Building PCs for Friends - a bad idea?

[David Prahl]

I've built several new computers over the past year, and would like to apply those skills towards paying for college (or geek gear). I know what I'm doing when it comes to PC repair and construction. (By the way, I'm a senior in high school.)

My question - should I build computers for friends and classmates? Many of them will need PCs soon, and I know I can build what they need for a fair price. My main concern is not being able to support the machines when I go off to school.

I've built three high-end audio editing machines for the radio station I work for, and my personal rig (which has yet to crash).

"Dude, you're getting a Dave!" :lol: :oops:

[Falstaff]

I'd say go ahead and build them for them. If they need support, they can try e-mailing you, or you could give them good PC Hardware sites they could visit and ask questions at. That is the tradeoff always with custom PCs though, if they want tech support by people that sometimes know what they're talking about, Dell is the way to go, otherwise, custom. Remember, Micheal Dell started his company at UT - Austin when he built low cost PCs for friends....

[Jacob]

I agree with falstaff. The danger is that you need to make sure that they understand the warrantee, or lack thereof, implied with the deal.

[Steven Cedrone]

Give them your phone number at school but tell them it will cost $3.99 per minute for support! :wink:

Steve

[David Prahl]

What do you think is a fair mark-up for assembling the machine and loading the OS? From what I've heard, $100 USD is pretty normal for little guys like me.

[aleib]

I'd say between $100 and $150 - If can get parts at cheaper than retail prices I would also mark those up to just below retail.

[Sven Johannsen]

I'd have to agree with the other posters with one caveat. Go ahead and do a business, but stear clear of 'friends'. Friends don't seem to understand the limited warranty that comes with only charging for the time to build the machine. They seem to believe that paying anything should include lifetime support. Friends do seem to understand the lack of support if the assembly was free. So buy the parts wholesale (or bulk) and bill them retail to make a few bucks. Typically they will understand "Hey, I didn't charge you to put the thing together, what do you want?" Their alternative is to tell you, "Hey, I can get it cheaper at ...". Fine, let them.

Non-friends seem to accept the assembly charge as not adding lifetime support for some reason.

[JustinGTP]

Yes,

Be very careful about building for friends. My Dad builds computers and sold two of them to our next door neighbours, our ex-friends. They believed that evertime it locked up they could phone us, then they would get mad at us for it locking up. The actual machine was fine, they just kept on installing everything in the wrong places, never did a de-frag, turned off the PCs with the power button, etc. etc.

My dad says he will never build another computer again for anybody no matter what, there is just too much hassle that goes along with it and he has a job that pays him good money anyways. Why bother?

-Justin.

[Janak Parekh]

I personally agree with Justin and Sven. "Friend" support is always problematic, because one often feels guilt-tripped into doing it for free. I've consulted for years, and built hundreds of machines (maybe even a thousand -- I've lost count). I'm no longer afraid to ask for money -- even from friends -- but it wasn't easy to do so for a very long time. I also now avoid building any machines except for a few of my own, and the P4 2GHz I'm sitting at will probably be my last even then. ;)

--janak

[GoldKey]

Yes,
Be very careful about building for friends. My Dad builds computers and sold two of them to our next door neighbours, our ex-friends. They believed that evertime it locked up they could phone us, then they would get mad at us for it locking up. The actual machine was fine, they just kept on installing everything in the wrong places, never did a de-frag, turned off the PCs with the power button, etc. etc.
-Justin.

Agreed, I had built a couple for family as gifts and believe me, I wish I had just given them a gift certificate to a store instead. On one, 4 years after I gave it to them, it was apparently my fault that they had totally screwed the thing up because it was so full of spyware and other crap. In the end, it was not worth the time for me to travel there and fix it (they lived 5 hours away) so I just bought them a brand new e-machine (the sub $400 model Best Buy usually has). When they got it, I made sure to point out that the support number for Emachines.

[chunkymonkey75]

Don't do it. Unless you are building a high end computer, you cannot mark them up enough to make a profit. You will end up supporting the pc's forever. Non-computer literate do not understand the consept that software they install create problems and sometimes **** just happens. With one or two computers, it's not a big deal. But you get a dozen or so out there, you'll get a consent flood of calls and etc.
I support computers for a living, it's really annoying to deal with this when I get home.

[ale2999]

Dave I have to agree with you. This weekend my friend was suppose to build a pc for his mom and he changed idea as he would have to explain everything and support that pc forever. so he is sending her to dell lol 8)

[David Prahl]

Thanks for the help, guys. I'll call the billboard company and cancel that ad I sent it. :)

[JustinGTP]

Thanks for the help, guys. I'll call the billboard company and cancel that ad I sent it. :)

:lol:

I guess you aren't that poor then, those things can be expensive :lol: