home computer repair buisness?

im not sure if this is the right section, sorry if it isnt.

basically me and a friend want to set up a small computer repair 'buisness' in our local area, operating from our home's. what i want to ask is that has anyone ever done this before? another question would be, what should i get before starting. im assuming il need a spare monitor and some other basic things to test computers and such, but how much stock should i keep on hand? obviously i dont want to waiste all my money having stock which is worth nothing 6 months latter because i bought too much of it.
also what kind of software do you guys recommend? i done a bit of research and everyone says that 90% of repair jobs are just removing spyware, so i guess il need to be prepared for that.

and finally, does anyone recommend any good books to teach computer repair? were both good at it, but i guess its always good to have a book on hand just to consult when stuck.

my friend has done something simular before and he said it was verry succesfull at the time.


thanks for your time.

A lot of your business will be malware removal, its like 80-90 percent of my business. The other 10-20 percent is either new system builds, diagnosing and upgrades.

If you have a extra money, I would probably order a couple hard drives, psu's. I really wouldn't get any memory, order that as you need it. Maybe a couple dvd burners as well.

But yeah, you need monitor, keyboard, mouse. I use my kitchen table as a work station.

You may also want to get a anti static wrist band, and a PSU tester.
If your comfortable with it, I would also suggest a live DOS CD for repairing OS's. Maybe a few linux disks. Really helps.

wolfeking said:

You may also want to get a anti static wrist band, and a PSU tester.

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Wrist band is really not needed. I've been working on systems for years and haven't destroyed any parts. All you need to do is touch metal part of the case to discharge any static electricity before touching any parts and I really don't even do that.

The PSU tester would be a great tool, I have one and has came in handy a time or two.

I assume you will be making Away and Home repairs.

I would have thought a laptop was essential for a number of reasons.

Have a suite of test apps that are freeware that you can load, do the necessaries and leave on the PC. The client may not have a working internet connection.

Dustbuster or a quality PC blower.

A good worklight. I have one of those B&D WLB26B LED Bright Bars that are amazingly convenient under the desk and for any work in dim light. There are cheapo versions around that are nowhere near as good $42.

A digital multimeter for a multitude of simple tests $12-20.

A copy of Scott Mueller's "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" $30.

A good set of small tools. The Ultra test kit also includes PSU tester $40.

Presentable business cards that you give to the customer (or nail to their PC!) for repeat business.

Bear in mind that you are liable for any screw-ups so if you don't have insurance it will be out of your pockets.

johnb35 said:

Wrist band is really not needed. I've been working on systems for years and haven't destroyed any parts. All you need to do is touch metal part of the case to discharge any static electricity before touching any parts and I really don't even do that.

The PSU tester would be a great tool, I have one and has came in handy a time or two.

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never hurts to be too careful.

A few more things that would come in handy are all the hard drive diagnostic cd's from each hard drive maker.

Western Digital - http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=613&sid=30&lang=en
Seagate - http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=480bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
Samsung - http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/downloads/support_in_es.html
Hitachi - http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/#DFT
fujitsu - http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=ServicesSupport/WarrantySupport/SoftwareUtilities


You should also burn a memtest cd.

http://www.memtest86.com/ - you want to click on the iso image for cd.

thanks for the help. i think i understand most of what il be needing so far. i dont think il put too much money into it straight away, i want to see how many people il have comming to the buisness first.
i was looking at scott muellers book yesterday. i think il buy it.

I will also have to make sure im carefull with anything i work on, because i wont have any insurance. im not too worried about that though.
we where also thinking about branching out into repairing some consoles and selling 'custom' computers, just too atract a bit more buisness.

again, thanks for the help. its greatly apreciated.

you will need spare parts which are crucial to diagnostics. Been in IT for over a decade, here is what I would do if I was going to start a repair business from home. I also wouldn't keep anything in stock, you are mostly selling services like John mentioned earlier, not parts. Plus the mark up in hardware isn't really that good.

you need the following:

1) Spare parts for testing - a lot of times swapping out a part fixes things. Also during the process of elimination troubleshooting method you will sometimes need to swap out suspected bad parts, with known good ones to verify that is the problem.

2) Physical tools - screw driver with driver bit kit, needle nose, maybe a dremmel (yes I have had to drill out stripped screws before, it happens), and other various tools.

3) diagnostics - CDs, DVDs which are bootable, external HDs, I would most definitely look at Barts PE and make a PE Windows disk with diag tools, data recovery software and so forth. There are both plenty of open source (free) tools and a lot of third party pay for tools. You just gotta pick and choose what you want.

4) Then you gotta be legit. 1099 or Tax ID, business license, etc. last thing you want is the IRS coming after you, because they don't lose their fights, you will lose to them. Assuming you are in the USA that is. If not, I would look up your business laws in your country.

Another thing you may want to add to your tools is either a USB HDD dock or USB HDD adapter to be able to do things like HDD cloning, data recovery, virus/malware removal, etc... by attaching the customer's HDD to your test system.

thanks, il try and get a HDD adapter.
im actually from the UK, so il take a look into the laws here.

elobire said:

im not sure if this is the right section, sorry if it isnt.

basically me and a friend want to set up a small computer repair 'buisness' in our local area, operating from our home's. what i want to ask is that has anyone ever done this before? another question would be, what should i get before starting. im assuming il need a spare monitor and some other basic things to test computers and such, but how much stock should i keep on hand? obviously i dont want to waiste all my money having stock which is worth nothing 6 months latter because i bought too much of it.
also what kind of software do you guys recommend? i done a bit of research and everyone says that 90% of repair jobs are just removing spyware, so i guess il need to be prepared for that.

and finally, does anyone recommend any good books to teach computer repair? were both good at it, but i guess its always good to have a book on hand just to consult when stuck.

my friend has done something simular before and he said it was verry succesfull at the time.


thanks for your time.

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I'm doing something similar. Although I don't have any spare keyboards/monitors and stuff like that, or spare parts for that matter, I either charge a callout fee of like $20 for local areas and then $40 per hour. People like it because it's much cheaper than going to a store, and I get repeat customers

As for spare parts, If someone needs a replacement, I look it up on pc case gear, tell em how much its gunna cost for the part and shipping, and what I'll charge to install it.

Always make sure to ask if the customer has valuable data on their computer and ask them what they want backed up in case something goes wrong. That way you cover yourself in case something goes wrong.

For advertising, word of mouth and cheap business cards that you can order online will do wonders, as long as they have your phone number and address. I often get people calling or just turning up with problems.

elobire said:

thanks, im actually from the UK, so il take a look into the laws here.

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Quite simple in the UK.

Register with HMRC, I believe this has to be done within 90 days of starting a new business, but the sooner the better as its a job out of the way.

Keep records of everything. I have been self employed now for 10 years and have never employed a book keeper to do my tax. Its all on spreadsheets, register with HMRC to do tax return online (takes about 15 minutes now they have amended it )

Tools. Quite simply, pair of pliers, flathead and phillips screwdrivers. The phillips screwdriver will be your best friend.

Spares. In the boot (trunk) of my car is a wireless router (BT connection), wireless USB stick, couple of PSU's, old but useable hard drive (data recovery or moving), monitor, keyboard and mouse. As I use parts I go to a local supplier and replace them. Been using the local supplier for 10 years now and have a very good relationship with them. Anything that a customer wants, I offer to get for them.

What part of the UK are you in?

And lastly, remember you never want to appear on BBC WatchDog programme

i live in south wales in Gwent.
what where relying upon for advertising will mostly be adverts in shop windows and il be handing out buisness cards around the local town. we will also rely heavily upon word of mouth and as you said cheap prices. after all, unlike local repair shops we wont have to charge high fees to pay for the building and other expenditure.
the main problem is that we both are 17 and neither have a driving license yet, so we cant do many callouts or delivery. which is something we want to do to attract more people.

thanks for the replies again.

elobire said:

i live in south wales in Gwent.
what where relying upon for advertising will mostly be adverts in shop windows and il be handing out buisness cards around the local town. we will also rely heavily upon word of mouth and as you said cheap prices. after all, unlike local repair shops we wont have to charge high fees to pay for the building and other expenditure.
the main problem is that we both are 17 and neither have a driving license yet, so we cant do many callouts or delivery. which is something we want to do to attract more people.

thanks for the replies again.

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I feel you there. I don't have my license or a car yet either

Whenever I bring my customers PC's home, I ensure they are back with them within 24 hours unless otherwise agreed. The last thing you want is lots of PC's laying round your house.

Currently reading a book i just bought from amazon called "start your own computer buisness". only just got throught the first couple of chapters but at the moment it outlines a couple of good features. most of it however is irrelevant to what im planning on doing, but the most usefull information i have read so far is on advertising and sourcing of components.
only downside with the book is that its written for US buisnesses, but its easy enough to figure out the UK equivelent for everything.

cesar

I meet this guy, cesar, who had a 10 x 10 space in a indoor swamp meet
Now he has a 1,200 sq ft place of his one.
He does a "cleanup" for 40 bux. I am not sure exactly what he does.
But he did use a vacuum cleaner inside..He sold me a little more memory
And did a few things to make my p.c. run faster.
When I go in, these days. has has shelves and shelves of pc waiting
for his 40 dollar deal.
He has a basic inventory. Mice, Mice pads, keyboards, and few other
accessories.
I had a sticky mouse and bough a new one from him.
I also bouth a logistic head seat. (I do VOID, telemarking.
He has has internet rentals for the kids who go to school down the
street.

elobire said:

thanks, il try and get a HDD adapter.
im actually from the UK, so il take a look into the laws here.

Click to expand...

Look into Apricorn DriveWires for this, they are great. Universal HDD adapter http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=39

Also look into different bootable software ISOs like hirens. Hirens is a great tool for diagnosing problems.