$40 an hour, too much for business work?

[ohio_grad_06]

Agreed. Like for example we had a guy once call who had a computer we fixed, took back to his home showed that it worked, left and he seemed happy. Next day the guy calls about how something was not working called the cops trying to see how to get his money back. Told him I would charge x amount to go back out since I'd demonstrated it was working. Got out there and someone had disabled something. Made customer sign a paper stating from them on I was not going to do any more work for them. Collected the cash and left. Later found out the person likes to haggle pricing(I'd cut them a break to begin with). I was boiling mad because that person was threatening to sue etc come to find out there was a setting someone else had changed.

Usually budget minded customers soon as they hear the pricing say to let them think about it. Usually never hear from them again and that is fine with me.

 

[DenverCM]

$40/hour is definitely too low, especially for business clients.

Your clients are getting more than just your time. They’re getting your knowledge and experience. The value of your work should be taken into consideration when helping a client. A repair or a service call is not just about how much time you spent working on the problem. It’s about knowing what the problem is and solving it for them. Whether it takes five minutes or an hour, you still need to charge a fair rate. They’re hiring you because of your technological skill-set – something they’re lacking.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

As many people already stated in this thread...40 clams an hour is waaaaay low for business clients.

Usually this is >100 bucks an hour, with many going above 125 or 150/hour.

Now...here are some points:
*You've got to have the skill set to tackle the increased complication of business networks. You should have good working knowledge of active directory, and MS Exchange, and the proper way to setup Microsoft networks. Typically business networks involve at least one server. Us SMB consultants typically provide our services for business clients between 10 to 100 employees. Sometimes larger...but once you get companies much larger than 100 employees they usually have their own dedicated full time in house IT staff. Most businesses below 10, and it's likely just a little peer to peer network, something any high school kid can setup for 40 bucks an hour without really knowing much. Our sweet spot is 10-100.
*You should be using real business grade hardware. Biz grade routers, UTM appliances....not home grade products. Business grade access points, business grade switches, business grade workstations/servers, site licenses for software, managed antivirus, RMM/MSP products, etc.
*Response times...short
*Disaster recovery services for backup....good fast solid ways to restore services. None of that home grade cheap offsite backup crap for businesses.

Everything is more, your price, product prices, but the expectations of performance and service is much higher also, as is the stress.

 

[Tech bud]

Thanks for the tips on what I should know, my book has a section dedicated for the active directory, it's from school, I kept it, because I felt the Instructor just blew through everything, so I knew I would come back eventually.

 

[CTech]

Based on some of these posts it looks like I'm underselling to businesses too. I tend to only charge £30.00/HR plus a £25 call-out ($50/HR and $40 in USD... I think)...

Guess I'm increasing rates!

 

[QnceAgain]

In my area, the highest guy was 70 and the lowest was 25. So I started at 60.

I watched an acquaintance start at 35 (I told him it was way too low), then 50, and eventually 75.

When I found that out, I moved up to 70. And I'll probably raise them again within the next year. My area probably can't support too much higher but I'm around the top of my market. I'd rather be here than down at the bottom. Because those guys don't last.

 

[buzzcut]

Just like in school you need to do your homework, but in this case it would be checking out your local competitor's prices. That's how I came up with my prices. Pricing will very region to region.

 

[AndyM]

Based on some of these posts it looks like I'm underselling to businesses too. I tend to only charge £30.00/HR plus a £25 call-out ($50/HR and $40 in USD... I think)...

Guess I'm increasing rates!

Your prices are too low! I charge £65 + VAT per hour for business onsite support. Mileage at 50p per mile. One client I have, I charge mileage by the hour (£32.50 per hour). For private customers, I ask them to bring their PC to my office, and charge £65 inc VAT for labour. I can easily work on 4 machines at once. I'm expanding so that I have a dedicated laptop bench in the office that will allow me to work on 4 laptops. It will also double up for working on printers.

You shouldn't really compare your charges to those in the US. There are different factors to take into consideration. The main one being the cost of living. For example, we have the NHS; in the US they have to pay for medical insurance. They also have local and state taxes, and if they work outside of their state, then I believe they have to pay the relevant tax rate for that state. The US is complicated in comparison to the UK and Europe.

Andy.

 

[lan101]

Yeah with the US health insurance cluster&^%*, I imagine rates for EVERYTHING will be going up soon. As well as everyone's hourly work rates.

 

[16k_zx81]

I'm knew to the business market, I had a company call me to set up a wireless router for there restaurant, because they needed a laptop for training purposes and didn't want to run a cord, plus they wanted there customers to have WI-FI. I went out, did it, I decided $40 an hour was fair.... I was there for 1.5 hours. That included setting up the router with a hidden network and one for their guests, plus training two Managers.
A week later, they had a power surge today, they called me in because only one monitor on there ordering system was working(fast food). I tested the monitors with a laptop, they had no display. I tested three control boards on their network on a working computer in the office, they were all fine but one. I went a bought 3 new monitors, and they were wall mounted and that took some time to install. Ordered a replacement control board through their locus systems they use there.
I got the system working as best as I could, all their drive through orders would go to the kitchen, so they could see what was being ordered, and set up a display so they could see what was ordered up front too. This all took around 5.5 hours. So this all comes out to around $220...seems like it's getting high and I have to go back tomorrow and set up the new control board... you think I am charging to much? I'm so used to flat rates with residential customers, it seems the bill is getting high. And lucky I worked in fast food for 6 years and they always had me play with that stuff.

$140 p/h

you are not charging enough.

 

[brandonkick]

I don't do "Business Grade Support" but I wouldn't do it for less then $100 an hour. I charge $40 a "job", but I have it automated to a degree that most "jobs" take me an hour or less. So essentially I charge 40 an hour, for residential jobs. I mainly do a few here or there on the side for friends, family and the odd acquaintance.

For business grade support, anything less then $100 an hour is giving it away. Now you can look at this a few ways as well. Businesses offering business grade support usually charge more because of the implications of doing a job wrong, and the damage it can cause if something does go wrong. Throw that in with added complexity and a larger set of skills needed means that the job is worth a lot more then cleaning out grandmas spyware ridden Pentium 4 machine.

Call a few repair shops in the immediate area and ask what they charge hourly to make service calls to a business. I think your going to find that most or all of them are three or four times what your charging.

I'm thinking you need to be around $100 an hour.