Price a job/study references

eeps24 · October 15th, 2007, 04:12 PM

Not sure where else to put this so this was the only spot I could think of. I have 2 questions...

1. keeping up to date in the world of I.T. How do you guys do it? there is so much stuff to learn, things keep changing.....how much would you say you spend on reading up on things in a day? do you find yourself non stop reading and reading to keep up to date?

2. Those of you who have your own computer business ,how do you go about charging people? do you charge by the hour or by the job? I want to get a better understanding of what to charge people , just want to see what the pros here on techimo do it

KarmaKiller · October 15th, 2007, 05:47 PM

Hi there...
I myself read at least 1-2 hours a day on tech stuff. Some nights it reviews, other nights spec sheets. Other nights forum boards. And still after all that, I come on to TIMO here, and still learn something new...

About the charging, I don't do many "payed" jobs, in fact I try to stay away from them. But the couple I do, depending on what it is, I normally charge $70 an hour. I've asked the same question, and that's the response I got. IDK if that's normal, high or even low, but it's all I can bring myself to charge...

nemowolf · October 17th, 2007, 02:01 PM

some insider info, Best Buy Requires that all field agents pull in an average of at least 76 bucks an hour of charged service. Considering the scope of work they handle and the often times laughable stories they produce ... This can often times be on the low side but should be considered very much the average.

If you want a good comparison, open your phone book and call a bunch of mechanics and ask if they charge by the hour and how much. My shop charges 90 an hour.

Personally, when it comes to charging, you should do a mix of both by the hour fees and flat rate. Installing ram in a desktop doesnt take an hour, charging the minimum one hour fee seems a bit much. Then again, setting up a server has so many variables that it should be a by the hour charge.

All depends on the variables.

ShuckyD · October 17th, 2007, 04:18 PM

when I worked for a previous company we did IT consulting for our clients my rate was $120 an hour.... if that helps any... a bit expensive, because its B2B, but if I were doing something for someone (an individual) I would probably be around $75 - $100 an hour depending...

eeps24 · October 20th, 2007, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemowolf

Personally, when it comes to charging, you should do a mix of both by the hour fees and flat rate. Installing ram in a desktop doesnt take an hour, charging the minimum one hour fee seems a bit much. Then again, setting up a server has so many variables that it should be a by the hour charge.

All depends on the variables.

thanks for everyone replying back to me , .... nemowolf your right, its a mix of both , like doing a simple windows install would be a flat rate instead of per hour , makes more sense ... thanks guys!

gcrussell1 · October 20th, 2007, 10:56 PM

$70-120 an hour? I've known for quite a while that techs do charge so much, but why? Hell, give me a ten-spot and a grilled cheese sandwich and I'll still feel like I'm ripping you off.

How do you people live with yourselves?

KarmaKiller · October 20th, 2007, 11:49 PM

People do this to make a living.

It's no different from car mechanics or teachers, or any other profession I suppose..

gcrussell1 · October 21st, 2007, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarmaKiller

People do this to make a living.

It's no different from car mechanics or teachers, or any other profession I suppose..

$70 an hour is an absurdly comfortable living - even if you only work 15 hours a week on computers you're still making well over $50k a year... I guess you do what you do, and you charge what you can, but still...

ShuckyD · October 21st, 2007, 12:38 AM

Where I work now when we bring in a consultant to do something they are $100\hr.

That being because when we use a consultant we bring in the "best" person for a specific task, if were having an networking issue then we get someone who is excellent at networking and knows it inside an out.. Its a specialized market for alot of IT stuff, finding the right person for a specific thing in B2B is where its at for alot of companies and consultants alike.

Now personal IT work is a bit different because when you're working on a computer for someone the tech (IT person) usually has a pretty wide span of knowledge and knows alot of stuff... and sometimes they have certain niches where they are very knowledgeable

KarmaKiller · October 21st, 2007, 01:15 AM

I did forget to mention the personal jobs. I don't charge my friends anything to work on their machine. That's something completely different.