PC Repair Price Best Practices for Those Billing By-the-Hour

Are you trying to set a fair PC repair price that will also bring you enough revenue and profitability to grow and sustain your business?

 

PC repair prices vary from business to business, as there are a lot of different fee structure options. One popular choice is to use billable hours, sometimes called time and materials, to estimate and quantify your time spent servicing clients.

 

As you develop a more long-term relationship with your clients, you will definitely want to get their commitment to on-going services through a PC repair service contract, as this will ensure you get on-going, steady revenue for your business. And for your clients, they'll have peace of mind knowing that you'll be there to take care of both their urgent and ongoing PC repair and other IT-related needs.

 

But as you are starting out and doing initial projects to gain trust and establish a good working relationship, setting a sustainable, profitable precedent for your PC repair price and billable hours is important.

 

Consider these 4 tips and best practices to make sure that you select a PC repair price structure that's a mutually win-win for both your company and your clients.

1. Understand Billable Hours and Hourly Billing. Your PC repair price can be based on a variety of fee-structure options. If you decide to use billable hours, you need to do your homework. You need to ensure that clients find your rates fair, but also that you can sustain your business profitably on the rates you set. The basic concept behind billable hours is that you set an hourly rate for your work. When the project is completed, you get paid for the number of hours you spent on the project. This often works well for consultants because it abides by the philosophy that time is money (which it most definitely is in the PC repair business), and it helps ensure those that use this structure are compensated for their time. From your perspective, it's important to note that billing by-the-hour, again often referred to as time and materials, is by far and away the most popular option for most PC repair businesses with diverse client lists.

2. Know How to Start a Project Using Billable Hours. The most important tip to remember when you estimate a PC repair price to your clients is to be upfront about all costs. There should be no surprises. Before work begins, plan carefully and provide a written estimate calculating the amount per hour that will be charged. Also make sure you include a fair projection of the number of hours you will need to finish the project and be very clear. For instance, you could say, “Client agrees to pay $100 per hour for 6 hours of work.”

3. Be Prepared if the Project Goes Over Budget. Often a project is bigger or more time consuming than you originally expected. Before beginning work, you need to address this contingency in the written estimate and include it in your PC repair price estimate. A clause can be added that the client must approve additional hours. This is often called a “change order” and is critical to ensuring that you get paid appropriately for the time you spend.... especially if the client introduces additional requirements after the original PC repair price is quoted. When working on long-term projects, make sure you keep your client informed of your progress with a regular detailed report of any additional costs or schedule changes. This will help you build solid relationships and decrease the chances of disputes over fees.

4. Track Your Hours Well. Before you set a PC repair price in stone for a project, discuss all details with each client. Will you be charging for travel time, documenting time, research time and phone time? And regardless of which software or service you use to keep track of your billable hours, you need to keep careful track of your hours expended and make sure that you are taking into account all possible time and financial costs.

In this short article, you were introduced to how to manage a pricing structure based on billable hours. To learn about setting a PC repair price structure that will be mutually beneficial for both your clients and you, go sign-up now for the free Sample Tips and Excerpts below from the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course.

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