How should I charge them?

[Jackthemeangiant]

I am currently working as a summer student at small office, and they want to hire me as their computer IT guy in the fall. I am returning to school full time in the fall, so I think what they had in mind is just to call me when they had a problem, then I would come in and help them.

Now, how should I charge them for this? Should I contract them for a set amount? Charge by the hour? If by the hour, then what is the going rate for one site service?

[Mouse]

Andyman might be of some help in this area.

I, as an amateur in this area, would think you should get a monthly fee for being on-call, plus a predetermined hourly rate when called in.

[Deb]

How is that going to work when it's likely that you'll be in school during their hours of operation? You can't charge them a service contract unless you can guarantee you'll be there within a pre-determined time frame.

[Jackthemeangiant]

How is that going to work when it's likely that you'll be in school during their hours of operation? You can't charge them a service contract unless you can guarantee you'll be there within a pre-determined time frame.

I will have to talk to them about it, but I should have at least 1 day a week off, and most days I should be done by 1pm'ish.

[dbusguy]

They open their doors at 9 and the computer crashes at 9:30.....they're not going to wait till you get out of school to then travel over to fix the computer.

Make sure they realize what your availability is and that they'll have to wait for you. You don't want a misunderstanding on the first service call.

[Quintin]

I will have to talk to them about it, but I should have at least 1 day a week off, and most days I should be done by 1pm'ish.
you'll have to talk to the computers and tell them only break down on your day off