I'm just doing a bit of research... and I was wondering if any of you out there who work in IT consulting, or have had IT consultants do work for you...

How do they normally charge... Hourly? and if so how much you would expect to pay/charge?

that sort of thing

The type of "consulting" I am talking about...

Network Maintenence (On/Off Site inc. travel) Maybe 50 clients max.
Hardware setups/repairs/upgrades etc...
Tech support to Head office, plus maybe 10 other offices.

This isnt FULL ON tech suport... They're hairdressing salons... but I've been asked to quote on doing their tech support... and I'm just trying to gauge how much might be an appropriate figure, not having had to think of this kind of thing before.

ask wolfiee he does my work.

When I do work on the side, which basically involves everything you have mentioned I charge $70ex GST/hour, basically becuase the company's know its just me and hence I cant charge the usual $100+ an hour an IT company would be charging them, other wise they just go with a big IT company with all the backing that goes with it.

But for that I get pretty casual response times, becuase they know its just me. Eg they call me in the morning saying something is urgent, and can say I wont be able to get there until the afternoon or next morning. Or if they say is non-urgent them I fit them in whenever I have spare time in the next 2-3 days.

Just depends what they are after with response times etc. Most company's wont go with a one-man operation unless they charge alot less than a big company, becuase they know you could dissapear tommorow.

and I wouldnt call it "IT Consulting" its just tech support.

Well, I was recommended to them by someone who works there... So, if they do want to take me on, that will be the main reason why.

I'm not 100% sure what kind of situation they are going for... But I guess I'll just have to get into contact with them and sort it all out.

I'm not sure what I.T. Consultants charge but rest assurred whatever you tell them its going to be too much.

Trying to quote for people who have no idea on technology can be a real pain in the arse.

$100 per hour for me (both for private consulting and thru a business).

However if its a private residence, normally bump it down, seeing they can't get it back on tax.

at work we charge $100 bux an hour for IT work (programming)

really depends on the comitment you provide, if you say you will be on site within 4 hours then you can ask for way more, if you say it may take between 12 - 24 hours for you to get on site then you can charge abit less,

i know our guy at work gets way more then he actually does cause he turns up for 15 minutes and gets paid for the full hour and he gets called in at least 5 - 10 times a day, but his comitment is he will be there within 30minutes. day or night.

at the end of the day you will have to do it for what YOU want todo it for $$$ wise.

Once I got talked into doing 2-5 hours a week on a regular basis for a company for $40/hour no call out and in the end it just wasn't worth it.
I wouldn't want to go do the job and I would just put it off anf put it off until they got the s***s.

So a) I wasn't supplying a good service
b) I didn't want to do the job and the situation just got worse and worse.

You also have to take into account follow up visits at no charge. i.e you go an fix something and the following day a problem arises out of what you have changed, then it is in your best interests to follow it up free of charge.

If you get a customer that is really pedantic then you will be constantly following up s*** and never charging them for anything.

I think it will boil down to your competency. If you are the worlds best technican (that does not include if you just think you are) then $100+ an hour is acceptable.

If you have never done consultancy before then I would be asking for $40 call out $40/hour

I personally charge $75 call out $75 an hour sometimes less if little jonny doesn't know but my charges vary on the customer and how they found me.

I think it will boil down to your competency. If you are the worlds best technican (that does not include if you just think you are) then $100+ an hour is acceptable.

pretty much. it's worth asking more if your out of normal hours. I've worked out this doesn't work in Mt Gravatt, but pays dividends in Wishart and Carindale


:)

Just add a coupla zero's to the end and see if they notice, then laugh all the way to the bank when they don't.

yeh, its not a small time operation... its a big company... and I'm talking directly to the boss... according to my info, he is "a very good business man" and "very assertive" so I don't think the whole "add a couple of zeros" will work.

Thanks for all the advice... so basically, most of you charge ~ $100 an hour...

Since I definatley have a bit of learning in front of me, I guess I'll have to charge a bit less than that... oh well, looks like I have a bit of thinking ahead of me.

Is this really a helpdesk position/general IT guy? Like you sit in their office answering helpdesk phone calls, and if something breaks you go over and fix it?

In my experience, most professional IT/IS services companies charge at about the $150/hour mark, regardless if it's on site on off site. This is for things like ERP solution providers, networking consultants, etc.

I spose you could call it consulting... I'd lean more towards contractual-IT-maintenance but that's just me. It's not uncommon to get charged $200 an hour but you would want to know your s*** if you were asking that much....

You fix computers and get $100 an hour, you wallet raping camels... sif your services are worth that much... seriously

last edited by Loki at 17:27:25 18/Feb/06

You fix computers and get $100 an hour, you wallet raping camels... sif your services are worth that much... seriously

[insert mum joke here]

Is this really a helpdesk position/general IT guy? Like you sit in their office answering helpdesk phone calls, and if something breaks you go over and fix it?

Its not in house... I'd be like a contractor, they call me if they need help, and I rock up and do stuff.