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New Neighbourhood Computer Service and Support Business

• Computer Service Business Pricing? I am contemplating starting a computer maintenance and support service from my home. My target customer is the home PC user who doesn't know much about computers, doesn't perform routine maintenance, and panics at the sight of an error message. Maybe their computer is running slow or they are out of disk space or they want to upgrade their OS. I won't be selling software or hardware, but would gladly install theirs for them. What I would like a researcher to do is review my services and prices below and give me a reality check as to whether or not I'm in-line with: 1) the needs of such a user 2) price such a user would be willing to pay for each service Other helpful commentary would include recommendations of additions or subtractions to my lists, other pricing schemes you might feel work better (for example, I've ruled out pricing by the hour - good idea?), how much extra to charge for a house-call, and any ideas you might have. Note, I've already compared my prices to Future Shop and similar places. I'm more interested in personal feedback now. Please keep in mind that my prices are in Canadian dollars ($1 cdn = approx $.65 US). Also, prices reflect PC brought to my home - not house-calls. I will offer same-day service for most routine jobs. MINIMUM BENCH FEE $40 SERVICE 1 - Routine "10-point" maintenance service: $75 -- Virus Scan -- Hard Drive Scan -- Full System Diagnostic scan -- Disk Clean Up -- Optimize hard Drive -- Update Drivers as needed -- Check hardware connections -- Check internet security -- Create Boot disk -- Provide System summary & recommendations SERVICE 2 - NEW COMPUTER SET-UP $50 -- Set-up computer -- Install software -- Set up printer -- Configure drivers -- Set up email, internet - ADD $75 -- Backup & move data - ADD $75 SERVICE 3 - HOME NETWORK SET-UP -- Per computer (multiply X) $100 -- Install network cards -- Configure router -- Configure printer sharing -- Configure file sharing -- Set up shared Broadband Internet - ADD $150 (includes house-call) INDIVIDUAL HARDWARE INSTALL - $40 each -- Eg: modem, cd rom, video card, etc. SOFTWARE INSTALL -- OS - $65 -- Other software $40 EMERGENCY SERVICES & TROUBLE SHOOTING - $??? -- Virus removal -- Hard drive failure - "unable to read drive c:." -- Catastrophic system crash -- Unable to boot to windows -- Can't get internet Again, I reiterate, I'm really looking for comprehensive personal feedback, not "official" market research. Preferably the researcher is someone with experience in offering a similar service who can maybe save me from some known pitfalls or give me some helpful pointers. Finally, a researcher willing to put in his or her full effort should feel free to use the Answer space, even if a commenter has given a full review. I thank you in advance -- pc_doctor

• Answer:

  Dear pc_doctor: Thank you for your question. I have put recommendationa and comments beneath each item in your price list. MINIMUM BENCH FEE $40 This seems fairly reasonable. This seems pretty standard after comparing with some other vendors online. SERVICE 1 - Routine "10-point" maintenance service: $75 -- Virus Scan -- Hard Drive Scan -- Full System Diagnostic scan -- Disk Clean Up -- Optimize hard Drive -- Update Drivers as needed -- Check hardware connections -- Check internet security -- Create Boot disk -- Provide System summary & recommendations I think you could probably get away with charging more than what you have here, since this does seem pretty comprehensive. I think you could probably charge a bit more, perhaps $100 CDN for this basic check up, depending on time used. Especially for the hard drive optimization and disk clean up services. I assume that you will be doing the hard drive optimization last? That alone could take up to six hours, depending on the system. Other comments: Virus Scan: Will you be installing a virus scanner on the clients computer and then uninstalling it? Troubleshooting: What if an error occurs during the check up? Will troubleshooting be included or is their an extra charge? SERVICE 2 - NEW COMPUTER SET-UP $50 -- Set-up computer -- Install software -- Set up printer -- Configure drivers I think you could charge $75 CDN for this basic service. And less for the email and internet setup. -- Set up email, internet - ADD $75 -- Backup & move data - ADD $75 I think you will probably want to charge less than what you have now. I do think that that email and internet setup is a bit steep at $75 CDN. The backup and move data seems reasonably priced, but I'm not very sure of the details of the service. Also, I'm kind of doubtful of the demand for this type of service. Most computer novices would go with known big brands like Dell and Compaq, which come preconfigured with all the software and settings, including internet. SERVICE 3 - HOME NETWORK SET-UP -- Per computer (multiply X) $100 -- Install network cards -- Configure router -- Configure printer sharing -- Configure file sharing For two computers, I think $200 CDN might be a bit steep, since the minimum number of computers on a network is two. Also, I do recommend giving discounts for larger volumes. For example, $75 CDN per computer, and $50 for every computer after 3. -- Set up shared Broadband Internet - ADD $100 (includes house-call) This seems like a more or less reasonable price for a service that is pretty in demand. It is too steep for my taste, but I assume that is because I already know how to do this. INDIVIDUAL HARDWARE INSTALL - $40 each -- Eg: modem, cd rom, video card, etc. No gripes with this. This is a pretty reasonable price as is. SOFTWARE INSTALL -- OS - $65 -- Other software $40 You might want to charge a bit more for the OS setup, and less for the software setup. Setting up an OS represents at least 5-6 times more work than the software installation. EMERGENCY SERVICES & TROUBLE SHOOTING - $??? -- Virus removal -- Hard drive failure - "unable to read drive c:." -- Catastrophic system crash -- Unable to boot to windows -- Can't get internet For these services, you will definitely want to charge a flat rate. Some times you might be able to fix the problem very quickly, and some times it may take a whole day. You just never know. I think you probably would want to charge less for the virus removal service, but for everything else, you'll want to consider the average time it would take to fix any problem. I'd estimate it to be about two hours per incident. So two times your hourly rate would be a reasonable price per incident for the trouble shooting service. Please do ask for clarifications if you have any more questions about your pricing. I would be more than happy to answer them for you. Best Regards, blader-ga