How much should I pay my friend for fixing my PC?

macman

Ask him how many hours he spent on it and reward accordingly, say £30 per hour?

robmar0se

macman wrote: »

Ask him how many hours he spent on it and reward accordingly, say £30 per hour?

Going rate is about half that for a start-up, and £20ph quite common (retail).

From th either side, I refuse payment from friends I do work for; However I have been given oftentimes a bottle of scotch, wine, in fact last time I was given two rather good bottles wine. I don't refuse this as I take it as a sign of appreciation.

Standard price for removing common viruses and system clean is about £30, system re-install about £60 - there are exceptions (as someone said the longer the problem has been left, the longer it often takes to resolve).

GunJack

friends I don't charge as a rule, as long as they don't try and take the p*ss - if they do, I'll charge them but not at full rate. Charging by the hour is getting less common these days, especially as shop-based repair services tend to be charged by the job type, so to be competitive (i.e. cheaper than them bearing in mind a shop has overheads to cover) you have to do the same jobs for less ( or should that be )

scheming_gypsy

Ask him how much you owe him, if he says nothing then buy him a curry / beers or throw some notes at him.

avstar

Warnski what a nice person you are. :T

My other half has fixed numerous friends, neighbours and aquaintances PCs and laptops, sometimes spending hours working on it or all weekend tied to the house while he waits for various things to install etc.

The vast majority never offer anything. One friend gave him a bottle of wine he'd been given himself, knowing that my other half doesn't drink..... It really grates on me that people seem to think he 'likes' computers so he will fix theirs for free, but I wouldn't expect a builder friend to build me a wall for free...bah!

eyeinthesky

I never ask or expect anything for helping work colleagues or friends, I enjoy the challenge though. I got a bottle of red wine recently, which I was very pleased with, but I would have been quite happy without. I sorted a laptop for a colleague the other day, but don't know if I will be offered anything. Money, I would refuse, but a bottle of red would be very acceptable.

Hammyman

Pay him. If you don't and ask him again he, like me, will think you're only interested in him because he can fix your computer. I have several family and "friends" which only surface from the woodwork when their computers are broken. They now all, without exception, get billed at my normal rate because I got sick of them taking the pi$$.

Ask him how long it took before giving him some money and work it on £10/hr as a thankyou.

macman

robmar0se wrote: »

Going rate is about half that for a start-up, and £20ph quite common (retail).

From th either side, I refuse payment from friends I do work for; However I have been given oftentimes a bottle of scotch, wine, in fact last time I was given two rather good bottles wine. I don't refuse this as I take it as a sign of appreciation.

Standard price for removing common viruses and system clean is about £30, system re-install about £60 - there are exceptions (as someone said the longer the problem has been left, the longer it often takes to resolve).

Going rate where? I don't know anyone in London who will do a call out and first hour for £15? At least not if doing it professionally.
Anyone offering those rates is simply devaluing themselves and the business generally.
No-one would bat an eyelid if an electrician or plumber asked for £30 for the first hour (indeed, they'd wonder why they were so cheap).
Once a job is likely to go over 2 hours (say virus removal), then a fixed price becomes sensible, £60 or £70.
These prices are based on a home service, not a retail outlet offering repairs.

jollyton

Nothing to be honest, if he is your mate!! How about a pint or some chicken with chips :j

albionrovers

Forget money, it's a f-r-i-e-n-d. A bottle or a crate of beer is fine. If they don't drink, they can donate it to the next raffle. If they don't raffle, they need to get out more. Jeez, do the moneysavers above even know what a friend is?