Discussion
Hi,
Not sure if this is the right forum but..
Im Currently a full time IT Manager, prior to that i was an IT Consultant and Senior Network Engineer for a large Reseller.
My question is...
Im often asked by small companies and private individuals to do out of hours IT related jobs for them small Network installs (SBS server etc), home wireless installs etc etc.
As a consultant i used to be charged out at £120 per hour and can do these things in my sleep. I have over 10 years experience of doing large scale installs and have all the relevent qualifications.
I know there are a lot of IT industry guys on here who must do similair things... what kind of rates do you charge?
obviously im not going to bill some home user anywhere near £120 an hour
thoughts anyone?
Not sure if this is the right forum but..
Im Currently a full time IT Manager, prior to that i was an IT Consultant and Senior Network Engineer for a large Reseller.
My question is...
Im often asked by small companies and private individuals to do out of hours IT related jobs for them small Network installs (SBS server etc), home wireless installs etc etc.
As a consultant i used to be charged out at £120 per hour and can do these things in my sleep. I have over 10 years experience of doing large scale installs and have all the relevent qualifications.
I know there are a lot of IT industry guys on here who must do similair things... what kind of rates do you charge?
obviously im not going to bill some home user anywhere near £120 an hour
thoughts anyone?
Depending on the work...
It might be better to give a fixed price for a specific identifiable job/project
This can be more paletable for a smaller company, rather than open ended expense..
Problem solving, etc w
would be ok for an hourly rate...
Didn't help with saying how much though
B
It might be better to give a fixed price for a specific identifiable job/project
This can be more paletable for a smaller company, rather than open ended expense..
Problem solving, etc w
would be ok for an hourly rate...
Didn't help with saying how much though
B
A mate of mine does this kind of work for small companies for £20 to £30 an hour. He is a shit hot all-rounder (system and software architecture, build systems, install and config networks, develop apps, build websites, whatever). He is also a hippy at heart, so is under-charging by quite a margin. Charging those rates, he has as much work as he can deal with from small firms in the Gloucester/Worcestershire area. Many of his customers would probably wear £50/hour, but affordability is a real issue for small companies.
A few years ago I used to help out at a local computer shop.
When (home) customers phoned with a problem they would get someone who lived nearby to go over and fix it.
The shop charged £45+ vat for callout and an hours work.
You would earn £22 of this.
Additional time was for the helper and the materials were bought from the shop
Typical jobs were installing memory, reinstalling windows, clearing viruses, changing fuses etc etc
When (home) customers phoned with a problem they would get someone who lived nearby to go over and fix it.
The shop charged £45+ vat for callout and an hours work.
You would earn £22 of this.
Additional time was for the helper and the materials were bought from the shop
Typical jobs were installing memory, reinstalling windows, clearing viruses, changing fuses etc etc
Picking a figure is difficult as its such a flooded market there will always be someone there to undercut you, whatever the price.
I'd look at pricing what you think your time is worth, you're not going to get anywhere near even half your billed hourly so dont even consider that as a factor.
I'd look at pricing what you think your time is worth, you're not going to get anywhere near even half your billed hourly so dont even consider that as a factor.
Plotloss said:
Picking a figure is difficult as its such a flooded market there will always be someone there to undercut you, whatever the price.
I'd look at pricing what you think your time is worth, you're not going to get anywhere near even half your billed hourly so dont even consider that as a factor.
I'd look at pricing what you think your time is worth, you're not going to get anywhere near even half your billed hourly so dont even consider that as a factor.
Yeah i think £40 per hour is a nice sum, maybe for a home user it would be a one off charge(depending on scale of job) and it would be per hour for a business.
The guy I use to maintain our network was here the other day. He charged me £150 for 7 hours of work plus £50 to cover 4 hours of travelling (I told him to charge me the £50 as he usually only wants £25!).
I've told him in the past that he's too cheap but he ignores me.
I use him because local nit wits who claim to know what they're doing always muff our system up and then I have to get my guy in to correct things.
I've told him in the past that he's too cheap but he ignores me.
I use him because local nit wits who claim to know what they're doing always muff our system up and then I have to get my guy in to correct things.
SneakyNeil said:
Don't work for buttons, even if it is just an after-work thing. Customers can still be a pain in the arse even if they're not paying you very much!
I know, i just turned a job down that would have netted me a couple of grand, just because whoever had origonally set up their IT had made a complete mess of it and i simply didnt think the money was worth the hassle of sorting it out.
these jobs are purely an after hours thing for me as i have a good well paid full time job.
Garethgtt said:
SneakyNeil said:
Don't work for buttons, even if it is just an after-work thing. Customers can still be a pain in the arse even if they're not paying you very much!
I know, i just turned a job down that would have netted me a couple of grand, just because whoever had origonally set up their IT had made a complete mess of it and i simply didnt think the money was worth the hassle of sorting it out.
these jobs are purely an after hours thing for me as i have a good well paid full time job.
It's funny innit, the 'easier' it gets to set up small networks the more ways people find to screw it all up
Garethgtt said:
Hi,
Not sure if this is the right forum but..
Im Currently a full time IT Manager, prior to that i was an IT Consultant and Senior Network Engineer for a large Reseller.
My question is...
Im often asked by small companies and private individuals to do out of hours IT related jobs for them small Network installs (SBS server etc), home wireless installs etc etc.
As a consultant i used to be charged out at £120 per hour and can do these things in my sleep. I have over 10 years experience of doing large scale installs and have all the relevent qualifications.
I know there are a lot of IT industry guys on here who must do similair things... what kind of rates do you charge?
obviously im not going to bill some home user anywhere near £120 an hour
thoughts anyone?
Not sure if this is the right forum but..
Im Currently a full time IT Manager, prior to that i was an IT Consultant and Senior Network Engineer for a large Reseller.
My question is...
Im often asked by small companies and private individuals to do out of hours IT related jobs for them small Network installs (SBS server etc), home wireless installs etc etc.
As a consultant i used to be charged out at £120 per hour and can do these things in my sleep. I have over 10 years experience of doing large scale installs and have all the relevent qualifications.
I know there are a lot of IT industry guys on here who must do similair things... what kind of rates do you charge?
obviously im not going to bill some home user anywhere near £120 an hour
thoughts anyone?
I'm in a similar position with similar background, and recently decided to incorporate and VAT register to cope with the demand from all these out-of-hours customers. What started as an experiment is now looking like a very promising second income, so it's definitely worth embracing these opportunities providing that they don't conflict with Mon-Fri working - at least that's the rule I've set myself.
I tend to charge £500/day or £300/half day on-site in the South East, typically these are smallish businesses with 1-10 servers including the occasional SBS. I don't charge on an hourly basis unless it's from home.
In my circumstances that's enough for it to be worthwhile to me, whilst also cheap enough for the customer to appreciate that they are getting a very good rate. If they quibble then I remind them that through a reseller then they'll pay twice that rate, and on a weekend (when many such jobs have to be done) 3 or 4 times.
As for home users - I avoid them as I suspect them to be the most demanding *and* tight-fisted, i.e. most likely to quibble over 50 quid then phone you up every time their computer 'stops working because you fixed it'.
Good luck with it!
very interesting topic guys!
A friend of mine has a IT Support service.
He has 8 years of experience. I sometimes visit to catch up. The things I hear amaze me.
Client pops in to complain that her MS Works file do not open in MS Office.
She has a staff count of about 20 and will take ages to pay a £125 invoice.
Plumbers/electricians in the area charge about £45 per half hour.
You pay your money you make your choice. You can get your hair cut for £5 or £120 .
Your PC performs essential tasks that help to run your business smoothly.
So many of his clients turn up in mid range cars and they do not want to fork out £35 for Norton Internet Security.
(they are using free anti-virus/firewall solutions).
Yet the same PC that should be protected against Spyware / Malware is used to book holidays/transfer funds between accounts/buy plane tickets.
.. and they are happy to shell out £10 for two coffees and a slice of cake.
Gentlemen , you work hard, you provide a valuble service.
Charge accordingly .......if you love what you do that's a bonus!
A friend of mine has a IT Support service.
He has 8 years of experience. I sometimes visit to catch up. The things I hear amaze me.
Client pops in to complain that her MS Works file do not open in MS Office.
She has a staff count of about 20 and will take ages to pay a £125 invoice.
Plumbers/electricians in the area charge about £45 per half hour.
You pay your money you make your choice. You can get your hair cut for £5 or £120 .
Your PC performs essential tasks that help to run your business smoothly.
So many of his clients turn up in mid range cars and they do not want to fork out £35 for Norton Internet Security.
(they are using free anti-virus/firewall solutions).
Yet the same PC that should be protected against Spyware / Malware is used to book holidays/transfer funds between accounts/buy plane tickets.
.. and they are happy to shell out £10 for two coffees and a slice of cake.
Gentlemen , you work hard, you provide a valuble service.
Charge accordingly .......if you love what you do that's a bonus!
theboss said:
Garethgtt said:
Hi,
Not sure if this is the right forum but..
Im Currently a full time IT Manager, prior to that i was an IT Consultant and Senior Network Engineer for a large Reseller.
My question is...
Im often asked by small companies and private individuals to do out of hours IT related jobs for them small Network installs (SBS server etc), home wireless installs etc etc.
As a consultant i used to be charged out at £120 per hour and can do these things in my sleep. I have over 10 years experience of doing large scale installs and have all the relevent qualifications.
I know there are a lot of IT industry guys on here who must do similair things... what kind of rates do you charge?
obviously im not going to bill some home user anywhere near £120 an hour
thoughts anyone?
Not sure if this is the right forum but..
Im Currently a full time IT Manager, prior to that i was an IT Consultant and Senior Network Engineer for a large Reseller.
My question is...
Im often asked by small companies and private individuals to do out of hours IT related jobs for them small Network installs (SBS server etc), home wireless installs etc etc.
As a consultant i used to be charged out at £120 per hour and can do these things in my sleep. I have over 10 years experience of doing large scale installs and have all the relevent qualifications.
I know there are a lot of IT industry guys on here who must do similair things... what kind of rates do you charge?
obviously im not going to bill some home user anywhere near £120 an hour
thoughts anyone?
I'm in a similar position with similar background, and recently decided to incorporate and VAT register to cope with the demand from all these out-of-hours customers. What started as an experiment is now looking like a very promising second income, so it's definitely worth embracing these opportunities providing that they don't conflict with Mon-Fri working - at least that's the rule I've set myself.
I tend to charge £500/day or £300/half day on-site in the South East, typically these are smallish businesses with 1-10 servers including the occasional SBS. I don't charge on an hourly basis unless it's from home.
In my circumstances that's enough for it to be worthwhile to me, whilst also cheap enough for the customer to appreciate that they are getting a very good rate. If they quibble then I remind them that through a reseller then they'll pay twice that rate, and on a weekend (when many such jobs have to be done) 3 or 4 times.
As for home users - I avoid them as I suspect them to be the most demanding *and* tight-fisted, i.e. most likely to quibble over 50 quid then phone you up every time their computer 'stops working because you fixed it'.
Good luck with it!
I found doing some of the bigger installs, they encroach on my mon-fri job, ie having to spend time placing/chasing orders, dealing with business package ISPs (only open weekdays). If its for a business they expect to be able to reach you during the weekday if they have a problem..etc etc for me thats a step too far and i dont want my full time employment to suffer.
I have been toying with the Idea of doing this again for a while, to supliment my mon-fri income but i dont know if i want to be bothered with cluttering up my house again with all the associated PC stuff to go with it.
Charging is something i have never really considered to be a problem though.
Steve
Charging is something i have never really considered to be a problem though.
Steve
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