Know what an hour of bench time costs you
Before you pick a rate, find your floor. Add up what the shop costs to run each month: rent, utilities, wages (including your own), insurance, tools, software and supplies. Then estimate how many hours a month your techs actually spend on paid repairs, not hours the doors are open.
Made-up example: monthly costs of $6,000 and 120 billable hours means each bench hour costs $50 before any profit. Any labor rate below that loses money, no matter how busy the shop is.
Your labor rate is that cost plus the profit you need. Then ask whether it makes sense for your area. If it looks high, the answer is usually more billable hours or less time per job, not a lower rate.
Choose hourly, flat rate or both
Flat rate means one price for a defined job, such as “SSD upgrade with data transfer.” Customers like it because they know the price before they say yes, and it rewards a fast, practiced tech.
Hourly fits jobs where nobody knows how long they’ll take: intermittent faults, stubborn malware, liquid damage, data recovery attempts and board work.
A practical setup uses both: flat rates for the repeatable jobs, and an hourly rate with an approval limit for open-ended ones. Tell the customer the limit up front (“up to two hours without a call”), so the bill is never a surprise.
To set a flat rate, time the job a few times, take a typical time rather than your best one, and multiply by your hourly rate.
Price parts the same way every time
For jobs with parts, use one formula: part cost, plus an allowance for shipping, breakage and returns, plus labor, rounded up. Our repair price worksheet walks through it with a worked example, and it works for laptops and desktops as well as phones.
When a part comes in two qualities, quote both and write the customer’s choice on the repair ticket.
Set minimums, rush pricing and add-ons
- Minimum labor: even a five-minute fix takes a ticket, a test and a conversation. Set a minimum and don’t quote below it.
- Rush or same-day: if you move a job to the front of the line, charge for it and say so before you accept.
- Add-ons: a backup before the repair, cleaning while the case is open, an extra charger. Offer them the same way every time.
- Diagnosis: decide once whether you charge for it, how much and whether it’s credited toward the repair. Then write it on the counter sign and the ticket.
Quote in writing and review your prices
A price only works if it reaches the customer the same way each time. Diagnose first (our computer repair checklist covers the steps), write the quote on the ticket, get approval and record it before any work begins.
Then review prices on a schedule. Part costs move, your costs change and a job you used to quote by the hour may now be routine enough for a flat rate. Your warranty policy belongs in the price too: if you give a warranty, the occasional comeback is a cost of every repair.
Where RepairAmigo fits
RepairAmigo is free software for cell phone, computer and electronics repair shops, built inside a busy repair shop that has processed more than 50,000 tickets. Pick the device and the problem, and it fills in labor, parts and tax from your own price list, with minimum labor and add-ons applied for you. If a price is missing, it’s flagged instead of guessed, and managers change prices in one place behind a manager password. Laptop and desktop are built-in device types, it runs on a computer in your shop, and there are no ticket or user limits. See computer repair shop software or read what “free” means here.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge for computer repair?
Start from your cost per billable hour, add the profit you need and check that the result fits your local market. Then use flat rates for repeatable jobs, an hourly rate for open-ended ones, and price parts with the same formula every time.
Should computer repair be charged hourly or flat rate?
Both have a place. Flat rates suit repeatable jobs like a clean install or an SSD upgrade, because the customer knows the price up front. Hourly with an approval limit suits jobs where the time is unknown, like intermittent faults or liquid damage.
How much should you charge for a computer diagnosis?
Set a flat rate based on how long a typical diagnosis takes at your hourly rate. One option is to credit it toward the repair if the customer goes ahead. Whatever you choose, tell the customer before you start.
How much should I charge to install Windows?
Time a typical clean install, including updates and drivers, and multiply by your hourly rate to get a flat rate. Price backing up and moving the customer’s files as a separate line, because the time depends on how much data there is.
Is RepairAmigo free?
Yes. RepairAmigo is free software for cell phone, computer and electronics repair shops, with no ticket or user limits. It quotes labor, parts and tax from your own price list and flags missing prices instead of guessing.
Questions?
Read the setup guide, email support@repairamigo.com, or go back to More about RepairAmigo.
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