computer building business

D

dynamite195

New Member
Hi all!!! This looks like a great forum from what i've seen and I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm a high school student with quite a bit of computer experience. I'm in need of money so I've been thinking of starting a small custom computer building business on the side much like dell or alienware. My question is has anyone on here done something similar to this? What's the best way to get a business like this up and running? Thanks in advance.
 
I think you need to look at (but not say here) how you are going to set your product apart from the guy next door... or even Dell. Who do you plan to attract with your PC's? Can you make them Cheaper and better than Dell? Or more expensive and better? You can't start a business to build PC's. You need to have a very sepcific, and a well defined market of people you will "attack". Im not sure of your location or your background, but find a need for something that is not out there currently.
 
building computers for profit is kind of hard. Like Tri said, figure out a way to set yourself apart. Custom cases, something "cool" to look at so people on ebay buy them or whatever. Good luck in your venture, i've looked into this but clearing 100 per computer just isn't worth it to me.
 
I would personally go for a repiar job, or doing things like installing new RAM or anything, if you have any friends with a computer that is a little screwd up ask their parents, I did it when i was in school, the first time i did it, i just did it to fix the comptuer, i ended up getting paid 60$ and I didn't even know i was. It took me about 2 hours to fix. So thats 30$ a hour, pretty damn good pay if you ask me.

And things like installing RAM, iot takes 5 minnies, you can charge 20$, any other place will charge 60$ for it...(cough geekquad and 120$)
 
Encore4More said:
overclock ur processors to sell the computers for more
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There is two things to that,

You could blatenly lie, and yes you could sell for more, but you would also be liable.

Overclocked parts are valued less then non overclocked.
 
Arm_Pit said:
There is two things to that,

You could blatenly lie, and yes you could sell for more, but you would also be liable.

Overclocked parts are valued less then non overclocked.
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True, but that really only applies to parts that were pre-overclocked.

There are people on eBay that sell a Pentium D 2.8Ghz oc'd to 3.3Ghz and an ECS motherboard combo, and they make really good money. They also market it as a 6.6Ghz equivelnent processor. However if you do that, if you ever need to reset the BIOS back to default, use really low quality RAM, then your overclock is gone and people may complain.
 
[-0MEGA-] said:
True, but that really only applies to parts that were pre-overclocked.

There are people on eBay that sell a Pentium D 2.8Ghz oc'd to 3.3Ghz and an ECS motherboard combo, and they make really good money. They also market it as a 6.6Ghz equivelnent processor. However if you do that, if you ever need to reset the BIOS back to default, use really low quality RAM, then your overclock is gone and people may complain.
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Those people have also been taken to task for false advertising.
 
I'm not planning on "screwing" people over by selling them an overclocked machine and not telling them, but I appreciate the idea lol. How large my profit per machine is isn't too much of a concern because I'm a high school student living with my parents so basically whatever I make goes for stuff I want to buy and not a family to support. For a customer base I was thinking along the lines of offering a custom machine either low end with a cheap price or full blown with a high price and the reason people would want to choose me over a large company is I can offer personalized customer support, etc. instead of having them feel like they're dealing with a machine instead of a person.
 
dynamite195 said:
I'm not planning on "screwing" people over by selling them an overclocked machine and not telling them, but I appreciate the idea lol. How large my profit per machine is isn't too much of a concern because I'm a high school student living with my parents so basically whatever I make goes for stuff I want to buy and not a family to support. For a customer base I was thinking along the lines of offering a custom machine either low end with a cheap price or full blown with a high price and the reason people would want to choose me over a large company is I can offer personalized customer support, etc. instead of having them feel like they're dealing with a machine instead of a person.
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You could set up a "Planned Maintenance" system where your clients can sign up for a service that will periodically scan their computers for malware, vaccuum the boxes out, and such.
 
Dngrsone said:
You could set up a "Planned Maintenance" system where your clients can sign up for a service that will periodically scan their computers for malware, vaccuum the boxes out, and such.
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Excellent idea... 1-2 month rotation.. 40-60$ each visit (if you did not build the PC)... a little less if you did..
 
dynamite195 said:
I'm not planning on "screwing" people over by selling them an overclocked machine and not telling them, but I appreciate the idea lol. How large my profit per machine is isn't too much of a concern because I'm a high school student living with my parents so basically whatever I make goes for stuff I want to buy and not a family to support. For a customer base I was thinking along the lines of offering a custom machine either low end with a cheap price or full blown with a high price and the reason people would want to choose me over a large company is I can offer personalized customer support, etc. instead of having them feel like they're dealing with a machine instead of a person.
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you can tell them it is overclocked... just mebbe overclock them 300MHz, something safe tho...
 
You must be insured and bonded in case anything goes wrong. If you want to name your company, you have to go to your secretary of state. Computer building/repair/management is a very mature business venture, so you would need to distinguish yourself.

Already, remote management, remote backup, and remote repair are already around everywhere, so you need to think of the next thing people want, or they will go to someone who has the experience.
 
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