Modding Charges

[Drewman21]

So here is the deal.  Where i'm at people know i'm into audio/video gear and game systems. And they know that I make and mod alot of my stuff for fun and for fixes.  I have been getting asked more and more to do stuff for friends and family and friends of friends.  Most of the time i just kinda let them know i'm busy and can't help them.  Some  have started to offer "alot" of money for work done.  Now i know that people think that "alot" makes it better but there idea of "alot" is not realistic for time, materials, and work.

So I have come to the crossroads of asking for a fee for my time/work.  Now i have been screwed over a few times and don't want to over charge people but my time is worth something so i thought i would ask what you all are charging people for your work.  Cable making, system modding, hell even hooking up tv and stereo systems.  I don't want to out anyone as to what there fees are so people get spooked away from peoples services here but i figure most of us here are the go-to people for people anyways.  

If you don't want to post your fees here please PM me and let me know that way. I'll keep them to myself and just use the info to help me come to some decisions.  Thanks!

[kendrick]

I don't like charging for mod work either, and exactly for the same reasons you describe. With that said, I've found that for small jobs a good rule of thumb is to charge half. That is, whatever solution is available to the general public, take that price and cut it in half for the mod work. That makes it worth your while, and lets your 'customer' know exactly what kind of alternative they're looking at.

A few Gamecube controller is $22.99 US currency in stores. If someone wants me to recable an old controller that's had the cord pulled out, that'd be an $11.50 job. Somebody wants me to clean out their Xbox DVD drive and make it work again, that's a $30 job since a new drive will run them $60 at the flea market. If somebody wants to mod a Playstation 2 for imports, that's $70 since a JPN-region PSTwo unit is $140 from the cheapest importer.

After that, big jobs are a case-by-case basis. Somebody wants the power supply in their Neo CD fixed, that'll depend on what's broken and if I have to replace the whole part or not. If he wants an PSOne with a botched modchip fixed, I'll probably charge him the whole price of a new PSOne just because he's stupid. Somebody wants an Xbox modded, they bring their own hard drive and I squeeze 'em dry.

-KKC

[viletim]

Adjust you prices proportionately to how much money the customer has?