Electronic/computer repair for profit?

[freelancenoob]

Anyone here do repair work on the side for other people? Curious as to what you charge.

I've been thinking about starting up repair services on the side to bring in some extra money. I've been taking apart and building computers ever since I was 9 or so. I'm now 34. I've had 2 years of schooling for pc repair, telecommunications, networking troubleshooting and install, and also cisco routers and patch panels. I aced the class but it didn't teach me anything that I already didn't know.

Now electronics came about a few years later before i started replacing components in things under my fathers guidance. I've had no official schooling on this matter. Not having schooling im a little worried about offering a service to repair things like tv's when im not sure if i can fix it or not.

Now back to the business side of things. For tv repair I was thinking about doing $30 non refundable assessment fee which can be put towards the repair cost if they decided to get it repaired. Repair would be $60 flat fee plus parts. The $30 non refundable fee can be put towards repair for up to 30 days. So if they decide not to get it repaired at this time they have 30 days to bring it back to have the 30 put towards the 60 repair. if 30 days expires then a new assessment will that to be done.

Then what about pc repair. What would you charge for virus and malware removal? Upgrades?

[GeorgeBlitz]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

I won't do the IT stuff (AV/Malware). There's no money in that, and that type of cust is already a proven idiot, possibly an entitled douchenozzle, or worst of all: both.

MacBook mobos will net you around $300 ea after costs (you charge $325). Your main costs being donor boards, equipment, solder/flux, and the occasional NOS ribbon connector, space, utilities, accounting, etc.

There's money in phone data recovery. People are always dunking them w/o a backup. They always worsen things by tossing them in rice. That's an honest $280 after your costs.

You can repair Dells and HPs, but there are a blue million types, so your main consumable (donor boards) costs go up a lot.

The hardest part is getting customers on a scale that generates a reliable revenue stream. Lots of folks do this...

Consider the downsides and costs of operating very carefully, else you'll fail immediately: you'll have to offer incentives like no-fix-no-fee, and not everything is worth repairing. Or, you spend 4 hours tracking a missing bus signal, apply a fix, and the fix reveals that the CPU is toast... That's 4 hours wasted, or worse, your costs exceed your stated fee.

You can make decent money, but it's not easy money. There IS no easy money unless you're a big bank CEO, play golf with a big bank's CEO, or buy a senator.

[GeorgeBlitz]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

PS: This is not a business that will pay an hourly rate, an annual salary, or necessarily yield a profit in the short term.

You have to think long term net.

[stj]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

i will diagnose and fix hardware problems, and i will install Linux for people.

i will have absolutly NOTHING to do with windows problems - it's nothing but trouble and you will spend so many hours on those type of problems that you wont get paid.

[freelancenoob]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

You all have valid points. This wouldn't be necessarily a main business. More of a way to make a little money on the side. My main source of income from this would be parting out tv's with smashed screens. Where my full time job is I only work 2 days on and then 4 days off. But I come across 4-5 flat screens a week that people have unloaded because they don't work. I put an ad out on facebook looking for broken flatscreens and you would be amazed at the response i got. Most offering tv's but there were tons asking if I fix them and what I charge.

Cell data recovery I never considered. Made me laugh when you talk about them putting it in rice. I've seen it done, and it almost makes you want to smack them for their stupidity. I have however considered fixing cracked screens.

[diif]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

I have a decent sized customer base but it's grown slowly over 15+ years through word of mouth. I started selling and repairing PCs then worked full time in a school for 7 years whilst I worked on the side. Then I started fixing other things and it's grown from there.
I would say I charge between £10 and £50 an hour depending on the client and the job/skill level. I agree cleaning cleaning Windows systems can be a lengthy process, the time spend interacting at the keyboard/mouse is minimal and it's very easy to do several at once or other better paying jobs/making dinner/snoozing etc. Poor paying jobs generally lead to better ones and easier/quicker. I wouldn't turn stuff down because you never know where it will lead. My best paying job is also my easiest and came about because i serviced a teacher's laptop cheap.

[Jane]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

@freelancenoob:You mentioned cracked screens. Is anyone fixing cracked screens successfully?

[NeedsMoreFlux]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

I am in the same phase of my life as you, Noob. LOL!

I have been fixing ALOT of appliances for family. Mostly my parents.

My mom got a $1000 Samsung stove for $50. I tested it for a few minutes and it was merely needing new relays. Same for my sisters over in her R.V. She bought a replacement board for $100.

I was able to move one of the relays in my moms stove, so "bake" works, but not broil. I just got the relays for under $20 from ebay. I'll probably change them tomorrow.

I have fixed a laptop the had a few wires in the LVDS broken.
Fixed a laptop for my aunt that needed the VCC plug soldered back in.

And many other things. I have helped alot of people for free(working for donations).

I am not going to ever get a "license" if I can help it. I am not willing to volunteer to be robbed or to rake people over the coals for profit.

I have been happy with the amount of "donation" that I have been given from every job.

So to answer your question: Most T.V.s, the majority of the time merely have bad capacitors.

I have 4 lcd T.V.s and about 20 laptops that I got for free or dirt cheap on Craigslist, I'm always looking for more, but rarely have time to work on them.

It is a fun and interesting, and potentially very profitable venture that may give you financial freedom. Or it may be a time and money pit.

Right now I have a $65 Yihua hot air / solder rework station. I am still a noob on it. But it has paid for itself on the first job I did.

I am looking at getting the g600 cheapo digital "microscope."

Please keep me updated on your adventures. I am hoping to be of help to the wonderful people of this community and others like it.

I spend most of my time helping people fight traffic tickets on skype. Where we discuss the socratic method that Marc Stevens uses on his "No State Project." We ask if they have ANY factual evidence that establishes that their code is applicable to us-simply because we are physically here?(we all know I'd be considered a criminal if I was to do the exact same thing: Forcing perfect strangers to give me money). If this is of interest to anyone here feel free to ask me more about it, or join the skype chat, as I don't want anyone to think I'm spamming marc's stuff here.

[NeedsMoreFlux]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

Oh and Jane...: There is no friggin way! once glass is cracked you'd have to melt it to get it back together...

The only thingclose to this I can think of is that sometimes the "zebra stripe" becomes unsoldered in spots. This produces lines of dead pixels on the screen, and can be diagnosed by using a pencil eraser to push on the ribbon cable where it is soldered to the glass of the LCD. Fixing it would require a soldering iron or a hot air station, and maybe silicone to push it down while it cools.

Not entirely sure about that last suggested fix, bit it's the best solution I can think of, and I saw Dave Jones of EEVBLOG use a similar method for that issue.

Oh, and Noob: I have seen a 63" samsung plasma with a cracked screen on CL for $25. I have been thinking of getting it, just to sell the boards on Ebay. I'm sure there are a few people that would be very grateful to have them.

Do you think I should bother getting it and selling the boards? If you say "yes" I might just do it.

[dicky96]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

So to answer your question: Most T.V.s, the majority of the time merely have bad capacitors.

In my experience, which admittedly is not vast, most faulty TVs have tab bond or BGA problems that I can't rework, or complex PSU issues that I can't diagnose

The ones with bad caps have been the minority.

Computer monitors on the other hand so far have been all bad caps

Rich

[stj]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

I have seen a 63" samsung plasma with a cracked screen on CL for $25. I have been thinking of getting it, just to sell the boards on Ebay. I'm sure there are a few people that would be very grateful to have them.

Do you think I should bother getting it and selling the boards? If you say "yes" I might just do it.

that's high risk, if it was powered up when it broke then the boards could be blown.

[Stefan Payne]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

In my experience, which admittedly is not vast, most faulty TVs have tab bond or BGA problems that I can't rework, or complex PSU issues that I can't diagnose

The ones with bad caps have been the minority.

Computer monitors on the other hand so far have been all bad caps

Rich

Probably because of the complexety of the systems
Computer Monitors are just Monitors with nothing else inside - just a "converter" chip that translates from whatever comes from your computer to the LCD and also scales that...
Though there are some more complex ones on the market like the higher end Dell ones (like the U2410F have here)...

The PSU is also fairly basic in a Monitor. Because you just don't need more...


A TV however is a computer inside a Display...
There are much more things that can and thus will go wrong than in a simple Monitor/Display...

Buttom Line:
Anything that can go wrong, will...

[llonen]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

I have been working in the repair sector as a secondary income now for some years and am slowly getting a steady throughput of client repairs, my workload is substantially varied with about half the work being client repairs and the other half consisting or repair for resale.

I suppose for white goods repair an average repair charge would be around the £100.00 plus parts, washing machines, tumble dryers, fridges and commercial catering equipment.

Macbook stuff comes in around £200-330 plus parts, mostly I work on apple stuff. regarding phone repair I got out of that quite some time as it was becoming a race to the bottom. That said I still offer repair of phones for data recovery purposes only, on the matter of data recovery this is something I am looking into further outside of the cellular phone arena.

Other stuff including televisions, monitors, stereos and miscellaneous consumer electronics mostly around the £100.00 mark plus parts.

[petehall347]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

I have been working in the repair sector as a secondary income now for some years and am slowly getting a steady throughput of client repairs, my workload is substantially varied with about half the work being client repairs and the other half consisting or repair for resale.

I suppose for white goods repair an average repair charge would be around the £100.00 plus parts, washing machines, tumble dryers, fridges and commercial catering equipment.

Macbook stuff comes in around £200-330 plus parts, mostly I work on apple stuff. regarding phone repair I got out of that quite some time as it was becoming a race to the bottom. That said I still offer repair of phones for data recovery purposes only, on the matter of data recovery this is something I am looking into further outside of the cellular phone arena.

Other stuff including televisions, monitors, stereos and miscellaneous consumer electronics mostly around the £100.00 mark plus parts.

you are doing well .. 100 quid means the units are worth much more resale . all i get is beers or the odd 20 quid if i get lucky . all i do is keep from landfill for x amount of time . consumer electronics is not good .

[NeedsMoreFlux]

Re: Electronic/computer repair for profit?

In my experience, which admittedly is not vast, most faulty TVs have tab bond or BGA problems that I can't rework, or complex PSU issues that I can't diagnose

The ones with bad caps have been the minority.

Computer monitors on the other hand so far have been all bad caps

Rich

Yah, I should have put a disclaimer on that. Most electronics I have worked have been bad caps, and I was watching "TampaTech" on youtube and was quoting him. maybe I misunderstood him. I think he might have been working on a computer monitor at the time.

I have put a disclaimer in my signature. Because I want to help by informing but not harm by misinforming.