Spoken like a millennial.
Spoken like a pizza tech.
FIFY.
You're the one that's behind the times here, not me. There's a reason why Microsoft integrated a refresh this PC option in Windows. In the near future, simply replacing Windows itself using the original image downloaded from the internet will be the norm (while maintaining all the apps and data). I don't personally use the refresh this PC option because it's not quite there yet, but I can foresee a future where refreshing will be a regular thing that Microsoft does automatically, like Windows updates.
The vast majority of my clients run a home based business, and most of them only use web based software, Microsoft Office, and their printer software. I have larger business clients that use proprietary software, but that's not the norm. Even Quickbooks will soon be online only.
It takes about 2-4 minutes to image a fresh copy of Windows 10 onto an empty hard drive or SSD. Most of my clients have 10GB of data or less, so I can back that up in about 10 minutes over USB 3.0. I can pull their Office license from their Microsoft account and reinstall their Office and printer in about 10 minutes. All the while, Windows is downloading the most recent drivers and setting everything up. So now we're at 22 to 24 minutes to do a nuke n' pave. Vs. how long exactly to track down the exact little error that's causing their problem?
Now there are some things that take longer. If they have Outlook set up, backing up and restoring it can take another 10 minutes easy. Sometimes longer if they have a lot of emails.
For my business clients that have proprietary software, I keep an image of their drives on file so if they come in again with a problem, it's an option to restore from that image and just update the program data.
Reimaging a drive is quick and easy, and it is guaranteed to fix 100% of their software problems so you don't have any unsatisfied customers. I'm sure you've had the idiot customer that comes in complaining about one thing, you fix that one thing, then they call a few days later and complain that you didn't fix another thing that they never told you about. No thanks. Just put a bullet in my brain.
Now that's funny.... you must have trained your people to accept anything you say. That's great if you can get away with it. In my business it not about whats best or easier for me or my techs, its about properly and expertly servicing our clients.
"Get away with it?" If anyone is "getting away" with anything, it's techs that waste time (and their client's money) because they're too proud to simply reimage the system. Time is money. The faster I can get something out of here, the better it is for everyone involved. I don't reimage every system that comes through the door, but if I can fix the problem faster by starting over, that's exactly what I do. Of course I take many different things into account. If the client is particularly computer illiterate, I don't want them to have to deal with any more change than they have to. If it's a business client with custom software and it's going to be a big pain for them to get their software up and running again, then I don't reimage. But in this case, if the problem is big enough and costly enough for me to "fix" then it's worth it (cost wise) for them to pay ME to mess with the custom software and get it all running again after I reimage the system. I have clients of all types and of all skill levels. Some clients want to pay me to reinstall Office, while others are fine reinstalling it themselves. And if they have any problems, I'm just a phone call away with my finger on the remote support button.
