Getting my contract prices organized.. Opinions needed!!

[Edge Tech NY]

SMB/Office:

- How much to charge for each workstation (NY State)

- How much to charge for each server (mail/file etc.)

- Whats the rule of thumb for time in the monthly price? How many hours in the agreement is average?

- Emergency Fees? (aka late hours?)

I know the NY Average rate for SMB is $125/hr aprox. So I figured charging offices for IT support $100/hr for the "block of time" in contract... plus a fee for each workstation.. ($40?) and server ($75). I would also include unlimited remote time or is that apart of the block of time in contract?

Example:

20 workstations x $40 = $800
2 severs x $75 = $150
15 Hours Per Month?? x $100 = 1500
Total - $2450/Month for IT Support

I feel that's expensive.. Am I right?
Thanks for help.. I have big plans ;]

 

[MrUnknown]

Do you feel it is worth it? Remember, you are not competing on price but service.

Usually though you charge per computer per month, or sell a block of hours. If I am buying 15 hours from you, then why am I paying for the support of each computer? What is the point of this?

Your pricing per computer is similar to a package of mine, but it includes unlimited remote support. Unlimited on-site is a higher cost per computer, or billed extra as they need it. My contract doesn't offer software support, just installation and such but I wont teach them how to use the software.

I think your server price is too low and I would recommend at least doubling it. Server uptime is more important than workstations.

If you are billing by the hour, then there is no average amount of hours or price. It is what you think your client will need and what they agree they need. Cost, again, no average but it is customary to discount your regular rate because they are buying in bulk.

I think you need to figure out if you are selling hours or a flat rate per computer.

Also, is this done remotely or are you going on-site each time?

 

[Edge Tech NY]

So the way I priced my example is bad? Raise my server prices ?

Example:

20 workstations x $40 = $800
2 severs x $150 = $300
Total - $1100/Month for IT Support

And for whatever on-site work needed will be $100/hr..

**Unlimited Remote Service, only updates, installs, maintenance and no tutoring etc..


Is that a good contract?

 

[MrUnknown]

It is a good contract if you're happy with it and how much you will earn. I was just confused why you were charging per computer, and then how much time you were on-site. To me, it didn't make sense and I am not sure how you would explain it to a customer. Also, with the servers, they are a much more important responsibility so you can charge more. There is more value in managing them. If your client had a computer go down, they might be mad but they will seriously yell if they cannot send or receive email.

For my area, that would be a decent amount. Then again, you are in NY and the cost of living is higher. You also need to view a service contract as a way in. There will be more money because they will need and want your recommendations. You will also be able to sell backup solutions, antivirus solutions, etc.

If you want to compare your prices to a different company, here is one I saw in ChannelPro,
http://www.dedicatedit.com/it-support-bundle/proactive-network-management/

If you look, you can probably find other prices publicly listed. I haven't released my prices to my website for personal reasons.

 

[MrUnknown]

P.S. You didn't really answer my question... Are you planning on using a remote management solution like Kaseya or do all of this on-site?

VirtualAdministrator gives a discount to ACRBO members and there is also CloudServicesDepot which makes an appearance on this forum somtimes.

With Kaseya you can automate a ton of your work and rarely have to actually go on-site.

 

[Edge Tech NY]

ya mostly remote.. i was giving time price in contract because i thought they usually had blocks of time associated with them..

 

[wimwauters]

When I charge a monthly fee ALL manhours and call-outs are inclusive.
They also get me onsite for at least 1 day a month.

The idea is that the client pays a fixed monthly fee to avoid helpdesk calls and emergency call-outs, all of which increases productivity.

My server fee used to include 5 computers, but it no longer does (and is lower now). The fee for Unix servers is much lower than windows/linux. Laptop fee is higher than PC fee, because of home printers and remote access support.

 

[MrUnknown]

ya mostly remote.. i was giving time price in contract because i thought they usually had blocks of time associated with them..

Yeah, it is usually one or the other. They are different pricing models. Of course there is no reason why you can't do both, but I think it may be hard to explain.

With the ability to have 24/7 monitoring through Kaseya and able to automate many things and spend pretty much no time on-site, after the first month there can be months where you don't do anything. Don't completely disappear though, otherwise they won't know what they are paying for.

 

[DavidF]

I partner with another crowd for servers.
I build and install, they config & maintain.
This works well for both of us because I am more than happy to replace a failed PSU but I have no desire to troubleshoot/fix exchange server issues.
This gives the owner a quick turnaround on hardware issues and I can dump software issues on the Admin
Dubai is on a crappy time differential to me.

 

[perryny]

Hey Brainiac,

Your pricing is very much in line with what I charge and what's competitive in NYC.

My base fee is twice what your per/server charge is, and it's set to monitor and maintain UP TO one server. Any additional servers are billed at an additional $99/mo.

I give them an unlimited number of remote incidents per month, which are limited to two hours each. If a single incident goes over two hours (a bad virus infection for example), I charge an additional hourly rate, regardless of whether I continue working remotely or go on-site.

I charge an additional hourly rate for ANY service that needs to be performed on-site.

Everything is spelled out crystal clear and agreed to in a Standard Service Agreement.

My goal is to go on-site no more than two hours per week per client. My remote monitoring and support help me accomplish this.

My customers are happier to see me less (I'm not offended in the least), and my income is assured through my flat-rates, which they're also happy to pay as it results in less downtime and higher productivity for them.

How do I keep them convinced that although they rarely see me that they're in tip-top shape?

EXCELLENT, WEEKLY REPORTS! (easily generated if you're using a good monitoring application).

Best of luck,
-Robert

 

[Datech]

That initial per server price was definitely low, and it never hurts to have a high one so long as you provide exemplary service for the servers. Any sysadmin will tell you, and many already have, that when a workstation goes down only one, maybe two people hate you. When a server goes down, the whole company is likely to hate you.

Depending on how you have your contracts and agreements set up, you may want to go ahead and spell out that you always strongly recommend that a company has a server backup system in place BEFORE you start working. Its amazing how many small and even some medium businesses don't have the slightest clue about backing up data. And, if the company doesn't have a backup solution, this is the perfect time to sell one to them (assuming you know how to configure it properly)

Back to the topic of contract prices, there is definitely a big difference between the per computer and by hour price, and it should be tailored to your capabilities or your client's needs. I can optimize 6 computers in an hour if I can work on them at the same time on site, but if your client only has 5 workstations I could more than easily keep them monitored 24/7 remotely.

 

[justalfe]

i definitely want to get into servers.

 

[wimwauters]

How do I keep them convinced that although they rarely see me that they're in tip-top shape?

EXCELLENT, WEEKLY REPORTS! (easily generated if you're using a good monitoring application).

Best of luck,
-Robert

thanks for sharing Robert, excellent info.

I use nagios for monitoring, but haven't bothered with management reporting yet; for which I plan using cacti.

What else are people on here using?

 

[perryny]

I use GFI Max (previously called HoundDog).

-Robert