If you haven’t already read Tech Sanity Check, download the PDG here. Pay attention to number 6

Your nontechnical coworkers will use you as personal tech support for their home PCs.

Yup, I’m there right now. Everyone who knows anything about tech knows and understands this. Most of my holidays, cookouts, parties, et al. are spent repairing [insert famaily member here]’s PC. Technology can be intimidating to the non-tech savvy.

I completely understand.

I hate getting under the hood of my car. Mechanics will laugh at this, but the thought of having to troubleshoot my own vehicle scares the shit outta me. Really. I’ve done basic things like tune up and repairs that involved replacing things like water pumps and radiator hoses. But if I ever needed a serious repair, I’d do to someone else what gets done to me.

Thinking about that made me wonder about pricing. I replaced a young lady’s power supply on the company clock today. Should I get paid for it? If I ask for payment, how much should I charge? I wrestled with this problem far longer than it took me to fix her PC. In fact, I felt so guilty for charging her that I installed updates (SP3) and installed Anti-virus software.

The grand cost of it all? $90. Thats $50 plus the price of the part. That’s fair, I think. I know that the Geek Squad - may they burn in hell - might have charged her an ovary. Dell refused to help because her warranty ended last month. That’s pretty F’d up, because if you read the reviews on her PC (Dell Inspiron 4600), failing power units is a common issue with the 4600s that Dell never addressed.

This has all lead me to standardize my pricing practices. Assuming that the issue with your PC is a standard one, I’ll look at it and fix it for $50 plus price of parts and/or software. Keep your eyes open for a pricing list to go up.

Why so cheap? Why am I charging half what other big time techs charge? Do I suck? What exactly is my deal?

Well, I charge so little because I want to be the guy that gets called first. I’d rather have 15-20 consistent customers than scramble and work to hunt down new work all the time. I also know what it feels like to get jerked over a repair. Send me your business and I’ll guarantee my work as long as you own the machine. Barring part failure, anything I fix will never need fixin’ again. Bet on that.