What is IT worth?

February 10, 2008 8:26 PM

What's a reasonable hourly rate for a freelance IT guy? Phone systems, networking, basic setups, etc.

Mr. Foxydot has recently started doing some freelance IT/phone system/networking jobs for small businesses. He learned most of this stuff doing it for his own businesses, and didn't really do it for clients, but got good at it, and when he left his last company, was referred as a good networking guy to a few small companies he had worked with in other capacities.

The problem is that since he's never really been paid specifically for doing this stuff, he has no idea what to charge. Of course he doesn't want to undervalue himself, but he doesn't want to price himself out of projects either. I'm hoping the hive mind can help him get a ballpark figure to work with for a rate sheet.

He's also unsure about marking up hardware that he provides for clients. These are mostly very small businesses (<10 employees).

Relevant data:
Living and working in Cincinnati, OH, USA
Background in everything from web development to arcade game refurbishing
Has built a couple of PBX systems for home and at his old companies
Has networked home (several times) and a couple of companies

posted by foxydot to technology (9 comments total)

Well, I'm pretty young, and maybe I lowballed myself, but in the recent past I've charged $50/hr for my IT skills. This was for one-off things (fixing spyware laden computers, adding computers to the veritas backup system, setting up routers, etc), and it was also in NYC. If you have lots of what we call 'leet skillz', you could probably charge up to $100/hr. You could always call some local guys that do the same thing, possibly fake like you have some problems, and ask for their rates.
posted by Mach5 at 8:46 PM on February 10, 2008

Mach5 has it. Charge at least $50/hr and probably not more than $100/hr (until you have more clients than you can handle). Don't mark up hardware unless you're buying at wholesale or spend time finding amazing deals.
posted by sockpup at 8:59 PM on February 10, 2008

I do consulting on the side (not my main job, but it earns me good "extra money")

I have approx. 10 years experience doing PC Support and IT admin stuff for companies as small as 1 to 5 computers all the way up to a school district of over 600 workstations.

I dont have a lot of Mac or coding experience, but I'm learning (I can throw up a quick website with Joomla or Drupal and fix the basic Mac problems)

Most of the calls I get are : troubleshoot/configure network problems, setup new computers, remove spyware/virus (and/or save data), or hardware failures (usually hard drives)

I'm in Colorado and I charge $95/hour. On occasions I'll give people a discount if I can tell they are "needy" (single moms with kids, etc).. but most people seem pretty accepting of paying $95/hour. I would guess I average about 2 calls a week, so its not much.. but it earns me (average) about an extra $500 a month (depending on the month)
posted by jmnugent at 9:04 PM on February 10, 2008

$50/hour minimum if he feels like he's still learning but my ballpark range for people is $75/hour and sometimes travel time if they're way the heck out there. I do a lot of back and forth over email to, so I work that in to the work I do, figuring five emails an hour or something like that, so that I'm not on site for an hour and then doing another two hours of email and phone calls for free. I mostly to PC troubleshooting, software installs, setting up computers, replacing hardware, installing wireless/broadband. Teaching classes in some of this stuff will also get you $30/hour so it's important to have decently high prices just so it's clear that you're the professional and then, of course, go in and do a professional job. Keep in mind if he's doing this freelance and reporting it accurately on his taxes, he'll be taking at least 20% of that right off the top in taxes and social security so make sure that also gets built into the cost of doing business. The good news about this is that it also means a lot of his tech expenses can potentially be deductible too. I am, of course, not an accountant.
posted by jessamyn at 9:25 PM on February 10, 2008

Old formula: 50 weeks/year, 40 hours/week == 2000... expect to only work half that time for pay and the other half finding work == 1000. Wanna make $40k? Charge $40/hour. What is he worth in your area? What percent of his time is freelance? How hard is it to find work? Roughly you charge $X if you want to make $X,000 per year doing freelance work only. Bump it up $10 or $20 if you can for buffer.
posted by zengargoyle at 12:27 AM on February 11, 2008

I've been in IT for 17 years and moonlighting for most of that time (do people still say moonlighting?).

I always have a problem figuring out what to charge, as I don't want to rip people off OR lowball myself, but here's my basic guidelines (which have worked pretty well for me):

Individual (home computer, network, etc): Really depends on their neighborhood. Lower income: $30/hour. Higher income: $60. Or sometimes I'll trade for services/tasty meals/gear.

Non-profit company: $50/hour
Any other company: $60/hour desktop $75/hour server/networking

I never charge for research unless it is a large project and everyone is aware that we are moving into areas of new technology.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:46 AM on February 11, 2008

I'm also a trader for tasty meals/gear like Cat Pie Hurts, and have been doing house calls for about 15 years. The rate is usually $40/h for regulars that are also good acquaintances, $60/h for everyone else. For businesses, depending on the size and type of work it ranges from $60 - $80/h and is usually a value that is bartered on mentally when I assess the job's complexity.

For a lot of the simpler stuff (10 minute jobs) I will usually offer a hefty discount (as long as the drive wasn't out of the way and the customer is the friendly type).
posted by samsara at 7:58 AM on February 11, 2008

We pay $95 an hour for this type of support.
posted by Futurehouse at 8:28 AM on February 11, 2008

I used to charge $75/hr for this type of work, plus one way travel time. 1 hour minimum, 15 minute billing increments. I'd track phone calls and bill for actual time.

One thing to consider would be pre-selling blocks of support time. IE: Sell 10 hours of support for $600 or so up front. You get paid in advance, they get a savings. Just be sure to document in detail how their 10 hours were used. When you call them up because they have 1 pre-paid hour left, they will ask where the 10 hours went. You show them, and they go "Oh, OK" and pay for the next block.
posted by jeversol at 1:53 PM on February 12, 2008