Charging for Private Work - Advice Please!

[crc-ict]

Hi All,

 

Just wondering if anyone would be willing to suggest what they would consider to be a fair price to charge a teacher to replace the screen in a personally-owned laptop.

 

The replacement screen itself is £65 and I was thinking of charging a total of £100. What do you guys think?

 

Cheers

[sidewinder]

Sounds pretty reasonable. Only you know how long its going to take - some laptops can take 5 minutes, others an hour to do that job

[westleya]

I think that considering the amount of time you may have to spend carefully dismantalling the laptop and putting it back together, that's more than a fair charge.

[bossman]

@crc-ict:

 

Charge by the hour so for instance if it takes 25mins then you round up to the hour.

Hourly rate would be about what you are about to charge £35 per hour.

[jamesreedersmith]

Just be careful you are not in breach of your contract.

[pagelad]

Id still charge a bottle of wine,

 

Less of a pain in the backside if something goes wrong then. Either that or im too generous

[krisd32]

I'd say your charging is about right there. I definately wouldn't do it for free cause if something goes wrong they'll come back to you whether you charged them or not. my times more worthwhile doing other things so if they're not paying i'm not going.

[SteveBentley]

I'm definitely in the "it's to much hassle to do private jobs" camp. I'll do a favour for a friend from time to time though.

[sippo]

Make sure you get the money upfront or before you give them the laptop back. Trust me I've learnt from experience!

[jsnetman]

8 cans of beer is our charge, 4 for me for arranging it and 4 for my techie who does the work

[JJonas]

Bottle of wine or two

[p858snake]

Make sure you do some sort of written/emailed quote and then a invoice/receipt at the end just so you have documentation in case it comes back to bite you on the backside.

[ahuxham]

Acquire permission from work as well, as this is classed as a second income, you may need to register to be taxed on that as well.

 

I went through the same, did some private work when at the NHS, and was told; Yes I can do it, not on company time and I had to declare it to the Inland Revenue and Payroll to adjust taxes accordingly.

 

To be honest what a total PITA. I now just ask for chocolates, beers, wine, or other services if they're good at anything and the likes as this is classed as a gift rather than monetary income.

[busby]

i always put 40 quid on the hardware price. If its just cleaning and tidying a few beers etc

 

If they took it to a retail shop they would pay through the nose. So they are saving a few quid your gaining a few quid everyone is happy.

[sidewinder]

Acquire permission from work as well, as this is classed as a second income, you may need to register to be taxed on that as well.

 

I went through the same, did some private work when at the NHS, and was told; Yes I can do it, not on company time and I had to declare it to the Inland Revenue and Payroll to adjust taxes accordingly.

 

 

Or just take the common sense approach and dont do any of that. If you're not doing it in works time, why would you ever bother with declaring it? If you do something for a mate and they give you a tenner for helping them out, do you declare that?

[ahuxham]

Or just take the common sense approach and dont do any of that. If you're not doing it in works time, why would you ever bother with declaring it? If you do something for a mate and they give you a tenner for helping them out, do you declare that?

 

Common sense route would be to-do things above board. Why would I risk my job and fines for common sense and back handers. Don't we despise people who do that?

 

Obviously your opinion is different on the matter, but that's your choice.

[jamesreedersmith]

I would agree all work should be accounted, booked and relevant taxes etc paid - yes its a pain in the arse but its the taxes etc that are for the national health service, defence etc etc.

 

I do a lot of private work and declare every penny - then if the Inland Rev decide to check your income i can prove every penny and that ive accounted for it - if you dont they can decide what you should pay tax on and how much plus the fines for non declaration etc - an old freiend of mine did cash in hand work and got found out - he had to payin excess of £12,000 in back taxes, fines and costs etc.

 

Thanks

 

James

[Jamman960]

That price seems pretty fair, its likely to take a fair amount of time to do it and they wouldn't get it fixed cheaper anywhere else.

 

I tend to diagnose and fix for free if its only going to take me 30mins or so, any more and I start charging. In the past I've found that some people will happily abuse a free service for any and every problem they have

[Batman]

Personally I'd just do it... we tend to view the odd favour to a teacher as school IT support at least indirectly. If they then want to buy drink or something to say thankyou then that's an extra bonus.

 

I've always been a bit of a utopian though.

[gibbo_ap]

i generally turn down work regarding hardware on laptops unless its replace ram, replace wireless card, keyboard etc or if its screen if i can find a guide online for that model then ii may say yes

 

just scared of breaking stuff