Geekbabe]

rate goes up with each new cert but in general it's $50 for taking an onsite call and $50 per hour with a 2 hour minimum after I get there,some folks now pay a little more. I am in Boston though and most clients are companies of one sort or another at this point

 

[RSI]

"It depends on who I'm working for.

nik"

Exactly. If I'm working for someone I know I'm going to charge them nothing or just ask for a favor in return, or a meal, or whatever, take out to a movie or something. If I'm working for a completely unknown person, they're going to have to pay. The price depends on how inconvenient it is for me. They pay for my time. The more of it they waste, the more their wallet pays the price.

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: RSI
"It depends on who I'm working for.

nik"

Exactly. If I'm working for someone I know I'm going to charge them nothing or just ask for a favor in return, or a meal, or whatever, take out to a movie or something. If I'm working for a completely unknown person, they're going to have to pay. The price depends on how inconvenient it is for me. They pay for my time. The more of it they waste, the more their wallet pays the price.

I don't do tech work for free or for favors anymore,unless you are family or somebody I'm going with, evrybody else pays cash. Those favor jobs always end up eating your life !

 

[XZeroII]

Depends who it is. If they are family, dinner or something like that. If they are a friend, however much time it felt like it took. If the person is a jerk, more. I'm very inconsistant, but if you are a nice person you have nothing to worry about.

 

[StageLeft]

How the hell are you people finding enough work to actually have an hourly rate set?!

 

[PlatinumGold]

I'm sorry, i think it is highway robbery for computer techs to charge less than plumbers or electricians.

No computer tech should charge less than $100 / hour. of course you have to be confidant and able to stand behind your work.

 

[incallisto]

$100 destination fee and $100 per hour. $65 per hour for labour.

 

[StageLeft]

No computer tech should charge less than $100 / hour. of course you have to be confidant and able to stand behind your work.

If you are working for yourself and not a consulting company you have to be absolutely incredible to be worth anything close to $100. You realize that is $200k/year right if you can bill 40 hours/week? If you're going out and fiddling around with a small company's network or setting up some machines for them that isn't worth $100/hour. I'm not saying that is what people here are doing necessarily, but what do you mean?

 

[jreel]

I usually charge $25 if I have to drive anywhere & for the first hour, then $20 for each hour after that. I only charge friends and family gas, and maybe a meal

 

[Cyberian]

I don't do tech work for free or for favors anymore,unless you are family or somebody I'm going with, evrybody else pays cash.

Will you go out with me and fix my puter for free?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Skoorb

that's precisely why you charge 100 / hour. no tech works 40 billable hours per week.

if your serious about making a living as a computer tech, you have to bill yourself out at least 100 / hour. at least here in jersey anyway. i guess it could be less in other parts of the country where COL is significantly less than jersey. but i can tell you as a father w/ 3 kids and a house I couldn't live on less than 70K per year. and that's just barely making it.

 

[StageLeft]

How do you find your work? How do people know how to call you...? I've always wondered that with these self-owned business people...

 

[incallisto]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
How do you find your work? How do people know how to call you...? I've always wondered that with these self-owned business people...

90% of clients hear about us through advertisements. (i.e. newspapers, word-of-mouth, magazines, telephone books, billboards, banners, internet banner ads, etc.)
We also work closely with telephone companies, CLECs, Network Providers ( bandwidth providers), ISPs, and local businesses who outsource jobs.