Advice Needed.......

Ok, so I responded to a Craigslist ad titled "Technician Needed." The lady responds and asks me how much for virus removal and OS upgrade (Vista to 7) for 7 laptops. She has the Windows Disk and License keys. I told her $75/laptop. Then I went to Geek Squad's website and see that they charge $199.99 for virus removal on 1 computer. So did I really low ball myself?

Side note: I work help desk (not typical help desk, 2 of us total in IT for 500 users at multiple sites across the country. We handle everything!! 1 vacation day last 1.5 years.) and I am currently "exploring other options" because I have maxed out the potential at my current job. This is how I came across the ad.

Advice guys....................

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Boot Camps

Comments

Tackle

That's a little on the low side, but pretty fair since you'll be doing 7 machines and your overhead is low...and truthfully quite a good share of it does not require user action (think installing and virus scans running), also you'll probably be working on multiple machines at a time (saving overall job length).

And if you do good work, you may be the person the call next time for other issues.

If I work on a pc outside of work, I charge $40 for the first hour, $15 for every hour after. My work gets $150 an hour when I'm working on a customers system/computer.

NOLAJ

LucasMN wrote: »

And if you do good work, you may be the person the call next time for other issues.

That's a great point.

joshmadakor

LucasMN wrote: »

That's a little on the low side, but pretty fair since you'll be doing 7 machines and your overhead is low...and truthfully quite a good share of it does not require user action (think installing and virus scans running), also you'll probably be working on multiple machines at a time (saving overall job length).

And if you do good work, you may be the person the call next time for other issues.

If I work on a pc outside of work, I charge $40 for the first hour, $15 for every hour after. My work gets $150 an hour when I'm working on a customers system/computer.

Out of curiosity, why only $15/hr thereafter? It seems a bit low to me to be honest.

effekted

It's not bad especially if you do them all at the same time so that all 7 would be done within a 2-3 hour window. I did my first side job this week, I built a computer on newegg for a client and had them put it on their card and then I charged them $300 to fully set it up for them. Had around 4 hours invested total so I met my $75 an hour goal.

tru504187211

I would be careful with that particular ad...when the customer thinks they know exactly what they need done...it's usually a red flag (that and the multiple machines).

Tackle

joshmadakor wrote: »

Out of curiosity, why only $15/hr thereafter? It seems a bit low to me to be honest.

Not to be too off topic, but nearly all the work I do is for family/friends and friend of a friend. I cannot justify charging friends $150-$300 to fix their laptop when it isn't worth much more than that. Plus if it's not something I can fix in an hour it is usually work that does not require user action (installing OS, AV scans).

I charge a flat $100 for virus removal.