Onsite computer cleaning

[Martyn]

I've just had a phone call from a client of mine who provides office cleaning for companies. She has a client who wants a quote for giving their 14 computers, keyboards etc a clean. The only cleaning I do would be when I bring them back and remove the side to clean them with a blower. Does anyone provide this service, what do you do and what do you charge?

 

[brandonkick]

Looks like a great opportunity to upsell a maintenance contract, especially if you want one.


14 machines that need the dust blown out of them, and a good wipe down. Perhaps some new 80mm fans or the odd CPU fan and maybe even a few CMOS batteries.

While you have them, no sense in doing a little tune up/diagnosis of their current setup regarding antivirus/security products.

Sounds like an easy couple hundred dollars to me, and potentially much more if they want anything beyond a good cleaning/servicing.

I'd charge $500 USD

$35 per machine and for that they get:

PC blown out
80mm fans checked / replaced
CPU fans checked / replaced
CMOS batteries checked replaced


You'll probably spend less then $20 on fans and batteries combined and one bottle of cleaner to wipe down the outsides of the computers.
If you can get them to use you for tune ups / clean ups / optimizations then your golden. Easily bump that to over $100 per machine.

As far as what I'd give them in a tuneup:

Make sure they are using proper antivirus software, and if not install a free antivirus or upsell again to a good paid product like kaspersky (or whatever)
Make sure windows is up to date
Make sure they are free of infections/spyware
Make sure hardware configuration is proper (IE they aren't running windows 7 on 2GB or less of ram)

IF they want to go above and beyond that, the next upsell would be data backup services (or even entire system backups)

Making routine images of the entire system with Acronis can save them a lot of time and money down the road, and make you money now and make your job
easier down the road.

If they want all of the above services, then I'd probably come in around $200-$250 per machine.

A good way to get them to sign on with you for all of the aforementioned services would be to schedule a meeting with the general manager, CEO or otherwise.

Ask them what they have in place for business continuity plans, cyber and physical security plans, and emergency response plan. You would be directly interested in
helping them with the cyber security plans (which include data backup and loss prevention). Your goal is to get them to realize that a significant data loss would be
a major cause of complete failure of the business. Many companies cannot withstand such a loss. Even if they can, it will cost them incredible amounts of time and money.
Ask them how much it would cost them if their computers would be down for two or three days, and no one could work. Maybe four or five days? What would it cost them if they lost the customers data? How would they get it back? Could they even get it back?

 

[glricht]

I've just had a phone call from a client of mine who provides office cleaning for companies. She has a client who wants a quote for giving their 14 computers, keyboards etc a clean. The only cleaning I do would be when I bring them back and remove the side to clean them with a blower. Does anyone provide this service, what do you do and what do you charge?

We have an Auto Body shop customer and they have three PCs in an office next to the garage where the body work is done and two PCs inside the garage itself. Over time, all the PCs get covered both inside and out with a fine brown grit from the grinding compound.

Every 4-6 months we go there just to physically clean the PCs. We'll take the case outside, open it and blast it with compressed air. Clean the outside with Fantastik/409/(your choice of general household cleaner), clean the keyboard and mouse using rags and old toothbrushes, and wipe down the monitor and clean the screen. Often, we'll even have to clean the power/video/USB/(etc) cables in the back as they'll get nasty too.

We're an onsite-only business and charge by time, so this service is charged strictly by time also. Tends to average about 30-45 minutes per office PC and an hour+ for each PC in the garage itself.

 

[BillMoney]

like Brandon said this could lead to a good maintenance contract if you present it well.

Good Luck

 

[Larry Sabo]

I'd be careful to ensure each PC operates normally before cleaning, lest you get blamed because it's dead/borked and" it worked fine before you cleaned it." I'd also want to check for obviously bad caps on the MB. You could up-sell a basic health check very easily, I would think, which would have lots of $$$ potential.

 

[Metanis]

Yes, it's very important to have an understanding about who pays if a freshly cleaned machine experiences boot issues.

If the machines are really nasty I would use a portable air compressor outside a convenient door (not the company main entrance) and I would haul every machine (and keyboard) outdoors for cleaning. Pop the side panel and thoroughly blow out the inside components with compressed air. (Use a regulator set to 30 or 40psi, more pressure could involve damaging components). Ensure you use your finger (or pocket screwdriver) to keep any fan from over-spinning and thus possibly ruining it's bearings/bushings.

Carefully blow the crumbs out of the keyboard while you are there. I also use a very soft bristle cleaning brush on keyboards. I avoid liquid cleaners on keyboards unless you have time to ensure they are completely dry before reuse.

I would figure about 30 minutes per machine using this method including tear-down and the re-connecting each PC.

As pointed out by others on the thread it would be logical to up-sell additional work to ensure the PCs are running normally and have all updates installed.

As an additional value-add, use your shop-vac to vacuum around the area where the PC sits. It's usually pretty filthy there too because most cleaning crews avoid cleaning too close to a computer.

 

[glricht]

I'd be careful to ensure each PC operates normally before cleaning, lest you get blamed because it's dead/borked and" it worked fine before you cleaned it." ...

Agree. When we go to the auto body customer (see previous post), I always do a preliminary check to ensure the PC is working OK before we start cleaning. Since we charge by time, it all gets rolled together.

p.s. After one of the first times we cleaned their PCs, they called saying one of the CD drives no longer worked (turns out it wasn't working in the first place). The problem was due to grit inside the drive itself. We now use a cleaner CD (with the brushes on the bottom) on each CD drive as part of the cleaning regimen.

 

[gikstar]

We include this type of service in our maintenance contracts and the period of time between cleaning the systems depends on the type of facility.

We go on their premises when they are normally closed and take a 26 Gallon compressor and a long hose and blow out the dust outside.
In some cases, like in a strip center or shopping mall, we leave the compressor in the van and take the computer to the parking area.

We take a little hand vac along to cleanup the floor round the computer.

 

[rsarceno]

I'd be careful to ensure each PC operates normally before cleaning, lest you get blamed because it's dead/borked and" it worked fine before you cleaned it."

+1, this would be a big concern specially if you don't charge enough. It might eat your profit. If I where you I would check and boot each one before doing any cleaning. Base on the outcome, then decide which one to clean and whcih one not to

Why not Vacuum instead of blower so you don't have to transport the computer. I just order one form amazon the will do both vacuum and blower.

 

[altrenda]

Why not Vacuum instead of blower so you don't have to transport the computer. I just order one form amazon the will do both vacuum and blower.

Very few portable vacuums have the power to suck up dirt from cooling fins.
I use a similar vacuum, and it does cut down on dust to vacuum first, but you still need to blow to do a thorough cleaning.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I bought a Stinger from Home Depot that has terrific suction and blowing. Didn't even realize there is a micro cleaning nozzle kit available--it would increase the velocity considerably, for cleaning heat sinks. Even without that kit, it's great at cleaning out cases and heat sinks. Terrific vacuum/blower, and very portable!

 

[gunslinger]

I would never do onsite cleaning. I always bring them back to the shop and hit them with the leaf blower. Its really the only way to get all the dust out.

 

[Go-To Gordon]

I was about to post something similar and found this thread in a search.

I'm looking for some recommendations on a small (ish) portable air compressor. After a job a few weeks ago I was really considering it. After yesterday I am for sure gonna do it.

I still work a few nights a week at a restaurant. My boss gave me three of their pos revention systems that were "dead". they are all optiplex sff 745 with mobo, power & heat issues (imagine that). got two up and running. gotta order a mobo for the third.

Anyway these things were so full of dust, flour, funk etc etc. HUGE pain to clean. I went through 5 things of duster on the 3 pc's. I sold him on an on going maintenance plan. After initial cleaning, reapplying thermal paste etc all I will do is blow them out once a month or so.

So I'm looking for a smallish portable and reliable compressor and thought I would ask here.

 

[frederick]

Home depot, lowes, ace hardware...take your pick...you can also find portable air compressors online.

You don't and won't need a 5 gallon drag it all over air compressor that weighs a lot. Got mine for $50, its cherry red, and threw a metallica sticker on the side of it...someone wrote on it "the computer cleaner". Got it at home depot a couple of years ago. I strongly recommend one with a power cord of at least 5'. Our other compressor has a 2' power cable and every time we take out the cord is always too short for some reason.

 

[PCS]

For a short while I worked for a part of rentokill initial that does computer cleaning. We would go to site;
brush vents to move dust
clean external case and rear of the screen with damp micro fibre cloths
clean screen with screen cleaner
spray cleaner on to keyboard brush, hold keyboard upside down and clean all keys, wipe top and bottom of keyb with damp cloth, then clear all the crap off desk that fell out of keyboard.

Clean top and bottom of mouse, around wheel and all crap from case edge/gaps

Wipe mouse with cloth, cleaning the scroll wheel.
same kind of thing on phone.

We would also do the outsides of desktop printers. Charge was about £5 per desk, we would average 15 pcs with dual monitors per hour.

 

[glricht]

@PCS: you didn't open the PC's case and clean out the inside? If not, why not?

Cleaning the outside is nice as the machine looks cleaner, but if not also the inside, what's the point?

 

[carrcomp]

@PCS: you didn't open the PC's case and clean out the inside? If not, why not?

Cleaning the outside is nice as the machine looks cleaner, but if not also the inside, what's the point?

If you keep up with it and it's a cleanish environment, there's less dirt and debris that will get taken into the fans.

I'd bet an internal cleaning is needed less often with that service.

 

[brandonkick]

Internal cleaning on a somewhat regular basis is a must though, dirt and debris cause heat and heat is the number one killer of hardware.

Of course, if the PC in question happens to be in a very dusty/dirty place then it will need cleaned more often than a location in better conditions housekeeping wise.

 

[PCS]

@PCS: you didn't open the PC's case and clean out the inside? If not, why not?

Cleaning the outside is nice as the machine looks cleaner, but if not also the inside, what's the point?

That was the job! the service is sold on the premise of hygiene. People sit at their computer all day, eating, coughing, sneezing, picking orifices and not always washing their hands after going to the bathroom. Studies have been done that show your computer could be dirtier than a toilet.

A clean work area may reduce staff sick days?

One thing you need to plan for because it will happen, you will clean a working PC, remove dust from inside, power up and it wont power on!

 

[HFultzjr]

I've just had a phone call from a client of mine who provides office cleaning for companies. She has a client who wants a quote for giving their 14 computers, keyboards etc a clean. The only cleaning I do would be when I bring them back and remove the side to clean them with a blower. Does anyone provide this service, what do you do and what do you charge?

I have one customer that I do this on a regular basis.

Approx. every 6 months or when she call saying here computer is loud. It's the fans running on high, because of heat issues.

I go to clients house, unhook system, bring back to shop, clean out all heatsinks, fans, etc. Apply new thermal paste, while I'm in there. I then compare the old temps with new temps and they average 15-20 degrees cooler, sometimes much more. The one time her CPU was approaching 200 degrees, why it didn't shut down, I don't know. However. I did tell her that had she kept running at these temps, chances are she would have damaged something. That's when she set me up on a 6 month schedule.

Price charged is $48.00.

Customer is only about 5 minutes from my shop.

This is something my son can do if I'm busy.

Total time involved about 45 minutes.

By the way, she is a VERY HEAVY smoker. That is why it needs cleaned so often. Amazing the "junk" she collects in just 6 months. Heatsinks are usually 50-75% clogged.

She is very happy with this setup.

I'm sure doing multiple ones at the same time, you would realize some efficiencies. Almost all labor, except for some thermal paste and alcohol.