To start with, it would be a monthly visit right after MS releases the
updates. How much do you charge and hour? How long would it take to do the
updates?
Keeping the virus software up to date should be included. Disk defrags, disk
space usage, server upgrades when needed. Do they want you to keep the
software they use updated also?
hth
DDS
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Let's say one place pays 500 a month. Three more pay the same. I don't
want to work 40 hours a week for 2000 bucks a month!
nick said:Well, I just started out on my own. I used to work for someone, and
they charged 110 per hour. For the senior tech it was like 150/hour.
He had support contracts, but I never knew what he charged. He said
disk defrags, server updates, and monitoring were included. But we
never did any of that. (Which was one of the reasons I resigned). I
charge 90/hour. If I connect remotely, or work from home I charge 70.
My work policy is like this, if you call me in to reconfigure a
router, and I can't figure it out, I stop charging after a certain
time. Let's say Joe Blow could've done the configuration in two
hours....then I charge two hours, and eat the rest until the deed is
done. I figure that the knowledge is good payment, and why charge a
client for something you don't know? Most of the clients run Windows
2000. Some are on Windows 2003. They aren't real big on updates.
Don't I want to limit myself to a certain number of hours a month?
Let's say one place pays 500 a month. Three more pay the same. I don't
want to work 40 hours a week for 2000 bucks a month! I need guidance,
man! Help! (Okay, I'll take my nerve pills now....)
Think about setting up "Hour Blocks." Clients can purchase
a block of 10 hours for $850 and they expire after 1 year if
not used.
They can pay by the hour @ $90 per hour.
Create different categories of support;
1. Troubleshooting = $X per hour = Block of 10 hours = $X
2. Flat rate System Maintenance = $X monthly per PC, $X monthly per
Server
3. After Hours Emergency Support = ($X per hour * 1.5)
4. Remote support = ($X per hour * .75)
With more remote support, you can work on more than one ma
machine at a time and get two support fees; albeit the fee
will be lower.
5. Add mileage to your fees (IRS is giving $.50 per mile I think)
You can still stick to your own work policies.
I would suggest that you come up with a "What is Support" document.
This will dictate to your clients what type of support is covered
under each situation. Make sure your clients clearly understand
the lines between the different support rates.
Hope some of these ideas help.
moncho- Hide quoted text -
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I am!...ok,..maybe it might be about $2500.
I'm not a consultant though,..just an hourly lowly IT Guy that is a
"one-man-IT-Dept".
You sound better organized than I am.
--
Phillip Windellwww.wandtv.com
The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------
nick said:They definitely do. Thanks.
I've found that I need to clearly define what is expected. I had one
client whose hard drive crashed. Their entire medical clinic was lost.
There was no way to check patient appointments, bill patients, etc.
I was called in to fix it. I told her it was about the worst that
could happen since her billing software is in 4 parts which uses SQL
and Oracle. Anyway, I assumed that I would charge what my boss used to
charge, but with a discount. (She was used to dealing with my boss).
After about 50 hours of work she got the bill. I told her she could
pay it over a month, and gave her a heavily discounted rate. She
flipped and told me she wasn't paying it. She told me she never wanted
to deal with me again because I charged her for connecting remotely.
Her clinic is an hour away! By connecting remotely I was able to do
work ASAP without her having to wait for me to arrive. I even charged
her a lot less since it was remote. She still got mad!
nick said:That was me over at a yacht supply company I used to work for. I was
the network administrator, desktop support, help desk, cellphone/radio
guy, PBX phone system guy, and security camera setup guy. All that for
14/hour!!! When I started to complain after a few months I was told I
didn't appreciate the opportunity given to me! AMAZING!!
moncho said:Create different categories of support;
1. Troubleshooting = $X per hour = Block of 10 hours = $X
2. Flat rate System Maintenance = $X monthly per PC, $X monthly per
Server
3. After Hours Emergency Support = ($X per hour * 1.5)
4. Remote support = ($X per hour * .75)
With more remote support, you can work on more than one ma
machine at a time and get two support fees; albeit the fee
will be lower.
5. Add mileage to your fees (IRS is giving $.50 per mile I think)
You can still stick to your own work policies.
I would suggest that you come up with a "What is Support" document.
This will dictate to your clients what type of support is covered
under each situation. Make sure your clients clearly understand
the lines between the different support rates.
Knowing this, I would at least charge a minimum of $75 per hour if not
more. After taxes and all your other expenses, $75 per hour will
become $14 per hour; albeit net instead of gross pay.
moncho- Hide quoted text -
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I understand, I was just giving multiple examples of what couldPhillip said:If I was comming from the customer side of it,..I'd say don't make it to
complicated,..if I could not look over it at a glance and be pretty sure I
understand it,...I would look for someone else. I wouldn't want to feel
like I had to get a lawer to interpret it for me. If it were too complex
I'd feel you were trying to "hide" costs within the complexity. Remember it
will have to prove to still be cheaper for them to call you than to just get
thier own in-house IT guy,...and in-house IT jobs are paying less than they
used to do, especially if they can pay some fresh college grad at a fairly
low rate.
nick said:The most difficult part of all this was trying to get the client to
understand what was done, and what was or wasn't my responsibility.
Reinstalling SBS 2003 was the easiest part. The proprietary software
(GE) was very difficult, and the client assumed that I was responsible
for it. Since I had to restore it with the help of GE the client
assumed that I just "hung" around while they WebEx'ed in and did the
work.
But what was at the root of it was what the previous tech had done. He
had worked for the company where I worked for years. He liked being
able to help the customer out with the GE software. Even though
technically our boss told us it wasn't our responsibility. (To put it
in perspective the software has four parts taken care of by four
different departments. The techs there state that it takes a year on
each part to get proficient enough to support it. So they technically
stick to one part, and transfer you for any other part).
Well, this tech from where I worked used to do a lot of
troubleshooting on his own for the product. So the client stopped
paying support to GE four years ago. I worked with this tech on this
issue, and he said that the client would have no choice but to pay GE
for support, and pay me for reinstall. I wish that after rebuilding
the server I could've just had them WebEx and take care of the rest,
but there was no way.
In order to restore the data they had to know what the setup was like.
Which meant I had to spend hours explaining it to them, and sitting on
the phone with them to get the thing resolved. I didn't bill for a lot
of those hours, but the client told me they weren't responsible for my
lack of knowledge of a product! I told them that as an IT person I am
not required to know GE. I am required to know Microsoft, or Linux,
depending on the environment. Well, they didn't understand that. Since
it was a pediatrician I told them that they are not responsible for
knowing about cardiology. Yet, to use the analogy, I am making them my
cardiologist and then refusing to pay because they had to get educated
on cardiological principles!
This medical practice charges 125/visit for the first visit, and 75
for every visit after that. They see about 30 or more patients a day.
They demand payment before they start their services. Why? Because
they are physicians worth every penny. But as for me? I don't deserve
what I charge because anyone could do what I do. And that's the
attitude that is hard to overcome.
Nick,nick said:The most difficult part of all this was trying to get the client to
understand what was done, and what was or wasn't my responsibility.
Reinstalling SBS 2003 was the easiest part. The proprietary software
(GE) was very difficult, and the client assumed that I was responsible
for it. Since I had to restore it with the help of GE the client
assumed that I just "hung" around while they WebEx'ed in and did the
work.
But what was at the root of it was what the previous tech had done. He
had worked for the company where I worked for years. He liked being
able to help the customer out with the GE software. Even though
technically our boss told us it wasn't our responsibility. (To put it
in perspective the software has four parts taken care of by four
different departments. The techs there state that it takes a year on
each part to get proficient enough to support it. So they technically
stick to one part, and transfer you for any other part).
Well, this tech from where I worked used to do a lot of
troubleshooting on his own for the product. So the client stopped
paying support to GE four years ago. I worked with this tech on this
issue, and he said that the client would have no choice but to pay GE
for support, and pay me for reinstall. I wish that after rebuilding
the server I could've just had them WebEx and take care of the rest,
but there was no way.
In order to restore the data they had to know what the setup was like.
Which meant I had to spend hours explaining it to them, and sitting on
the phone with them to get the thing resolved. I didn't bill for a lot
of those hours, but the client told me they weren't responsible for my
lack of knowledge of a product! I told them that as an IT person I am
not required to know GE. I am required to know Microsoft, or Linux,
depending on the environment. Well, they didn't understand that. Since
it was a pediatrician I told them that they are not responsible for
knowing about cardiology. Yet, to use the analogy, I am making them my
cardiologist and then refusing to pay because they had to get educated
on cardiological principles!
This medical practice charges 125/visit for the first visit, and 75
for every visit after that. They see about 30 or more patients a day.
They demand payment before they start their services. Why? Because
they are physicians worth every penny. But as for me? I don't deserve
what I charge because anyone could do what I do. And that's the
attitude that is hard to overcome.
Nick,
Take a look at the following link;
http://www.emrupdate.com/blogs/emr101/archive/2008/03/27/how-to-selec...
This may help by getting a look at it from the doctors side
and the items you many want to include in your contracts.
moncho- Hide quoted text -
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