# Would you open a local PC repair shop nowadays?



## buzzi (Nov 17, 2019)

Hi all,
as the title says, I'd like to know your opinion about opening a pc repair shop as an investment in future years.
My principal thought is decline of pcs as they are, in fact, personal in favour of cloud. Fixing smartphones would help income too (or even become the bigger part of it) , but I refer specifically to computer repair. A little money could come from dealing hardware parts, even though competing with online stores will be hard.
Across the years, several shops sadly shut down in my town, and some popped out.
what do you think guys?


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## TheMadDutchDude (Nov 17, 2019)

I wouldn't bet on you lasting more than six months before closing the doors. Tech giants like Best Buy/Geek Squad are already so well established that they dwarf the market.

Doing this in your spare time might be an option, but to turn it into a proper, functional business is not something I could see becoming a reality.


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## crazyeyesreaper (Nov 17, 2019)

Depends on location but typically its a dying profession of sorts.

Most people by clunker junk laptops and desktops. My local repair shop charges $150 just to look at a system not counting part replacement. When figure that + parts is around $250-300 most will just opt to buy a cheap laptop.

They make their money off business contracts. Which means you need to be established and capable of handling desktops / laptops / servers and other hardware solutions.

The only real money to be made is fixing Mac shit, but well you better have some expensive equipment and be ready to learn on the fly since Apple tries to make it as difficult as possible.


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## natr0n (Nov 17, 2019)

You have to have cell phone repair to have any business for PC repairs to be successful.

I taught my friend pc repairs over years and he learned cellphone stuff and most of the business het gets is all cellphone. Rarely pc stuff.


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## Vya Domus (Nov 17, 2019)

Indeed , it's the smartphone repair business that's the most viable. Actually I reckon you'd have orders of magnitude more success compared to just having a PC repair shop.

Although, smartphones are too becoming more and more difficult and expensive to fix. You brake one of those OLED panels that's going to be 200$ plus dollars just for the display and again most people are going to just buy another phone when they hear that.


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## FreedomEclipse (Nov 17, 2019)

You really gotta diversify if you can.... Be more than just a PC repair shop - Be an internet cafe + PC repair shop that way you still have some coin coming in. You really have to diversify and spread your net so much unless youre operating out of our own home/garage.


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## buzzi (Nov 17, 2019)

well, you all are confirming my worries .
Desktop and notebooks are what I love, phones would be only for profit. 
will computer shops end up like repair radio ones?


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## crazyeyesreaper (Nov 17, 2019)

buzzi said:


> well, you all are confirming my worries .
> Desktop and notebooks are what I love, phones would be only for profit.
> will computer shops end up like repair radio ones?


Basically yes they will end up disappearing at least in the eyes of a regular consumer. Businesses etc they will remain as specialists.


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## Tomgang (Nov 17, 2019)

I have been thinking about this my self, but in my country a small workshop wount work. Competition is just to large.

If I some day still open a workshop to repair and buy older pc and repair/give the old pc a make over and then resell them. It will only be as a hobby store, to make some extra cash. But it will not be my main cause of income as said competition is sometimes hard and I have seen small stores come and go a bit to often.


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## Bill_Bright (Nov 17, 2019)

buzzi said:


> I'd like to know your opinion about opening a pc repair shop as an investment in future years.


As an investment in future years? No way. 

I have a shop I've had for about 14 years I started after I retired for the 2nd time. Mine is out of my home and that is significant as it means I don't have to have an occupancy contract or pay rent to someone else. It is important to note mine is an electronics repair shop. That is, we repaired TVs and home audio equipment, in addition to computer repair, custom PC building and IT consulting.

I never advertised so I was lucky that word-of-mouth advertising was good enough to keep customers coming back, and to bring new customers in. But again, I was lucky in that regard. If I hadn't previously worked for 10 years as a hardware guy among 400 programmers in a software development company, I would not have had the instant contacts to bring any business in.

In terms of computer repair, in the beginning, it was very profitable. But it should be noted the majority was for malware removal - which kept us busy. But starting with Windows 7, as more and more people migrated away from XP and to W7, malware removal jobs started falling off. And that drop off became dramatic as W10 came about. Contrary to what many want us to believe, if the defaults are just left alone, W10 is very secure. 

My point is, repairing computers would not sustain my business today. Even just repairing electronics in general would not sustain my business. Most electronics fail when brand new and still under warranty, or they last nearly forever and tend to be retired before they actually die. That is, when repairs would cost more than buying something new.

Fortunately, being retired for real now anyway, I don't need the income from this business to survive or else I would be going hungry - especially if I depended only on PC repairs. 

So as mentioned above, you will need to diversify. IT consulting is where I made the good money - designing and building networks and custom PCs for businesses. But you need contacts or a big advertising budget to grow that side of things. 

I don't even think cell phone repair would be a good "investment" strategy. I base that on the number of cell phone repair shops in the Omaha metro area that have folded. 

Even if you could land a service contract with Dell, HP,  Acer, and Lenovo to be an authorized service tech, it would be a tough go to make a long career out of it.



buzzi said:


> will computer shops end up like repair radio ones?


As more and more users move to hand helds, yes. Especially when people are willing to buy new every couple years.


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## silentbogo (Nov 17, 2019)

Depends on your location, and on your willingness to expand beyond PCs. 
I mostly specialize on laptops and component-level repair, so instead of dealing with customers directly I fix stuff for few other small repair shops. Only have a few on-call regulars (mostly small businesses).
Laptops are 100% the best place to start (maybe except US), but even then I had to expand to other things, like occasional display/touch replacements on smartphones and tablets, fixing weird stuff like metal detectors, iptv boxes, networking equipment, etc. etc.
Most of our local workshops that survived the past decade usually do the same: "generalized" consumer electronics repair, or "servicing other service centers". There are always new workshops that open and close year after year, but it's mostly due to bad practices and complete lack of work ethics. Mostly it's kids that became "specialists" after watching a few youtube videos. Most of my outsourced orders come from places like that: they can do basic stuff like clean up dust, change TIM, reinstall Windows, but too stupid to perform trivial tasks, like measuring voltage on a CMOS battery or finding a correct replacement LCD without messing it up.

If you only want to deal only with PCs, then it's hard to do without at least a few medium business clients, and even then it's not permanent. One of my biggest clients closed down two of their offices in Kiev recently, which hurt my earnings for several months. It's good when you have'em, but it sucks when you lose'em.


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## John Naylor (Nov 18, 2019)

It's just become too easy to do it yaself... for many folks the cost of a repair would exceed jut going to Walmart and buying a new one.

We build, do repairs, disinfect everything mostly for free (well ya gotta bring a pizza) ... started doing it as a hobby with my kids.  Aslo did little league, scouts, professional associations etc ... Our goal is never to have a repeat custimer.  We rarely actually do anything ... we provide the test apparatus, tools and show or guide the owner / user thru the process.   At this point in time, all of our "former customers" are pretty much self sufficient.  They all do come back with build lists and we sit (have pizza on their dime of course).  At this point with MoBo diagnostic LCDs, tech forums, i don't really see a need.... folks just won't shell at the money for anyone with actual skill set.  Just the pimply kid from the Geek Squad.      As a business owner , if you are not breaking $100 an hour, your business won't be able to cover necessary costs.


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## Komshija (Nov 18, 2019)

Every type of business carries certain amount of risk. If you make a good promotion (marketing), create good customer basis (good prices, fast and professional service etc.) you might earn something, but it also depends on where you live. I'm in the same business, upgrading & repairing PC's/laptops, except this is my side non-registered business and I make very little money from it because it's mostly based on barter; eg. I'll fix your PC, you'll help me for 2 days in my vineyard (free of charge) or something similar...


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## Frick (Nov 19, 2019)

As said, if you live in a decently populated area being a general fixer can get you along. But you pretty much have to know your stuff, mostly electronics, but the more fields you know the more you can do. Like car electronics. Learn to fix stuff on a component level (as opposed to replacing entire units) and you will earn a living. It still won't make the big bucks though.


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## kapone32 (Nov 19, 2019)

In order to be successful in a venture of that kind you would have to live in and be an active part of a community with more than 50% disposable income among consumers. PCs are luxury items after all and a smartphone or tablet (even consoles nowadays) are no different than the best PC in terms of function.


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## spectatorx (Nov 19, 2019)

I will share my own experiences and allow you to take a look on it from other perspective.
When i was working at local computer shop in my city 10 years ago (omg, time flies like crazy...) i loved the job, i like to build and fix desktop PCs, laptops i enjoy less but are ok too. The problem is we had really small amounts of customers and what is the worst thing: not all customers were nice. People can be restitutionary, rude, thinking they know consumer laws and simply just dumb. For example one situation: one customer comes to our shop, literally throws on desk a stick of ram and says "this one is failed, give me new one, now". He didn't even want us to check this ram to confirm if it really doesn't work or if it is fine, he just demanded new one right away as he was standing in front of us. All he had to say was that he had some sketchy IT repair guy to check his pc and that guy told him to do what he did because "all ram sticks have lifetime warranty" which, as we all here know, is not true. After basic inspection based on serial number from sticker on that stick we checked this particular one didn't have lifetime warranty and actually is after its 5 year warranty period.

Another thing, people heard something about consumer rights but they do not know them well enough and on myths they base their claims. Local consumer law states customer can return purchased product/close contract without stating reason and without any penalty within 14 days... but this is applicable only when purchase/contract was made outside shop/office and product has to be intact or turned out to be failed on first try of use. So we had plenty of situations where customers did purchase something and were coming back the same day or few days later trying to return their purchase reasoning their claims with that particular law and basically we had to educate people about that law. Some were threatening us that they will call police if we will not accept return, somehow this never happened, ever. Yes, some shops go beyond law and do these 14 (some expand this period to longer ones) day return periods even if products were purchased in office of shop, not just online. This is just will of people running these shops and if they can afford to cover costs of such returns that's good on them.

Answer to main question i would say: no and not because  of low interest from customers. Demand from customers exists and is worth to cover. Personally i stopped doing repairs/analysis even for friends and i'm doing them on really rare occasions. I wouldn't go back to this only because of how rude and dumb some customers can be. Yes, we had plenty of nice customers and some were really cool people to talk with not just about hardware and their problem with hardware they brought. If you have patience to deal with assholes and you enjoy fixing things i would say go for it part time. Advertise yourself on advertise boards like olx, craigslist and similar and do that for fun.


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## Jetster (Nov 19, 2019)

The desktop market is has seen a huge decline. You would have to do laptop, phone and other electronics repairs. The profit margin is so small that you would struggle to make a profit. No


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## lmille16 (Nov 19, 2019)

I wouldn't expect a shop that focused just on desktop/laptop repair to survive for too long. Most "shops" that I see nowadays have branched into also doing copier/mfp work in addition to having contracts with small and medium businesses for outsourced IT, email and data server hosting.


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## Splinterdog (Nov 19, 2019)

As others have said, location is key to this, not to mention whether the country you live in has a culture of repair because of the economy. From what I can gather, most first-world economies simply discard broken tech.
On the other hand, where I live in Argentina, people repair stuff until it finally dies beyond hope. I've been doing this for ten years, but now do it from my home workshop to avoid overheads and beaurocracy.
You must know your fixed costs.


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## potato580+ (Nov 19, 2019)

if you have such expertise, definitly profit at my country


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## bonehead123 (Nov 19, 2019)

Not unless you plan to specialize in (and are certified for) OS & software fixes, then the hardware part would just be a side gig, since we all know how relatively easy & affordable it is to build/replace computer hdwr nowadays..

Of course, in a lot of places, there will almost always be a small group of people who are clueless about hdwr and would need your services, but whether or not that would be enough to sustain a solid business model is somewhat doubtful....

However, if you are capable of performing actual *REPAIRS* on electronics, like replacing pcbs, transistors, capacitors, vrm's etc, then perhaps you could make a go of it, but that would still depend on the demand for such services in your particular market area....

Also, unless you can attract some wealthy backers to support your goals, obtaining normal, bank-based funding for such a venture would be difficult at best, and would most likely require significant, personal out-of-pocket expenditures just to get the business up & running from the start, along with considerable cash reserves to hold you over until business gets going..

Good luck if you do decide to move forward with this plan


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## Tartaros (Nov 19, 2019)

I would go to a small town if I were to do that. Still, in the internet days that means less and less. And in Madrid for example you got a lot of low cost chinese stores who also do electronic repairment, so unless you do so some professional grade either by having a lot of experience or having a contract with a major brand, that would be difficult.

An actual more or less fitting partnership is audio equipment. I suppose things are changing, but I remember back in the day going to a local audio shop who also sold related computer parts and they really didn't knew much about the pc part. Apple, audio and pc repairs and selling and counseling could be a nice business.


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## Splinterdog (Nov 19, 2019)

I have a number of electronic experts that I rely on for when I get out of my depth and frankly, that's of no concern to the customer when they simply need their machines repaired.


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## buzzi (Nov 19, 2019)

thanks for all those replies and sharing you experiences!
Well, I have a certain experience on fixing pbcs, what to check and how with my equipment, even though I wouldn't define myself an expert.
Where I live most people throw away perfectly fine devices since they are lazy, dumb, or just look for an excuse to buy a brand new item.
Opening in a small town to be the unique point around was an option I considered too.
Taxes are extremely high and killing traders, even local electronic components shops are in trouble nowadays, and this makes me really sad. Anyway I'd prefer a licensed shop instead of roaming irregularly home to home (I did it for a year when I was fourteen and was kinda fun) for my sense of integrity and joy of having my own shop.

If this takes off (now it's just dreaming), seems I will encounter lots of obstacles and challenges, better be prepared.


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## irvin (Feb 15, 2021)

I actually wrote an article about this. I haven't published it anywhere yet. And I understand this is an old thread but I feel if anyone wants an answer still then you should hear it from someone who actually owns a computer repair store. 
Read my article below.

So, you want to start your own computer repair business?
We should become aware of the importance of having your own company first, and that is this. A
company can serve as the foundation for an impactful event that can benefit you in numerous ways. It can
affect you financially, bring personal growth, and affect other facets of your life for the greater good. No
matter what kind of company niche you are looking to invest your time in. One thing is certain. Starting
a company is going to cost you sweat, blood, and tears. And here is the truth. Not everyone is ready nor
is everyone going to succeed in this endeavor. Keep reading to find out if you got what it takes to start
your own computer repair business as a veteran from a veteran perspective and keep it running.
My name is Irvin I am the owner of 702pcrepair, I served in the 82nd airborne division 2-501 as your
typical E-4 paratrooper. I got out after having deployed to Afghanistan having accomplished what I
wanted from my career, and that was receiving my combat infantry badge and my 82 nd deployment
patch. When I got home, I ended working various jobs, while attending college. None of those jobs
seemed to bring a form of internal fulfillment or belonging to a higher calling. A feeling a lot of veterans
get when we separate from the military. On top of that, I noticed that most entry-level positions where
low paying jobs and most required a higher level of education I did not have as I was a part-time
the student still and of course my MOS was infantry so the progression for career advancement ended for
the most part right there in the civilian sector. So, I sat down and looked at my options. One of these
options happened to be starting a computer repair business. I have always been very passionate about
computers, and everything to do with them. And this is critical to starting any form of business. You
have to be passionate about what you are doing because passion is what brings progression when you have
nothing coming in at the start of your journey or when you have stale moments. And I promise you, they
are going to be countless days no clients, no money coming in, nothing. It does take time, and
sometimes it can feel very unmotivating! It was also an option because I have been collecting a large
sum of money in the case, I ever decided to purchase a house. The total amount I had in my savings was
around 15.000 dollars. And you can probably guess what the crazy E-4 did. That’s right I invested it into a
dream, that I did not know would cost me greatly. The idea alone seemed good enough for me not
knowing what was to come. Luckily for you I&#39;m going to give you some insightful information from my
experience going down this rabbit hole.
Who are your clients?
Look here is the reality of the situation of starting a computer repair shop. It is a very hard field to
survive in longer than a couple of months let alone years. Any business is, but if you have passion,
determination, and commitment. There is no company niche that you can’t fulfill if you are willing to
stick around enough. The demand is there, but it is very marginal. Take a look at who your clients are
going to be. They are going to be

Older people.
 Very young.
 And people looking to save money
So, this three demography of people is important. Let's break it down even further. Yes, you’ll get a
lot of not tech-savvy people who are looking for help. It is very bare-bones with them, you perform the
service, and you get paid. Young people can either be problematic or very easy to work with. It’s no
secret that younger people are already equipped to handle most computer problems. So, when you

market make sure to stick with the older people, and people who are looking to save money. Our third
demographic group is people looking to save money. When you market your company makes sure to
have a payment plan that balances what they want, and what you need to stay in business. There are
going to be times, where they may be a little too cheap, and where you are going to be overcharging.
You can find the sweet spot with practice, and time. One thing that I will add to this is never underselling
yourself. No matter the task you are still performing a task that deserves compensation no matter how
small it is In regards to your knowledge as a technician. This brings me to another point.

What education training do you need to start a computer business?
You should try and get certified in CompTIA A+ at a minimum. Even though you could be tech-savvy in
the long run you are going to meet with people who want to see how creditable, or just want to see that
you are component enough to handle a computer repair. This is a major step in the right direction
especially if you are running a mobile computer repair service. The certification gives all your clients
proof of your knowledge. You can go for a degree, but I would recommend going to a trade school
instead as most trade schools are based around certifications. In all actuality, however, you can squeeze
by with just knowing your stuff. But as I mentioned before you are going to run into someone who
wants to see how smart you are. So, get the certification to shut them down.

How much money do you need to start a computer repair company?
The answer is a lot. To this day, I still invest in my company. This is a breakdown of where my initial
investment of 15,000 dollars went towards.

Store deposit.
Store sign.
Store furniture.
Rent.
Utility bills.
Equipment.
The store deposit was around 3,000$ alone. Some locations require more, some locations require less. I
recommend doing research and digging to find a good location. Ask the stores next to the spot you
want to lease how much they pay for rent and what the current situation is with the landlord. There is
no need sign to a lease right away. In fact, this was my first mistake! Take your time. The reality is this.
You don’t need a storefront to start a business or specifically a computer repair service. There is such a
thing as mobile computer repair. Start small, and build upwards. Don’t build into a computer super
repair store with a storefront that has all the bells and whistles just because other people have it. You
can generate just as much as storefront would if you put in just as much money into your marketing
then you would in one month&#39;s rent. I promise you that. The reason why this is important is simple.
Overhead. If you sign that lease, you’ll realize that you’ll now be committed to paying a monthly bill of
insert monthly amount here. That’s right, when you start a business you don’t become rich instantly.
You get into debt if you aren’t generating enough income already or have means of paying for it. A
typical store monthly bill is around 800 (in the poor part of town.) up to 1,500 (in a nicer part of town.)

This mixes into my next piece of information. And that is if you get a storefront some landlords require
you to purchase a store sign. It is in the leasing agreement typically, and let me be the first to tell you
this. They are not CHEAP. Get the most minimal number of letters you need for your store and don’t
make the same mistake I did that was being the E-4, I was at heart ended up purchasing the biggest sign
possible that set me back around 6,000$. So, to sum it up for this portion of the article. You should keep
your overhead as low as possible, when you are ready to move into a storefront make sure to get a sign
that is as simple as possible. With that money, you save to use it to generate clients by marketing properly.
Focus on your marketing, equipment, and quality of work. Everything else will come into place.

I haven't finished it yet as you can see. But if you have any questions you want to ask just message me.
Overall though It's a very tough profession...But if you want to do it, and you want to give it a go. You can succeed in almost anything.


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## John-D (Mar 14, 2021)

I found this article when trying to help me decide to shutdown my residential computer repair business or to keep it open.  I was 99% sure that I was going to shut it down however after having a residential computer repair business for over 20 years I just needed more feel-good info which I found here.  In turn, I would like to share some experience.

Here's my story.  I've been in the IT industry for over 30 years now.  I started repairing computers for people while in high school back in the early 90's (out of my parents basement) and mostly for free because I just loved tech.  Eventually this lead me to start my own 'computer business' which I did out of a duplex (renting out the other half and living in the other with the shop part basically the living room) because my parents didn't want people coming to the house - and I don't blame them for this at all and I don't recommend having people come to your house either.  If you do, you'll learn.  I even dropped out of college in the late 90's because I had too much business to do both.  Nevertheless, back then computers were expensive ($3000 for a good computer) so it wasn't hard to sell a refurbished 5 year old computer for $500 or more and I charged an hourly rate for repair which was somewhat flexible based on what people could afford.  Leading up to buying the duplex I was also doing some commercial jobs too which was all money in the bank.  I still remember going to the book store to get a NOVELL book. lol

Anyway, I opened my first residential store around the year 2000 and hired employees.  I found a house on a busy street in a good area and in front of an old plaza that I was able to live upstairs, work on the main floor, and I converted the garage into the residential store front.  Anything that I could do, I did myself to save money and ALL of my time was spent in the business.  It was nothing for me to spend 80+ hour weeks if not more to get things going.

Back then we charged a $25 Diag for someone to drop off the computer and had a 4 hour max for residential computer repair.  Almost all repairs where easily over $100 for labor and training an employee to do check-ins and diags was pretty easy and low-cost so it worked out BUT residential repair was NEVER an easy or highly profitable business.  ...BUT I will say that people would bring stuff to you to fix that was pretty easy which helped offset the hard stuff or problem customers.  Back then this was also how we got referrals into businesses but in today's world it's all about your google business box.

Meanwhile computer prices continued to fall and customers got smarter.  Eventually we stopped building computers around the great recession (2009) because they fell below $1000/computer.  Around that time DELL also had a partner program which also made it profitable to resell DELL and we could focus more on service than hardware.  Providing a hardware warranty to a customer was always a challenge because if something like the hard drive failed they expected you to fix the drive AND get it setup back on their network for free.  All of a sudden, poof, that problem was gone and it was now a billable service after the Dell tech left or pre-Dell tech to backup the data/etc.

We also did spot check calling once a year where we would call everyone in the phone book and see what they would charge for a simple format, backup and format, etc.  Most of them went out of business with-in the first year.  A few lasted but none lasted longer than us.  The two largest store owners died back in 2018/2019 both of which started early 2000's.  I think both by suicide...

Eventually computer pricing kept falling and we had to change our rates to a $25 Diag plus Flat rate repair pricing for virus removal, backup and format, format, etc. (see picture) Around this time we took a dramatic hit to the bottom line for residential computer repair.  In short, basically the residential repair center was only making around 69k/year on residential labor from service (exluding parts).

Best Buy, Staples, Office Max and others were also referring customers with hardware repairs to us so the store basically made a little bit of money on the hardware and esentialy no money on the labor because we had two techs making more than $15/hr plus 3-weeks PTO, 2-sick days, etc.  (69k - 30k - 30k - benefits - OT) = 0.  Keep in mind that the commercial side of business is paying utils, taxes, etc which are NOT included in the calculations here.

Over the years I hired hundreds of people and at the end of the day most could care less about you or your business.  Yes you will find a few good ones but eventually most end up resenting you because they think that you're making a ton of money off of them but what they don't see are the 60hr+ weeks that you put in EVERY WEEK.  In fact, I didn't even start taking vacations until the year 2008.  The last 10 years (2010-2020) has been especially difficult with a lot of them lying about what they know or actually working without having to have their hands held.  2020 with COVID was even more difficult because a lot of people are getting paid NOT to work; and I can't blame them because if they're getting paid to stay home and play video games, why not?  But the blessing here was that we sold almost all of our used hardware so you have to take the good with the bad.

Nevertheless, it's Kenny Rogers - The Gambler song - you have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em.

The last of my two residential techs were with me for a little over 5 years and their wages were increased each year.  The one found a job making a little more working from home and the second said that he needed a break and was going to study and get his google certs 'EXPECTING' to find a remote support job making a lot more... probably because he saw that the other guy got a cake job.  My final offer to him was $22/hr, no hardware repairs such as laptop screen replacements or laptop motherboards/etc, we'd drop our two lowest repair rates, and go to a first-in-first-out repair service.  Basically we'd be at $79/hr for depot (residential) repairs only (see pic) but even I wasn't sure if I'd break even on his labor considering that we'd also lose some customers too; so part of me was hoping he'd decline, which he did and I was looking to close up the residential repair or hire and train more people...  which for every 10 that you hire you might find 1 good one.  Some companies in other industries that I know the owners hire 3 or 4 hoping that just 1 will show up.

At the end of the day, most of the residential customers were old and a lot of the easy fix money went away with Windows 10 because the semiannual updates fix a ton of issues.  Customers also continued to get smarter from having tech in their everyday life which left only the hard repairs.  Now with cloud services I feel that computer repair is going to get destroyed because if your data is in the cloud why not just format the device yourself.  Or if your 2 year old $400 laptop needs a $200 repair, why not just buy a new one?

Essentially COVID has also advanced the industry 5-years forward with-in 1 year and I'm nearly certain that there's going to be a huge computer repair vacuum coming.

So, bottom line - My suggestion is this, if you want to go into the computer repair business you should focus on commercial accounts... but they too are also getting harder to find as customers move their software to the cloud and implement peer-to-peer networks.  In fact, most of our small commercial customers are using office 365 on a peer-to-peer setup with everything important coming from the cloud service and their devices sync to OneDrive.  Dying are the days were you made tons of money setting-up and maintaining multiple servers for SQL, Exchange, AD, BD, VPN, DHCP, DNS, File Sharing, Print Sharing, Antivirus, Backup systems, etc.  and as customers understand this , they're going to move away from MSP's too because who needs a monthly bill for support if you never call them?

If you're smart enough and have the grit you can make it work but you're NOT going to get rich on residential computer repair.

Oh - and we never touched cell phone repair, newer Apple products, or the Microsoft Surface because they were highly unprofitable or a disaster for various reasons.  I suppose if you're doing it yourself you could do it rather than sitting around but to pay someone to fix it was laughable...  For example the surface is glue on fabric, good luck with that repair.

Best of success and I hope this helps.

PS: I also tried opening a second store back in the early 2000's too but I couldn't be in two places at once.  Between the theft and bad employees it was a net loss.  That area also had a lot more wealthy people too but that actually translated into LESS computer repairs because they'd just buy a new computer (get a data transfer to the new one) or their IT guy from work would take care of them.  A computer store did open up there after I moved out but I think it was a constant struggle for him too but it goes to show that with the right people and determination you can make it work - but at what cost?


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## Deleted member 205776 (Mar 15, 2021)

That's sort of my dream, but it'll never happen.


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## xtreemchaos (Mar 15, 2021)

i run mine from home now cos im retired but still honor the servicing of rigs ive built for folks for next to nothing. im glad i packed the shop in there too many overheads its like everyone wanted a bit of my blood. the best way in my view is to work from home or/and be mobile.


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 15, 2021)

xtreemchaos said:


> the best way in my view is to work from home or be mobile.


I don't think so - not any more.

Well, I guess it depends on your goals.

I've worked IS/IT hardware support since the early 70s. 24 years in the military, 10+ years for a major software company supporting secure federal and state systems, then the last 15+ years owning my own custom PC, IT consulting and PC repair business which I run out of my home (although I had been doing PC building and repairs "on the side" for many years prior to striking out on my own). 

Phase 1 of my career - By far, the military was the most stable and valuable with a constant paycheck, great benefits, great training, great experience in technical terms, but in leadership skills and personal discipline too. If not for the military, I would not have been able to get my electronics degrees or most of my certs.

That military experience (training and education) is also what allowed me to land a fantastic job in the civilian world after I got out of the military and into Phase 2.

Phase 2 - Working for the major software company (1 of 10 hardware techs supporting 400 programmers) was, by far, the most rewarding in terms of income. I was able to pay off all my bills, buy nice new vehicles, pay for my kid's education, contribute the maximum allowed to my 401K (retirement plan), put cash away for a rainy day AND still have money left at the end of the month - and last but not least, keep the "better half" happy. 

BUT - the last two years I worked there I had to endure 4 rounds of lay-offs which created a very dark and extremely stressful work environment to work in. Everyone started looking out only for themselves instead of the team. Tension was off the charts. Let me tell you, lay offs are no fun. Or rather, worrying if you are next on the chopping block is no fun. Some very good people were let go. I have no doubt if I was one of the programmers, I would have been gone. 

Phase 3 -After 10+ years and surviving the 4th round of lay-offs, and with a little help from what my dad (RIP ) left me, I quit that company and started my own business. The immediate response was lower blood pressure, my hair stopped falling out in clumps, and my "morning constitution" became "regular" again - if you know what I mean. 

BUT - there is NO WAY I could have supported a family, afforded the nicer things, or paid for my kid's education working for myself - especially during the first couple years on the income from being self-employed. If I didn't already have health-care insurance (by being retired military), my house paid, and a retirement nest egg, no way would I have had enough money after all my bills to survive - at least not at the standards we had become accustomed to. I would have had to seriously downsize. 

Remember, if you are self-employed, you need to worry about health insurance, liability insurance, legal fees, advertisement (at least business cards, signs), taxes, business bank accounts, separate and secure floor space, internet, fuel, supplies and time. Lots of time! Don't forget, most ISPs do not allow you to run a business with a home internet account. Neither does your home-owners or renters insurance. 

I eventually built up enough clients to create enough steady revenue to where I could comfortably pay my employees and myself enough to sustain my life - if that was my only source of income. But it alone never made me feel truly financially secure.  

Here's another problem trying to start your own repair business today. 15+ years ago, close to 85% of my business income came from malware removal and repairs of damage caused by malware. Starting with Windows 7, that has steadily declined to considerably less than 10%. Why? Two reasons. First, Microsoft finally got tired of being relentlessly blamed for the actions of the bad guys! So they started putting security ahead of convenience, legacy support, and flexibility to the point we rarely see an infected W10 system today. And second, users in general are more "security aware" and less "click-happy" on unsolicited links. 

Another problem (for having your own "successful" shop) is more and more users are more inclined to building and repairing their own, instead of paying someone else to do it. And that's because it is much easier today - not to mention electronics tend to be very reliable. 

So my point is, unless you already have the capital ($$$) or a major investor/backer to get you going and to sustain you the first couple years, the best way, in my view, is to work for someone else - preferably a big company that has their own IT department. Use them to gain your experience, education, certs and training (and resume/CV material). 

Then, after your house is paid off, the kids are on their own, and your retirement income is secure (remember - Social Security alone is not enough), then you can convert that now spare bedroom or basement area into a shop and start your own little business to "keep your head in the game".


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## xtreemchaos (Mar 15, 2021)

Bill_Bright said:


> depends on your goals.


sure do buddy, mine was a small boutique rig building shack which i relied on word of mouth to bring my custom but now retired it not about making money its more about helping some of my old customers "friends" to do it them selfs.

​


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 15, 2021)

I relied on word of mouth advertising too. More satisfying, IMO. 

Plus, it keeps you on your toes because "_one 'aw sh!t' wipes out a 1000 attaboys_".


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 15, 2021)

running a PC repair business out of a official store would be tough. you have overhead costs, like rent, utilities, any employee wages, supplies & tools, tax's etc to consider. 
 it would cost you more money than you earned for a long time, & if you really got popular, there might be a chance for you to begin to earn a profit years down the road, bear in mind a chance.

A way to try this idea, without so much risk, would be to perform the service, DBA 'your yourself' or as your PC repair store name, from home, utilizing the internet & social media to reach your customers. 
businesses are tough, theres so many factors many never think of, until theyre facing them, which can cost people financial health, both of the business, & personally. A business is a part of its owners, a entity that needs to be cared for, & fed. If things go bad, the owners are who is left bearing that cost, sometimes to their detriment. Closing the doors of a business isnt the end of its impact, that can go on for years past the ending of a company. id consider it as if it were any other major life choice before making any decisions.


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## xtreemchaos (Mar 15, 2021)

agreed its a nice way of doing biz and if people like our work thay keep coming back.


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## John-D (Mar 15, 2021)

Bill_Bright said:


> Another problem (for having your own "successful" shop) is more and more users are more inclined to building and repairing their own, instead of paying someone else to do it. And that's because it is much easier today - not to mention electronics tend to be very reliable.



This is a good point, we had a lot of people that started coming to us last year because they purchased everything themselves and either screwed up the build or got cold feet...  but not enough to make a business out of it.  We might have charged 1 or 2 hours, as you know - there are a lot of factors in a build.  Especially when one comes in DOA.  For the less-than one or two a month - that doesn't put food on the table.

This also brings up another point...  Back in the early 2000's before everyone purchased online we would purchase from the west coast MALABS, or cables from PIMFG and have stock shipped and stocked in-house.  This required some level of risk because you didn't know if you would sell it and at the same time an advantage over the competition because even they would come to us to buy it at our 20-35% markup because it was cheaper than next-day shipping.  The pricing was great but ground-shipping took a solid 7-days.  Once Amazon became popular and we could source hardware in 2-days with similar and many times lower pricing, so we eventually stopped stocking all kinds of stuff... and the other guys are did the same.

Not to mention the items that were left rotting on the wall (still there) because you got stuck with them.  Over the last few years the only items we still stocked were a couple power supplies, keyboards, mice, various cables like USB, VGA, etc, SSDs, SSD adapters, one or two External Hard drives, two Flash Drives, and that's about it.  As of this email main sellers were 500GB Samsung SSDs 860 or 870 EVO (used in upgrades), 1TB Externals for customers with more than 64GB of data that wouldn't fit on a flash disk, and the adapters for HDD to SSD upgrades.

Places like Ingram Micro, Synnex, and others are great for large businesses that need to buy a LOT of pieces but for the computer repair guy you're almost never able to buy from them (but you have to check just in case) because that pricing is usually MORE than Amazon PLUS you pay for shipping...  Places like Ingram also ding you with a $2 min fee if your order is under two to five hundred and free shipping is well over $1000...  so even with 7-day quantity limits that Amazon might have on SSD drives you usually can find other places like Best Buy, Staples, Office Max and others to get your product in a pinch.

So hardware, that was once profitable, was reduced to just a few items and in some cases you might have to 'price-match' making it an at-cost, near-cost, or even a below-cost sale depending on how badly you wanted it out of inventory.  IE it's better to sell it than to have it hanging on the wall 20 years later.

For example, just 3-weeks ago before closing the residential store we purchased (21) Lenovo laptops for $359.99 from staples and listed them for sale at 459.99 - Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15IIL 81WE 15.6" Notebook, Intel i3, 8GB Memory, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 (81WE001RUS) - now the pricing is $529.99.  https://www.staples.com/lenovo-idea...gb-ssd-windows-10-81we001rus/product_24435797

Sounds like a great deal until you subtract the customer's credit card fees, your time to shop all the sites and sales... and know what a good price is.  Take the risk of stocking ( in this case over $7500 ), etc, etc.  Fortunately I was still with-in the return window when my last residential tech resigned and staples accepted the return.  Sometimes they don't, for example Best Buy has changed a lot of their policies so you might be able to return a few at one store and then go to another store.  A lot depends on the store manager too but Staples and Office Max have been pretty good over the years.  Best Buy even removed points for tax-exempt customers years ago.  With DELL for example, no returns but they can't compete on the low-end anyway Lenovo and HP took the lead there but on the flip side, DELL is great for commercial because of the onsite warranties that they offer.

The rest of the inventory worth anything will be eventually used on the commercial side but I still have IDE drives from the early days brand-new and sealed in the box.  Let that sink in for a minute.  IE if you're selling SSD drives for 89.99, buying them for 64.99 (or less if you find a deal) and then get stuck with one you just zapped your profit on 3 to 4 sales.  Don't forget to subtract credit card fees and your time if you're working for a living.


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## ThrashZone (Mar 15, 2021)

Hi,
Even though it's not Nov 2019 and is covid 2021 response is still no way Jose.


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## Kissamies (Mar 15, 2021)

Alexa said:


> That's sort of my dream, but it'll never happen.


Same here, too many cons compared to the pros.


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 15, 2021)

John-D said:


> Not to mention the items that were left rotting on the wall (still there) because you got stuck with them.


Yeah, I learned this very early on. I could get some [fairly] decent discounts if I bought parts in quantities of 10, for example. But it seemed the day after I purchased them, either the same maker or a competing maker would release something better, faster and often cheaper. So suddenly my decent discount cost me more in the long run because I couldn't sell the last 4 or 5 units. 

The big makers can go to Intel, ASUS, WD, etc. and promise to buy 1,000,000 units over the next year, demand and get HUGE discounts, and actually sell them. No way did I have that kind of purchasing clout. 

So I ended up telling my clients I could not compete in price with Dell, HP, Acer, etc. But I could build a better system that was custom built for their actual needs - plus, I was typically 1  phone call and less than 20 minutes away.


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## thesmokingman (Mar 15, 2021)

PC repair used to be hard like in the 80s and 90s with interrupts and all the manual settings. But with the advent of plug n play and standards, shit ppl don't even know that term today since it's become so ubiquitous. But nowadays all ya do is replace not repair.



ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Even though it's not Nov 2019 and is covid 2021 response is still no way Jose.


Yeap, ten foot pole...


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## TheUn4seen (Mar 15, 2021)

Well, I did have a computer shop/repair years ago. Back then computers were actually a significant investment and people took care for them, but they started to be a disposable commodity and now not many people think of them otherwise. Most people just buy a computer in a cheapest store they can find (and as a small shop you can't fight with the volume the big ones push) and when something breaks they either send it for a warranty repair or just buy another one. You need to provide a specific, unique service to set yourself apart - data recovery might be a good thing to learn right now.


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## John-D (Mar 15, 2021)

TheUn4seen said:


> - data recovery might be a good thing to learn right now



Basic data recovery is easy using sector regenerators and other software however beyond that you're going to set up a referral to OnTrack for specialized data recovery.  This area was also more popular before cloud storage.  Now smart people just backup to the cloud and the rest usually aren't willing to pay to fix beyond something easy and cheap.  That's why we charged $109 up front for the whole process and then may have gotten a flash drive or external drive sale out of it.  Only a handful of customers paid OnTrack their rate over the years.  I think $2500 comes to mind for one customer but that pricing has changed a lot too.


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## Tom Sunday (Mar 15, 2021)

irvin said:


> How much money do you need to start a computer repair company?


Many thanks Irvin for your commentary and which was 100% on point. I like also to say greetings from Bragg , Smoke Bomb Hill and JFK Special Warfare Center and most important from Sicily and Normandy Drop Zones. It's not often anymore that I see PC repair shops but do regulary visit our local 'computer shows' where mostly Asians and Bangladesh and Nehru Place nationals doing their business. They usually now work out of stripcenters in the bad side of town and out of the way industrial parks and shared warehouse space. Their service once you are connected to them and accepted into their fold maintains to be extraordinary. There is nothing they can't fix and having unbelievable access to hardware and pricing.

They can build you a (new ATX case) PC cobbled together from used and new parts that will make your heart sing and for prices to be believed. They are also connected to a host of cryptominer's and have access to used GPU's simply not available in the current market again at super pricing. How do they make their money? I can only say they are very crafty, perhaps making due with less money, doing business solely by word of mouth, providing sterling service in less than 24 hours, being unmatched in upgrading PC's and cash is always king, etc. I also think that the computer shows are important to them and the sales of their hardware from special connections. About 80 or so used crypto 980ti and 1080ti's where gone within 5-hours once the word gotten out on the streets. I bought a 980ti just for fun, good to have and standby at $125 cash. Now the word is that soon most Z490 mobos can be had at really good prices along with name brand AIO's of which the market is already flooded. 

So all in all I think that the "PC Repair Shop" business is still alive but in a much different format and with different operators and expectations. The next PC show (the first one since the restrictions lifted) has already been announced and dealer space as predicted has been sold out. I wonder what the scuttlebutt will be and the news for the 'man on the street' like me? Most certainly news different from what you hear on sites like these.


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## TheUn4seen (Mar 15, 2021)

John-D said:


> Basic data recovery is easy using sector regenerators and other software however beyond that you're going to set up a referral to OnTrack for specialized data recovery.  This area was also more popular before cloud storage.  Now smart people just backup to the cloud and the rest usually aren't willing to pay to fix beyond something easy and cheap.  That's why we charged $109 up front for the whole process and then may have gotten a flash drive or external drive sale out of it.  Only a handful of customers paid OnTrack their rate over the years.  I think $2500 comes to mind for one customer but that pricing has changed a lot too.


First things first, Ontrack is a huge company with equally huge overhead, so you pay thousands for recovering data from a dead SD card. Most of such jobs are not beyond the abilities of someone with good soldering skills, PC3K Flash and a few thousand hours of experience, for a much lower price. Most people are not National Geographic photographers who can afford to pay twenty thousand euros to recover photos from a camera which fell into a volcano, but they can afford a thousand to recover photos from their one in a lifetime trip to Machu Picchu. Five such jobs and you're in the black.
Secondly, as a repair shop you don't earn money on smart people. Smart people don't spill coke on their laptop and put it a bag of rice for a day because a YouTube video told them to do so. Smart people have at least one backup.


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## John-D (Mar 15, 2021)

TheUn4seen said:


> but they can afford a thousand to recover photos from their one in a lifetime trip to Machu Picchu. Five such jobs and you're in the black.



We never charged a customer more than $109 for data recovery that we could do on a mostly automated system or using software.  More costly data recovery would have required us actually working with the customer to recover their data but usually not more than another $109.  And those larger data recovery jobs where usually around ONE customer a year so I'm not sure where you live but yes you could shake the customer down for money if you wanted to but we got referrals from good karma.

And yes, there were plenty of smart people that still came to us.  Not everyone has everything backed up at all times.  ...they were also smart enough to put a limit on their data recovery price too.


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## bobbybluz (Mar 15, 2021)

15 years ago I looked into opening my own shop because I was eligible for financial assistance from the the State Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. I'd already successfully managed two businesses in other fields and it seemed like an attractive proposition at the time. After filling out far too many forms and attending countless meetings with the DVR a point I hadn't previously considered came up: Market saturation. Who would I be competing with? How would I attract enough customers to stay in business? Unlike the other two businesses I'd ran (Midas automobile service center and a convenience store) that had a guaranteed flow of new and repeat customers I'd be looking at a far smaller prospective customer base even in a large metropolitan area plus potential liabilities became things that eventually led me to abandon the idea. Looking back it was the correct decision because every small computer shop in the area from back then has been gone for years now. I made a far better living working for somebody else and letting them deal with all the headaches and pitfalls business owners know far too well.


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## Steevo (Mar 15, 2021)

FreedomEclipse said:


> You really gotta diversify if you can.... Be more than just a PC repair shop - Be an internet cafe + PC repair shop that way you still have some coin coming in. You really have to diversify and spread your net so much unless youre operating out of our own home/garage.


I don't know of a single person who uses internet cafes anymore, maybe they are a thing elsewhere.

I would start building business contacts, small offices will pay top dollar for support since most don't and can't afford dedicated IT, and the big boxes charge a lot for very little service rendered. 

You will need to know about networking, hardware firewall setup, be able to sell hardware at a markup, and convince them the reason they have so many issues is from buying overpriced "cheap" hardware, like AIO machines that when they doe with important files....


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## DAWMan (Mar 15, 2021)

Advertise you specialize in building an Audio Workstation (DAW) or gaming PCs as well as repair and maintain them.
I buy parts myself and take them to a repair shop to assemble and install the OS.
Then I can tweak the OS and BIOS myself.
Letting them do diagnostics on parts and installing the OS costs me 150-200 bucks.

Saves me the headache.


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 15, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> a point I hadn't previously considered came up: Market saturation


I have seen this too. When I got out of the military in 1995, the world was begging for IT specialists - programmers and hardware techs like me. So I actually had a really good job lined up before my actual retirement date! 

But over the next 5 - 10 years universities and community colleges really ramped up degree and certification curriculums for developers and techs. The result is the market became saturated with programmers and techs and entry level salaries plummeted. This is exactly how/why (along with electronics reliability being so good) Level 1 tech support, Best Buy, and cell phone repair places don't have a problem hiring new techs at or below minimum wages.


(Edit comment: Fixed typo - B_B)


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## InhaleOblivion (Mar 15, 2021)

Wealth of information in this thread.  Highly informative, I've only built and supported systems for friends and family.  Though if anyone wanted to take the next step they should definitely start here.


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## chrcoluk (Mar 29, 2021)

Friend of mine got by doing this from her shop for about 10 years, the early years she could do it from her own footfall, people bringing in broken pc, or pc's to be upgraded.  However once smartphones and tablets took off, it fell of a cliff, but she managed to keep going as a major PC retailer was outsourcing work to her, this was probably during her last 3-4 years about 90% of her work, without it she would have been done.  But then this retailer hit financial trouble, and it merged with another store which then stopped all the work been sent to her. 

The problem now days I think is multiple things.

Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops are the casual user base.
PC's are typically either consumed by businesses or gamers, and gamers more and more frequently will either be knowledgeable to do themselves or will just buy a prebuilt, and when they buy prebuilt then they go to that vendor if they have any problems.

I think even smartphone repair one would struggle because that is now a really saturated market a bit like how round here there is a food takeaway on every street.

You might ask why didnt she prebuild? That's really really hard when big boys are doing it as they have economy of scale, also hard to convince someone to trust you as a sole trader, when they not sure you will be around in a few years to solve any problems, whilst a big outlet probably will be.  May have been a different story if she prebuilt from the start, but at the start repairs/upgrades were keeping her busy.

Now she works as a technician for a large call centre.


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## btarunr (Mar 29, 2021)

I wouldn't count on it, because those who want to DIY fix their PCs have plenty of free resources on the web; OEMs have improved their on-site service; and consumers like to pick up AMCs from the brand (the equivalent of AppleCare+), ditto with businesses.

Rather you could explore boutique/bespoke high-end gaming desktops as a business idea. Those who don't want to build complex liquid cooled rigs and can't choose their parts well; would rather buy from you. Be sure to market yourself as a "systems integrator" and not a "prebuilt vendor." There's a distinction to be made here, because you're selling the service of assembling parts, not the product itself; so you save yourself a ton of liability and regulatory costs. Make sure every customer signs an agreement at the time of purchase that makes it clear that they're only paying you to assemble parts you buy in their name, your warranty is limited to any flaws with the assembly, and that individual parts carry their own warranties and service verticals.

Then again, running a boutique PC assembly business is fraught with the risk of scalpers drying up parts for you, since you'll be buying mostly from the retail channel. Big OEMs have their own means of getting their parts.


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## Splinterdog (Mar 29, 2021)

I closed my shop of ten years because the absentee landlord doubled the rent and all the other expenses were climbing with inflation, which in Argentina is a whopping 50%.
Since then, I haven't looked back and I also do VHS to digital, build new gaming PCs for those who can afford them and my regular customers still come back to me, not minding the ramshackle arrangement one bit.
I also do house calls when it's Covid safe and all this in between the motorcycle courier service that I offer. Heck, I even collect their machines, repair them and take them back. All part of the service, so you have to be flexible nowadays.
It's a bit of a mess, but I like my bike near me and I know where everything is.


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## DAWMan (Mar 29, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I closed my shop of ten years because the absentee landlord doubled the rent and all the other expenses were climbing with inflation, which in Argentina is a whopping 50%.
> Since then, I haven't looked back and I also do VHS to digital, build new gaming PCs for those who can afford them and my regular customers still come back to me, not minding the ramshackle arrangement one bit.
> I also do house calls when it's Covid safe and all this in between the motorcycle courier service that I offer. Heck, I even collect their machines, repair them and take them back. All part of the service, so you have to be flexible nowadays.
> It's a bit of a mess, but I like my bike near me and I know where everything is.
> View attachment 194358


Amazing how we all manage one way or another. 
My synth repair guy has a repair shop that’s twice the size of your room, crap everywhere.
I was concerned first time I left my 88 note Controller there, then I picked it up a week later after he fixed a wheel assembly the manufacturer said required a whole new housing/body. He disagreed and proved them wrong.

There’s only 4 similar shops where I live. They are all booked up even during COVID-19.

Even sent a Christmas Card.


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## Bill_Bright (Mar 29, 2021)

Well, for sure, a pitch fork is an essential tool for every computer tech!


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## neatfeatguy (Mar 29, 2021)

One way to supplement income would be to outsource your skills when you have free time.

Last place I worked we utilized a website that allowed us to hire third party computer/electrician technicians when we needed onsite work done that was out of our area. It's been years since I worked there and I can't remember the name of the company or website.....techs would post their credentials and experience. Then we'd offer the job out to people that we've used before that we liked or others in the areas with skills that would be necessary for the job. Upon agreeing that the job was completed, payment would be transferred to the company that outsourced jobs to the techs and then the company would take a small fee off the top (something like 5-10%, like a finders fee) and the balance would go to the technician.

If you live in a decent sized city area and are at least willing to travel a bit (maybe upwards of 30-50 miles even) you would have opportunity for a lot of jobs. We had some techs that were really good that we would constantly hire out to jobs in their area. Most issues were with a network system being down or a computer not turning on and it usually involved some hands on time to find the failure on the network (could be a switch got unplugged or failed or network cable gone bad) or as simple as a computer being powered off and the store staff is just too clueless to figure out how to power it back on....one of the more complicated things and time consuming jobs we hired out was to run network cabling at a new install.

All in all, as long as you were self sufficient, had proper tools and could reliably handle the work, some techs I spoke with said they could make decent money on the side doing this work during their free time.

Wish I could remember the name of the site this was....I tried searching around on google, but to no avail. Maybe someone here might know of a site like I'm talking about.


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## John-D (Mar 29, 2021)

btarunr said:


> Rather you could explore boutique/bespoke high-end gaming desktops as a business idea. Those who don't want to build complex liquid cooled rigs and can't choose their parts well; would rather buy from you. Be sure to market yourself as a "systems integrator" and not a "prebuilt vendor." There's a distinction to be made here, because you're selling the service of assembling parts, not the product itself; so you save yourself a ton of liability and regulatory costs. Make sure every customer signs an agreement at the time of purchase that makes it clear that they're only paying you to assemble parts you buy in their name, your warranty is limited to any flaws with the assembly, and that individual parts carry their own warranties and service verticals.



We found that in our area, building PCs for customers died about 10 years ago and only a few want you to build them a PC.

Most people that want a custom PC are willing to source and build their own PC.

We charged an hourly rate for the build and the customers purchased the items keeping us out of the warranty RMA loop or we could assist for a fee.

In the past when we built PCs we sourced and marked up pricing however most customers, especially gamers, are smart enough to shop your pricing so it causes more issues than just letting them buy the parts direct and bill for your time to help them for what they want.  IE parts sourcing, build review, building, and then future service needs.

Also, you should only provide a 30-day warranty for your labor.  If they have a part that fails you can help them diag it for a fee after 30-days (or not, your call) but most of the time you'll never have any problems if you're a competent builder.  Most of the problems we saw were from people that tired to build their own PC and brought it to us to figure out.  Usually they did something stupid like screwing the motherboard to the case without standoffs/etc.


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## RandallFlagg (Mar 29, 2021)

buzzi said:


> Hi all,
> as the title says, I'd like to know your opinion about opening a pc repair shop as an investment in future years.
> My principal thought is decline of pcs as they are, in fact, personal in favour of cloud. Fixing smartphones would help income too (or even become the bigger part of it) , but I refer specifically to computer repair. A little money could come from dealing hardware parts, even though competing with online stores will be hard.
> Across the years, several shops sadly shut down in my town, and some popped out.
> what do you think guys?



No.  Back when computers cost $3000 or more and had little to no warranty this was a viable thing to do.  Today for the most part, fixing PCs is about as viable as fixing TV sets or stereos - you would only make money at it if you're subcontracted by a big company, say Dell or Lenovo, for in home repair of in-warranty items.  Now fixing home appliances, that's still a thing. 

There are some ancillary fields that make money.  Small to medium size companies often outsource setting up their office PCs, network, servers, backups, firewalls, website and ongoing maintenance to local support companies.  This is a lot more technical than just fixing DIY PCs and the people that do that have to wear many hats i.e. DBA / backup admin / system admin / network admin / application support / PC support and so on, and the company often has to provide some degree of application development and support as well.  IOW end to end support for companies that don't find it viable to hire someone to do that.


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## BlackSun59 (Mar 29, 2021)

There were three different PC repair shops in my town and they each closed within a year of opening.
There is one that has managed to stay open since 2003(!). They do both home and business work.
I have no affiliation or financial links to this shop at all.


			https://www.westfieldcomputers.com/


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## Atomic77 (Mar 30, 2021)

Well here where I live PC repair is hard to find. we have Milwaukee Pc. and Collet Systems both have been around for a while but I think one of them is not doing as well.


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## JeffF (Mar 30, 2021)

My business is doing just fine. Store front isn't always the answer to a successful business. I built my business over 10 years ago from social media and out of home. A large number of my clients will travel an hour or more to bring me their devices due to trust with their personal data and etc. Word of mouth recommendations is a huge plus as well. Take that moment to talk to your clients and let them get to know you a bit more is money to them. Especially this day and age where we have been locked down and a business killing pandemic going around. Although I don't build customs. I am pleased with the way things have been going for me this far.


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## Ahhzz (Mar 30, 2021)

JeffF said:


> My business is doing just fine. Store front isn't always the answer to a successful business. I built my business over 10 years ago from social media and out of home. A large number of my clients will travel an hour or more to bring me their devices due to trust with their personal data and etc. Word of mouth recommendations is a huge plus as well. Take that moment to talk to your clients and let them get to know you a bit more is money to them. Especially this day and age where we have been locked down and a business killing pandemic going around. Although I don't build customs. I am pleased with the way things have been going for me this far.


I've worked hard with my clients to establish a level of trust with them, so that when I tell them "What would be best here is to purchase this equipment/replace that computer/redo this network layout", they know I'm not trying to gouge them in bills. I am _very _prone to telling them "I'd love to sell you more hardware, but I think we'll be ok here for another year. Check back again next year. There's no need to replace something that's working well for now". 
Our business is not overwhelmed, but we've been able to stay busy during the pandemic, _possibly _because we're in an area of low-acceptance of science, and while I've been able to stay virus-free, despite so many of our clients failing that, they've stayed open as much as they could.


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## Splinterdog (Mar 30, 2021)

Bill_Bright said:


> Well, for sure, a pitch fork is an essential tool for every computer tech!


The fork is for troublesome customers


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## Atomic77 (Mar 31, 2021)

hmm... maybe a forklift in that situation.


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## techupgrade (Aug 12, 2021)

Well, I decided to close my shop and do it in house Local PC Repair in Birmingham, Would I recommend yes.


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## John-D (Aug 12, 2021)

Fast forward from back in March when I first posted here.  Closing the residential depot store and going all commercial was the best move.  We were able to concentrate on high-profit items & eliminated nearly all of the headaches.  We even changed the phone numbers so that the old phone numbers drop into a voicemail box for any commercial customers that might still call into the old number.  Now we can concentrate and focus on billable tasks without the "quick question call" that just wastes time.


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## Splinterdog (Aug 12, 2021)

techupgrade said:


> Well, I decided to close my shop and do it in house Local PC Repair in Birmingham, Would I recommend yes.


That's exactly what I did a couple of years ago because my revenue came nowhere near covering the overheads. It just became a luxury I couldn't afford and now, working from my garage I have zero overheads, or at least what we normally pay at home anyway.
My customers weren't in the slightest bit fazed, but then this is Argentina 2021 with 50% inflation and all the rest of the bother...


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## John-D (Aug 12, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> That's exactly what I did a couple of years ago because my revenue came nowhere near covering the overheads. It just became a luxury I couldn't afford and now, working from my garage I have zero overheads, or at least what we normally pay at home anyway.
> My customers weren't in the slightest bit fazed, but then this is Argentina 2021 with 50% inflation and all the rest of the bother...



If you're good, you should come to America and work for me.


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## jboydgolfer (Aug 12, 2021)

PC repair is tough, its a model not suited to modern 'just buy a new one' culture.  
if you have barebone overhead & costs, you might be able to stay afloat if you do enough business, but its tough. 
some people offer things like ink cartridge filling , or phone repair to negate the weakness of the field by adding multiple services.


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## jallenlabs (Aug 12, 2021)

Ive run a mobile IT business in my county in WI, USA for almost ten years.  The key, be mobile as a store front is the budget killer.  People would rather have you come to them anyway.


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 13, 2021)

John-D said:


> If you're good, you should come to America and work for me.



He is his own boss.... Why would he fly across the pond just to be someone elses slave again?   

Unless youre offering him silly amounts of money to work for you (which youre probably not) then being able to be your own boss outweighs being someone elses b**ch 

My guy has had his taste of freedom and he's operating out of his garage. Its not perfect but at least he can do what the hell he wants without people walking all over him like hes trash. 

If i was set up the way he was, I wouldnt go back unless more money was being offered or business completely cliff dived and i wasnt making any money at all.


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## Cheese_On_tsaot (Aug 13, 2021)

I would have my main job and this as a side earner.


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## maxfly (Aug 13, 2021)

Cheese_On_tsaot said:


> I would have my main job and this as a side earner.



Thats usually how it starts. Until the profit outweighs your primary job.
It can help a great deal when your getting started if your spouse has a  good job. Those rocky first few years can be stressful without something to fall back on occasionally.


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## John-D (Aug 13, 2021)

FreedomEclipse said:


> He is his own boss.... Why would he fly across the pond just to be someone elses slave again?
> 
> Unless youre offering him silly amounts of money to work for you (which youre probably not) then being able to be your own boss outweighs being someone elses b**ch
> 
> ...



What do you consider a silly amount of money?  For our area, basic commercial techs starting is 50k plus bonus so you can easily make 70k/year on a standard 40hr work week.  To me that sounded better than "Argentina 2021 with 50% inflation and all the rest of the bother".  If he has any kind of network skills then the income keeps going up.

What do you make as a residential computer tech busting your butt and taking all those non-profit calls?


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 13, 2021)

John-D said:


> What do you consider a silly amount of money?  For our area, basic commercial techs starting is 50k plus bonus so you can easily make 70k/year on a standard 40hr work week.  To me that sounded better than "Argentina 2021 with 50% inflation and all the rest of the bother".  If he has any kind of network skills then the income keeps going up.



Is this a one time offer or is it open to anyone?    Cuz i might have to find myself a plane ticket to the USA


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## RealKGB (Aug 13, 2021)

Not in my area, but if I lived near where I go to high school (about 30 minutes away) I would make a school-based business.


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## Splinterdog (Aug 13, 2021)

John-D said:


> What do you consider a silly amount of money?  For our area, basic commercial techs starting is 50k plus bonus so you can easily make 70k/year on a standard 40hr work week.  To me that sounded better than "Argentina 2021 with 50% inflation and all the rest of the bother".  If he has any kind of network skills then the income keeps going up.
> 
> What do you make as a residential computer tech busting your butt and taking all those non-profit calls?


Thanks for your kind suggestion and yes, that is considerably better than what I earn now. The name of the game down here is survival, whether we like it or not and I've had to supplement my income by offering door to door collection and delivery on top of my motorcycle courier work, VHS to digital conversions and whatever else springs to mind - within reason.
If we were ever to uproot ourselves and bearing in mind that I'm over 60, it would have to be back in my homeland, the UK. I'm no spring chicken any more!


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## John-D (Aug 13, 2021)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Is this a one time offer or is it open to anyone?    Cuz i might have to find myself a plane ticket to the USA



Sure, but you have to be good.



Splinterdog said:


> Thanks for your kind suggestion and yes, that is considerably better than what I earn now. The name of the game down here is survival, whether we like it or not and I've had to supplement my income by offering door to door collection and delivery on top of my motorcycle courier work, VHS to digital conversions and whatever else springs to mind - within reason.
> If we were ever to uproot ourselves and bearing in mind that I'm over 60, it would have to be back in my homeland, the UK. I'm no spring chicken any more!



There are pros and cons to age...  the older generation knows how to work and interact with customers.  The younger generation expects high pay for little to no work and gets upset or disgruntled when you tell them that they did a $hit job, as if they've never been told that before.


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 13, 2021)

John-D said:


> Sure, but you have to be good.
> 
> 
> 
> There are pros and cons to age...  the older generation knows how to work and interact with customers.  The younger generation expects high pay for little to no work and gets upset or disgruntled when you tell them that they did a $hit job, as if they've never been told that before.



Hey man. ive spent half my life working a front desk. I could do that too.


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