Help me give this a price quote please.

pLuhhmm

I cant seem to find how much this would cost to pay someone to setup.

4 channel DVR - 250 GIG HDD - Network - 120/120 FPS
2x Indoor Dome cameras with microphone

I need to know because someone is asking me to do this for 2 kiosks in a mall. I charge $20/hr + $5/hr + .20cents/mi(travel) + service, now the service fee is were I dont know what to charge. Ive researched how to install and ect, and it seems quite easy, so I wanna try and get some nice money out of this. Itll prolly take 3hours? Im guessing to setup so thats $60 alone. But I need some prices to compare to cause I try and be really cheap.

dynamik

Your mileage is really low: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=184163,00.html

Keep in mind that you're going to lose about 40% for taxes, so $20/hr doesn't leave you with too much. I don't have any estimate for how long something like that would take; I'm sure there's a lot of variables involved. I'd think you could get around 60/hr, but that's just a guess (and assuming you know what you're doing -- no one's going to be happy paying you a higher rate, so you can learn as you go).

skrpune

video camera installation is premium work, you definitely need to be charging more.

Are the cameras already in place? How about the wiring? If not, where will the cameras need to be installed and where do the wires need to be run? Is it a PC with DVR card/software, or a straight DVR? Are there going to be wires in any sort of proximity to lighting or other electrical equipment? Do you have to do the camera adjustments (tone/color/brightness/etc.)? Are you familiar with the DVR software/setup?

If you're going to up in the rafters like a monkey to install & hookup the cameras, then I'd charge way more than $20/hr. I did a couple jobs like this in mall shops & stores with my former boss, and these jobs can get complicated. Our regular in shop rates for repairs was about $40-45/hr CAD, and I'm pretty sure the security install rates were 2-3 times that. We'd have at least two people working every security installation, and the tech's were paid about $15-$20/hr (again, CAD) each for these jobs.

I don't remember ANY security job being less than a full day with two techs. But most jobs we did had at least 3-5 cameras and involved running wiring and setting up a PC DVR onsite. How long it will take you to do this job will definitely depend on the details/factors involved and how comfortable you are with the DVR/software in question.

msteinhilber

Don't short change yourself, I would charge way more than your rate. You are providing a service that is somewhat of a niche market, and your competition will easily be charging WELL more than you likely will even if you up your rate.

They have two kiosks in a mall and you have a single 4 channel DVR listed with a quantity of two cameras. Is this one DVR and two cameras per kiosk, or are they going to want one DVR with one camera at each kiosk? If it is the latter of the two, you need to account for how you are going to run the video/audio feed from the camera that is remote of the kiosk that houses the DVR, as well as power for the camera if you are using a power source from the DVR if it is a all-in-one DVR that has a power source as well.

Keep in mind any configuration you will need to do for the DVR as well when quoting time. Are you going to want any special configuration to record on motion, how long do they want to retain video for, is there going to be any remote login to the DVR so the owner/manager(s) can login remotely and check up on things, is it going to be monitored remotely for motion by an alarm company, etc, etc. There can be a lot that goes into a DVR setup depending on the clients needs.

As I started this post, I think you are well undercharging unless I am not understanding your model for billing. Re-reading your post, it appears you bill a rate of $20 per hour, then I see an additional $5 per hour (is that extra for on-site work?) plus mileage, and a service fee. Is a service fee something where you charge a certain amount for the work performed in addition to the hourly rate? If so, I would suggest just keeping it simple and charging a flat hourly rate for your work. You would have a flat hourly rate for in-shop and on-site and may also charge a higher rate for networking and whatnot. I would consider this, because people who pay the bills might look at your invoice confused and feeling like they are being nickel and dimed with all of the various fee's (even though I am sure you would be very competitive anyways). I would just do a flat hourly rate for the work, if I were doing this job I would charge $120 an hour, this is what I bill business clients for per hour on-site for networking jobs and I would treat this one no different.

Are you going to be purchasing and reselling the equipment as well? Or are they going to be purchasing the gear and having you set it up? I typically prefer to act more as a consultant and tell my customers what to purchase and where because I don't like to support what I sell directly. All of my business customers I do work for on the side understand that I make suggestions for hardware/software and can direct them to a good place to make the purchase - and that if they contact me for anything that would normally be post-sales they will be receiving a bill, I guess I avoid some of the "well you sold it to me so you should support me free" attitude this way.