My new sideline - Self employment:

[bibble]

Self employment:

I have done this on and off for about a year now and have decided that my day job does not pay enough; I currently don't have enough experience in my area to get a better paid job that would offset the convenience of the current one. So Mike's PC repairs is born - officially.

All I am doing is fixing the sort of thing normal bods find hard; blown boards, data recovery, etc etc.

My question is one of advice; what sort of kit do I need and are there many pitfalls out there. I have realised that price is a huge bone with people also - never thought I would have to work out a price list.

I do have various chunks of hardware and software that I can use and various tools but what sort of specialist things am I best getting? I am reasonalbly computer hardware savvy but electronics is a mystery to me - would I be wise to invest in a basic course?

Here is an example: I have one today which:

starts up
shows video bios message
then give a BIOS rom checksum error and stops here unable to get further.

The easy way is to get a new motherboard and hey presto off you go. This may be more expensive and faster than getting a preflashed chip from the manufacturer but there may be other issues with the board. I could always flash the rom myself but does that get really inconvenient and expensive (I dont have flashing equipment)? Then it comes down to say I do get the chip and extractor tool but this does not fix it a new moterboard is needed but I feel I couldnt charge for what someone could say was unecessary. Any ideas on that?

I am not even going to start on the pain of trying to work out my tax and rubbish like that

anyway any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

[Gurm]

Electronics repair is a dying art. It's seldom worth it.

My mom & dad just got their Zenith TV repaired. The "fix" cost them $125. If the OTHER part that the guy was looking at had ALSO been bad, it would have been cheaper to buy a new TV, even though it's a 32".

Motherboard REPAIR? Heavens, no. If it's less than a year old, it's under warranty, and if it's more than a year old, $50 buys a newer better one... and that's a lot cheaper than 4+ hours of your time.

I'm not trying to discourage you. I make a few bucks here and there off of data recovery, PS2/XBox/Gamecube repair, etc. and I could probably make substantially more if I applied myself.

But just be aware that you're delving into an area of limited usefulness in this "throw it away and buy a new one" age.

- Gurm

[Taz]

You'd be wise looking into public liability insurance as well

Are you officially self employed or are you working for a company consisting just of yourself?

[bibble]

Taz - just me. Yes I do need that - stupid question is it expensive.

Gurm - I wasnt going to go down the soldering the parts on the board but more just replacing something that can be replaced. The furthest motherboard repair would go would be the chip. As it turns out the customer said just get a new board. Most of the money is made in reinstalls and please setup my computer for me type jobs. As soon as parts come in it gets pricey for them and takes longer for me.

[Byock]

Be aware as well, that when you fix a persons home pc, anything that goes wrong with it in the next 3 months, is your fault. That is the pasrt, and endless tech support, that kill that business.

[bibble]

byock - so far I havent had any comeback but then again I havent had masses of work.

Didnt realise it was law 3 months but thats not a terrible thing.

[Gurm]

Is that the law in the UK? I thought it was just an unwritten rule of computer repair that the last one to touch it MUST have broken it.

You know, kinda like when you take the car to the garage to get the oil changed, and a week later it starts clunking, and you assume it was those DAMN OIL TECHS.

- Gurm

[Taz]

Not any law I'm aware of


Public liability insurance costs me £19 per month but it took several phone calls before I could find anyone that would cover me at all Seems computer engineers are treated as high risk by insurance companies, not entirely sure why though

It's also worth writing up some terms and conditions and either print them on the back of each job sheet or make some comment about them being available on request. Get the customer to sign a job sheet for any work done. That should cover you against most come backs. It's usually a good idea to test things before you work on it so that you don't end up fixing things the customer forgot to mention

[DukeP]

Its actually not a hassle to get a flashrom kit.

Theres lots of newsgroups that can help you, both software wise, but also with advice on where to get the right bios, and, at least as important, the right versions!

http://www.conrad.com/

Is where I bought m y last kit. They are cheap, and have a lot of good books on any electronic subject as well. Try an browse their sites, and get their catalog.

I think Your best starting point would be to get a good homepage up and running - simple and clear.

Next target should be a fixed support deal with a small compagny - say a deal that assures x compagny that they will have onsite access to your services 4 hours a week, and telephone/email access as needed.

This will give you a certain (if low) income, that would ease your mind - and your landlord!

The department at my university have a deal like that. One guy shows up every thursday - people collect "problems" for him all week, he makes a list and starts from a) when he arrives. He gets a fixed sallery, and he is rather loose on the terms - he often spends more hours than he actualy gets payed for. This he can do at his leaisure, if he isnt otherwise occupied. On the other hand, he can take a "week" off without anbody raising a hue or cry over that.


Im certain it can be done - good luck with it!

~~DukeP~~

[bibble]

Gurm - it is usually me that has broken it LOL

Taz - Have thought of some terms and conditions - making a list. Maybe we are high risk due to the huge voltages and radiation levels or something associated with computer innards.

DukeP - will look at site etc. Flashing could be an easy way of recovering and I have had enough trouble to thinkit may be worthwhile. The income is to be in addition to my current job rather than instead of but from just a couple of ads the response was very good. The general populace usually knows someone in computers but a lot of the time friends are more of the problem e.g. this will help and the next thing you have bonzi buddy etc etc

Homepage yes - but I am moving internet provider and will have to wait for that one.

[Paddy]

Radiation levels?????? Nah, I just assume it is because you are potentially working with very expensive kit.

[bibble]

Isn't there gamma radiation from parrallel ports and what about plasma power conduits - and you musnt forget the warp core. If you had a breach you could blow up the customers house

[Fat Tone]

Originally posted by Paddy
Radiation levels?????? Nah, I just assume it is because you are potentially working with very expensive kit.

It probably has more to do with the customers perceived value of their data and inconvenience rather than the cost of the kit. Any PC beyond its warranty period that need replacing is probably only a few hundred quid now.

@Bibble - LOL, but don't lean too close to the monitor - that's how Paddy ended up with his current hair style

Also @Bibble - don't charge too little for your time. If you are doing this in addition to a day job then it has to be worth the lost leisure/family time. I charge my private clients around the same as the local shop would, and 50% more if its at really inconvenient times.

[Technoid]

Originally posted by Byock
Be aware as well, that when you fix a persons home pc, anything that goes wrong with it in the next 3 months, is your fault. That is the pasrt, and endless tech support, that kill that business.

Three months?? more like "forever"

Wich reminds me to fix a :

"any complaints should be voiced within one week and the item in question should laso be returned in the same time frame"

on the receits they get when they collects their POS's

Fixed a computer 3 months ago, they collected it one month after, phones the day after claiming that its the same week, but don't return it untill 2 months after that..... urghhh

[Fat Tone]

Looks like you are right about the radiation

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=55403&_LOC=UK

Use this case and your premiums go down?