Tell me what you know about owning a computer repair business.

[GuavaGirl]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, but my husband and I are thinking about opening a computer repair business. We're at the point where we have the idea and ability, but we just don't how to know if this is something we should do.

I thought there might be some people on here that could share some insight. ....and potentially some who have, or have had a similar business.

Thanks a lot!

[aniT]

Where are in Oregon are you? Unfortunatly right now the market is flooded with Geek Squad, and every joe blow an their brother who can fix a computer. I think where you live would make a big difference.

When we had a shop we lived in an isolated county. People had to drive an hour before they hit any big box stores (excluding the one Walmart and one Kmart in the county.) All the other repair people in the county weren't very good either. My husband had a great deal of business in our county. From Government agencies, Water districts, Indian tribes, real estate companies and most of the home users on our side of the county. We were VERY busy. DH was also working a full time job. I suppose if he had quit we probably could have made it on just the shop alone.. but he is a pessimists and didn't want to quit his job. So in essence h was working two full time jobs.

I should also mention my DH is excellent at fixing computers. He works on windows, Mac,and Linux. He knows his way around internet security, can set up networks, back up systems, and servers. He can do a great deal of data recovery and doesn't consider reinstalling the OS fixing the computer unless it is the last resort. I think these are all skills you would need if you want to open a repair shop. There are just too many mediocre repair people out there.. you need to be excellent in order to make people notice you.

Any other specific questions let me know.. right now this is all I can think of off the top of my head.

Good luck

[Keria]

i think you can do daily posts on craigslist ans see how the market is in your area. I don't think I would invest any money without testing the waters first. Exteneded warranties killed the business, and geek squad too.

[aniT]

Originally Posted by *Louise*

i think you can do daily posts on craigslist ans see how the market is in your area. I don't think I would invest any money without testing the waters first. Exteneded warranties killed the business, and geek squad too.

Yea.. if they are in the metro area I would say no way. If they isolated on the east side of the state.. and there are enough customers it might work out.

You could also work out of your home. Also try onforce.com for picking up side jobs.

[GuavaGirl]

Thanks for all of the responses so far!

We're in Klamath Falls. (pop. 20,000) Nearest larger city is 1 1/2 hr. drive.

I truly believe my husband does excellent work with computers. I'm not a computer geek myself, but he's always exceeded expectations of any of his bosses and always seems to be the one that can figure things out when others just say clear the drive and start over (or how ever you say it). He's currently doing consulting for a company in town, as a side job, and it has worked out great. He would definitely want to do more of that.

Extended warranties, geek squads, and the low price of computers are not something I had considered.

In our situation, my husband is definitely the optimist, so I'm kinda out here trying to figure out what we might not be thinking about.

The department that he works in might be shutting down, commercial lease prices are low, it's something he's always wanted to try, and we really don't want to leave our town. There aren't many good paying computer jobs here, so we would most likely have to leave if he was laid off.

With all that said, it's a huge risk.

[aniT]

Originally Posted by GuavaGirl

Thanks for all of the responses so far!

We're in Klamath Falls. (pop. 20,000) Nearest larger city is 1 1/2 hr. drive.

I truly believe my husband does excellent work with computers. I'm not a computer geek myself, but he's always exceeded expectations of any of his bosses and always seems to be the one that can figure things out when others just say clear the drive and start over (or how ever you say it). He's currently doing consulting for a company in town, as a side job, and it has worked out great. He would definitely want to do more of that.

Extended warranties, geek squads, and the low price of computers are not something I had considered.

In our situation, my husband is definitely the optimist, so I'm kinda out here trying to figure out what we might not be thinking about.

The department that he works in might be shutting down, commercial lease prices are low, it's something he's always wanted to try, and we really don't want to leave our town. There aren't many good paying computer jobs here, so we would most likely have to leave if he was laid off.

With all that said, it's a huge risk.

My MIL lives in Lakeview.. so I do know Klamath Falls is the "hub" down there.

You would defiantly have a better go of things down there than if you were up here. Do you have a Best Buy? How many computer repair shops are in the area?

[GuavaGirl]

A quick look in the phone book shows about 10 computer repair and/or consulting business's.

We don't have a Best Buy. Just a Staples and Office Depot.

[aniT]

Originally Posted by GuavaGirl

A quick look in the phone book shows about 10 computer repair and/or consulting business's.

We don't have a Best Buy. Just a Staples and Office Depot.

Those are just the ones in the phone book. How many advertise by flyers in grocery stores and the post office? How many people work through word of mouth? You only get listed in the phone book if you pay for a business line.

[Ironica]

You also have to carefully consider how you're going to charge for your services and manage your customers' expectations. One thing that can be very difficult in doing technology work (of any kind) independently is making sure the job is clearly defined up-front.

You need to consider, for example, whether you only charge if you *can* fix it, or if there's a minimum charge just to look at the machine, when you don't know if it's repairable or not. How do you communicate with the customer on how long to try, and how much it will cost? If your husband spends 10 hours troubleshooting and FINALLY gets someone's machine back up and running, then tries to bill them for the time, they may freak out and say they're just not paying it.... even though you told them it cost $X per hour. Then do you give back the computer? Hold it hostage? What?

Many people who are excellent at fixing or setting up computers are not strong in the business communication and expectation-setting end of things, so it's a good thing to work out in advance.