How much should I charge a friend for building them a custom high end PC?

Question

I put a lot of effort into building this machine for a friend of mine, and they are insisting that they pay me.....They have already spent around $850 on the PC parts, I'm not sure on what to charge them.

Any insight?

The parts cost them around $850, which they paid in advance, now they are wanting to pay me in cash for the labor/time.

That's where my question comes in to play, I don't know how much to charge.

Answer 1

Charge by the hour like most computer businesses do, you can build one in under a hour,

If you have chased around for the parts then you have to charge for that, include telephone calls even to do web searches, this is all time involvement,

Next if you installed windows the going rate (business is 40.00
without all the updates,) Now if you did the job as it should be done it should have taken you no less that 8 hours to install windows, and all windows updates

Down load the updated the drivers from the manufactures for the hardware If you installed other software that is time, at an hourly rate. Now you have to look at this in the light of day, if by any chance you had damaged any components you would have been left with a bill to replace the item , so you have to charge for the building of the system

next though it is for a friend, you will be the first he calls on should anything go wrong with the puter, and you will be the one left holding the baby. I know you may not like charging him but look to the future when you build a system for anyone you have to stick by it for the dueration of the warantee of 12 months.
( manufactures) you will be the one sorting it out for him.

so in all fairness yes charge him at least 150.00

Answer 2

Depends on how good a friend they are. I just spent two evenings repairing and reloading a friends computer and charge nothing. But, you can bet his azs better be helping me next time I need it.

In your case, you may have spent a lot of time on it due to limited experience. I don't say that to offend you, it's just that no one with a lot of experience would call $850 worth of parts "high end". I've spent more than $850 just on the processor, more that that on just memory, and more on just a video card, then put them all together and thats looking a lot more like high end.

The question isn't about how long it took you. The question is how long should it have taken you, charge for that if you must. I'd recommend $50 or a six pack, your call.

Answer 3

Well at least the $850 or the total amount you will spend In parts. Do you want to charge them for your time? Or will a really nice dinner out do? Does your friend sell something you might like in exchange or for a serious discount. Barter the labor cost. Do you need a room in your house painted? I really think you are looking for a way out of asking them a price that includes your labor time. Do not ask for less than the cost of parts . You may kick yourself later

Answer 4

850 is not a lot for a high end PC
that is more like a lower mid range end PC
(mine is high end and it cost me over 8 grand custom built by myself)
but charge 50 bucks only
or it is not worth customs
plus building a computer is not hard
yea, sure it takes time and sometimes blood if you arn't careful (i cut my self all the time on the metal inside them)
but it is definatly not worth anything over 100
i personally charge 50 bucks
the same with my friend that got me started
it is until you wnat soemthing special like Watercooling or case mods that you wil start charging over 100
i think for a water cooled PC, it is 100
for an extremely organized computer, i charge 80
(one where you see no wires at all (it takes some nice amout of planning))
for a case mod PC i charge about 150 to 400 depending on what it is
150 is just decals, paint jobs, add ons to the case, and water cooling
400 is making it extreme like new paintjobs, a phase changer on it, watercooling, extremely high end parts which take helluva lot of concentration to do
but i never had to charge higher than 150


Lazirell has a good point there as i mentioned above
i usually spend 500 to 600 bucks on average for each computer part
my processor is about 950
my RAM is 850 (4gbs of the new Dominator, it runs at 1.11ghz)
my motherboard was 260 (pretty high for a motherboard (680i))
and each of my videocards were 620 (2x 8800GTXs in SLI)
and my powersupply is 400 (PC Power and Cooling 1k watt)

Answer 5

well, minus the cost f parts, charge 25/hour per customer, but im sure u can crop some off if he is your friend

Answer 6

Hmm...well if you like your friend a lot then $150. If you don't then $850.
:)

Answer 7

I think around 450-500 would be good because he is your friend but if you are building it from scratch you should not give it free

Answer 8

normally tech get 50$ an hour
but go 10-20,

Answer 9

50 bucks, jezz i wish i had a friend like u, my com does not work and my guy cousin wont fix my com cause he says i dont pay, that asshole ur soo nice.

Answer 10

perhaps $500-$600. It seems reasonable enough.