WOW ... I need to charge what these guys charge!

[thecomputerguy]

I rent office space from a client who has an office in my town and an office in a town about 1.5 hours away. They use me for all their tech stuff here and someone else for all the tech stuff out there. It works out well, they charge me super cheap rent, and I still bill them for tech stuff so it's a win win.

Anyways so they asked me to look over a quote the other guy quoted them for a full network overhaul because their VoIP phones are having some quality issues. I start looking at it and it came out to about $4600 which sounded a little high, so I started digging a little bit.

Here is what the other tech quoted them...

$1000 for a $386 - 48-Port PoE switch
$350 for a $208 - 10-Port PoE switch
2x $460 Per for a $199 Per - Wireless access point

I mean I'm all about making some money on hardware and selling it as a package but when your margins are over 100% ... I mean come on, you put exact model numbers in the quote and it's going to get torn apart.

Then it gets better.

It is estimated that installing all of this equipment is going to take 9 hours at $140 per hour BUT, re-wiring the office is not included and is required. So they have to get a wiring guy out there to re-wire the whole office at an additional cost, which could easily crest another $2000.

So I got to thinking, what are these guys actually going to do?

If the wiring guy does the wiring and will I assume finish it at a patch panel in a rack all that will be left for these guys to do is basically mount the switches, plug short Cat cables in from the patch panel to their overpriced switches, then make sure the phones and computers come online, plug in the AP's and configure them ... 9 hours?

All of this doesn't actually have a guarantee that the phones are guaranteed to work perfectly after the install. There is actually a clause that says because of xyz you might still experience quality issues.

I'm doing this wrong.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

I rent office space from a client who has an office in my town and an office in a town about 1.5 hours away. They use me for all their tech stuff here and someone else for all the tech stuff out there. It works out well, they charge me super cheap rent, and I still bill them for tech stuff so it's a win win.

Anyways so they asked me to look over a quote the other guy quoted them for a full network overhaul because their VoIP phones are having some quality issues. I start looking at it and it came out to about $4600 which sounded a little high, so I started digging a little bit.

Here is what the other tech quoted them...

$1000 for a $386 - 48-Port PoE switch
$350 for a $208 - 10-Port PoE switch
2x $460 Per for a $199 Per - Wireless access point

I mean I'm all about making some money on hardware and selling it as a package but when your margins are over 100% ... I mean come on, you put exact model numbers in the quote and it's going to get torn apart.

Then it gets better.

It is estimated that installing all of this equipment is going to take 9 hours at $140 per hour BUT, re-wiring the office is not included and is required. So they have to get a wiring guy out there to re-wire the whole office at an additional cost, which could easily crest another $2000.

So I got to thinking, what are these guys actually going to do?

If the wiring guy does the wiring and will I assume finish it at a patch panel in a rack all that will be left for these guys to do is basically mount the switches, plug short Cat cables in from the patch panel to their overpriced switches, then make sure the phones and computers come online, plug in the AP's and configure them ... 9 hours?

All of this doesn't actually have a guarantee that the phones are guaranteed to work perfectly after the install. There is actually a clause that says because of xyz you might still experience quality issues.

I'm doing this wrong.

Did you give them a quote with your rates with your response?

 

[thecomputerguy]

Did you give them a quote with your rates with your response?

No ... they are too far away for me to support ... I can't commit to 3 hours (minimum) of travel every time they need something. Even if I charge them a premium for it, the drive is going to burn me out and prevent me from servicing my normal pool of clients that are usually within a range of about 15 minutes.

Yes I do remote support, a lot of it, but as we all know sometimes you just need a body onsite.

 

[sapphirescales]

I rent office space from a client who has an office in my town and an office in a town about 1.5 hours away. They use me for all their tech stuff here and someone else for all the tech stuff out there. It works out well, they charge me super cheap rent, and I still bill them for tech stuff so it's a win win.

Anyways so they asked me to look over a quote the other guy quoted them for a full network overhaul because their VoIP phones are having some quality issues. I start looking at it and it came out to about $4600 which sounded a little high, so I started digging a little bit.

Here is what the other tech quoted them...

$1000 for a $386 - 48-Port PoE switch
$350 for a $208 - 10-Port PoE switch
2x $460 Per for a $199 Per - Wireless access point

I mean I'm all about making some money on hardware and selling it as a package but when your margins are over 100% ... I mean come on, you put exact model numbers in the quote and it's going to get torn apart.

Then it gets better.

It is estimated that installing all of this equipment is going to take 9 hours at $140 per hour BUT, re-wiring the office is not included and is required. So they have to get a wiring guy out there to re-wire the whole office at an additional cost, which could easily crest another $2000.

So I got to thinking, what are these guys actually going to do?

If the wiring guy does the wiring and will I assume finish it at a patch panel in a rack all that will be left for these guys to do is basically mount the switches, plug short Cat cables in from the patch panel to their overpriced switches, then make sure the phones and computers come online, plug in the AP's and configure them ... 9 hours?

All of this doesn't actually have a guarantee that the phones are guaranteed to work perfectly after the install. There is actually a clause that says because of xyz you might still experience quality issues.

I'm doing this wrong.

This all sounds perfectly reasonable to me. My most relevant example is a plumber that came out to replace my toilet. He charged me $450 or something for a $189 toilet I could have bought on HomeDepot.com and another $350 in labor. So about $800 to install a toilet that cost less than $200. $600 in profit for 1.5 hours of work. Was it asinine? Yes. But when the toilet doesn't flush, you really don't give a sh*t. You just want it to flush the sh*t.

You have to charge whatever it takes for you to be profitable. I charge $169 for a $55 SSD when I install it. The line-item reads "250GB SSD + Installation - $169.99"

And you can't blame a company for covering their a$$. You don't guarantee results. You offer solutions. Under promise, over deliver. That's the best way to do business and make your customers happy.

 

[callthatgirl]

I had a Friday night sink/toilet/tub blowout, my landlady's handyman came over at 11:00 at night, fixed it all and said he'd bill her. I gave him $100 as a tip for coming over so freaking late and he cleaned up the mess. Now he's my godsend, and my own handyman. Hasn't even charged me since.

 

[callthatgirl]

yeah....maybe I wouldn't mind lol

 

[Your PCMD]

WOW ... I need to charge what these guys charge!

For a second there, I thought this post was about @sapphirescales

Seriously though, thats not unreasonable and I'd say at the most borderline excessive. Like the aforementioned @sapphirescales I agree with him. You need to make a profit, you need a CYA if the product fails and is either non-warranted or warranty voided from the manufacturer but you included a warranty without stipulation - as all too often happens.

Think of it like this - a convenience store. An example would be that you can drive 2 miles and walk into a grocery store for a $1 loaf of bread but if you just dont feel like driving that far &/or don't have the time, you can buy that same loaf of bread at the convenience store for $3. The same concept goes for our line of business.

Customers can order networking equipment from Amazon if they wish and I can install it with no warranty for $125/hr or I can order it for a markup and install it for $75/hr. Saving them the hassle of figuring it all out on their own. That's the convenience factor. Also as far as the 9 hours labor goes, this may account for issues in configuration. You always want to be over on your time assumptions. It's easier to say hey, it only took 7 hours so here's a refund for 2 hours instead of hey, we went 2 hours over and here's an additional bill.

And like @sapphirescales you never put model numbers in the quote.

 

[seedubya]

No ... they are too far away for me to support ... I can't commit to 3 hours (minimum) of travel every time they need something. Even if I charge them a premium for it, the drive is going to burn me out and prevent me from servicing my normal pool of clients that are usually within a range of about 15 minutes.

Yes I do remote support, a lot of it, but as we all know sometimes you just need a body onsite.

Do the project at least and then get them set up with some good local company.

 

[Abramsgunner]

That looks to be on the high-but-not-totally-unreasonable side to me. I realized a long time ago that if i charged what I thought was fair, I'd be out of business in about 6 months.

I think the trap is to think of it in terms of what "I" think the job is worth, usually based on what "I" would be willing to pay. That is a terrible way to look at it as my point of view is skewed. ( I'm cheap, I know how to find the parts I need, I'm comfortable with tech, and I know I can install and configure it = I'm not willing to pay much for someone else to do it).

The truth is, you are paying me for my experience... which enables me to find parts that work well together, configure them in a way that works, and support them for their useful life.

To put another way... you are paying for the "entire package"... and the bill just happens to be itemized (I try not to do that anymore as it encourages the 'shoppers' and tends to be bad for my blood pressure).

The reality is... charge what the market will bear.. anything less is leaving money on the table. The trick is to find the max price that still leaves them feeling like they got good value with their purchase.

Edit: This is where it is important to always be looking for ways to add more value. Hardware is now a commodity... as the young kids (who grew up with tech) move into the workforce.. tech labor will also continue to become a commodity. The value is, and will continue to be in the "entire package".