Have some free time coming up and looking to make some extra cash. I do pretty much any computer or electronics work and will do it all for $40 labor except for a few things (i.e. motherboard replacement) which will run $60 for labor.

Virus removal
Cleanup/optimize
Recover files
Backup and reinstall/reimage OS
All hardware repair on all platforms
Domain hosting
Home A/V install or reconfigure
Custom Desktop builds

I also do website design starting at $200.

Just send me a PM if interested.

4/12/2011 2:15:31 PM

What about iPods? (not the Touch)

Got a red circle/X and can't get it into disk mode

4/12/2011 9:27:57 PM

Quote :

"I also do shitty website design starting at $200."

real web devs fucking hate your kind

4/12/2011 9:46:25 PM

^ not sure why you misquoted me or why they hate me.

^^ i'll be happy to look at it for free and if i fix it then $40 if not then free

4/12/2011 11:58:44 PM

Without starting a pissing match, pricing like that for web design takes the work I and others do for a living and devalues it dramatically. Undercutting market rates sets the customer's expectation unreasonably low.

If you are going to do web design work, research market rates and offer your services closer to market rates. Do not undercut an entire profession's pricing to satisfy your hobbyist resume.

4/13/2011 12:32:35 AM

Can you do a "reflow" on a laptop video card? I'm not even sure that's what it needs, but I'm pretty sure it's the video card that's fucked up on my wife's laptop. Gateway will fix it for $199+tax+shipping, but I'd like to get it done for cheaper so I can sell it at used price on eBay (~$425) vs scrap price (~$130).

4/13/2011 3:15:04 AM

Quote :

"pricing like that for web design takes the work I and others do for a living and devalues it dramatically."

if your webdev skills are really that good, then your portfolio should sell itself. quit crying just because there are people out there that'll be satisfied with a shitty website.

4/13/2011 10:15:25 AM

I have to kind of agree. I mean look at music. There are people out there who "record" for dirt cheap. It gets the job done and the kind of clients they get are their target market. People looking for something quick and dirty.

You also have people that charge quite a lot per hour that actually know how to use the nice equipment they have and actually do produce as well (providing a lot of useful ideas and feedback besides just doing the job). There is a market for both and the markets don't really overlap. The person looking to record 30 minutes of music over a weekend for $200 wasn't considering spending a few thousand bucks to record with Jamie King in the first place.

[Edited on April 13, 2011 at 11:02 AM. Reason : .]

4/13/2011 10:59:28 AM

Just real quick:

Quote :

"if your webdev skills are really that good, then your portfolio should sell itself."

Web development is not web design.

4/13/2011 11:08:36 AM

Quote :

"quit crying just because there are people out there that'll be satisfied with a shitty website."

that's not the issue.

the issue is people want a great website for shitty quality prices because people do work for shitty prices.


You guys are engineers - what would you say if you lost out on a job because someone offered to build a circuit or a bridge for a tenth of what you know it would take to build said item properly? You'd flip your shit. You'd argue that there's no way that makes sense, and that they'd just have to re-do the work anyway. Just because the field is slightly different doesn't detract from the need for amateurs to not undercut professionals, and I'm well within my right to tell this dude to take a little bit more pride in his work and charge the market rate.



And God's honest truth, if the dude doesn't take pride in it enough to charge a proper price, then he shouldn't be doing it.

4/13/2011 11:12:24 AM

I think it just depends on the scope of the work. Like I said, in most cases the person seeking out the $200 website doesn't have the demands or scope that require the much more expensive and professional service.

And unfortunately engineering is getting undercut by the Asian engineering market at the moment so I can sympathize there and I agree that the prices they quote don't make sense (and if you competitively review their bids they are missing a lot of important equipment processes etc. to get to their price). Unfortunately these companies that pick the low bidder will learn the hard way that either time (lost revenue) or cost through change orders will bite them in the end. The problem with that example though is that someone is coming with complex problems and bidding a world-renowned EPC company versus low bidders. Companies that don't have the expertise to do it in the first place. However, if someone wants to build a Holiday Inn, they are stupid if they come to my company because it is just too simple, basic, and we will be too expensive for them. They are better off going with some local construction contractor who specializes in simple residential/commercial jobs. (ie the $200 job companies).

When I imagine someone looking at a $200 website, I'm thinking it's your local guitar teacher who just needs a basic "about me" "contact me" "links to my youtube lessons" "lesson calendar" type site. It's not a local business looking for a professional site like you would probably do.

I don't work as a professional web designer (I have done websites on the side over the years) of course so what I know is limited about the market professionally, but I just don't know how much the markets really overlap. In almost every market there is a need for cheap and a need for expensive/high class without much competition. Sure you will have the occasional client who doesn't understand the difference but we're talking outliers here.

[Edited on April 13, 2011 at 11:39 AM. Reason : .]

4/13/2011 11:34:42 AM

I agree with what others have said. It all depends on what type of pages he is actually designing. Now if he is building webpages similar to what professionals do then you have an argument. If he is doing this for small businesses or whatnot that simply want a web prescence and arent looking for anything flashy and dont plan to pay for that then I dont see the problem here.

4/13/2011 11:36:12 AM

Quote :

"The person looking to record 30 minutes of music over a weekend for $200 wasn't considering spending a few thousand bucks to record with Jamie King in the first place."

Yep. Everybody knows you get what you pay for. Just like a $1200 car is going to be nicer than a $200 car, I'm sure everyone can say the same for websites. And yeah, basic web design doesn't take a web developer, it all depends on what functionality the buyer wants. Susie homemaker doesn't need a $1200 site to put up a page where she can blog about her kids.

Quote :

"When I imagine someone looking at a $200 website, I'm thinking it's your local guitar teacher who just needs a basic "about me" "contact me" "links to my youtube lessons" "lesson calendar" type site. It's not a local business looking for a professional site like you would probably do."

+1

4/13/2011 11:36:43 AM

What determines a "shitty" website to a "great" website? If it's presentable, customer friendly, eye appealing and gets the marketing done, why spend $1000 so you can have an "engineer" design a site. Get off your high horse man, It's called free enterprise. If you are that good, you'll get your market.

4/13/2011 11:39:45 AM

One of the other major issues is that people still treat websites like it's 1998 - no website then? No problem. No website now? No credibility. A shitty site now? No credibility.



The markets don't overlap, because there is one market, period. Small businesses need the same sort of quality that you see from larger businesses in order to stay competitive, because they're now sharing the same space. The internet by default lumps all of those companies together. You start talking about things like SEO - which I loathe but is a necessary evil - and you've got Joe Bob's Widget shop in Clayton wondering why he's not the #1 result for Widgets in Clayton on Google. You can't provide the amount of work needed to build someone a quality site for $200 - and if you are doing that work for that price, then you're doing it at slave labor prices. Things have changed dramatically in the field in just the past 5 years. "Small site for mom and pop" just doesn't cut it anymore.




Honestly it doesn't surprise me that you guys don't understand, though. The field is new enough that people like me have to evangelize it. And please note that I'm not taking issue with dude who wants to teach guitar on the side - but there's avenues for that sort of self-promotion (Craigslist, for example). But if he's making a career out of it, then there's a serious need to spend money so that he doesn't look like a hack.

[Edited on April 13, 2011 at 11:45 AM. Reason : .]

4/13/2011 11:42:01 AM

I guess it depends on your target audience as well. Most of us fall under that category of if I goto your website and it looks like a geocities or angelfire site I am moving on without even bothering. Older or non tech savvy folks all seem to dislike anything other than a basic plain jane looking website because much more than that and they are lost haha. Good arguments on both sides of this one.

4/13/2011 11:50:21 AM

Quote :

"One of the other major issues is that people still treat websites like it's 1998 - no website then? No problem. No website now? No credibility. A shitty site now? No credibility. The markets don't overlap, because there is one market, period. Small businesses need the same sort of quality that you see from larger businesses in order to stay competitive, because they're now sharing the same space. The internet by default lumps all of those companies together. You start talking about things like SEO - which I loathe but is a necessary evil - and you've got Joe Bob's Widget shop in Clayton wondering why he's not the #1 result for Widgets in Clayton on Google. You can't provide the amount of work needed to build someone a quality site for $200 - and if you are doing that work for that price, then you're doing it at slave labor prices. Things have changed dramatically in the field in just the past 5 years. "Small site for mom and pop" just doesn't cut it anymore. Honestly it doesn't surprise me that you guys don't understand, though. The field is new enough that people like me have to evangelize it. And please note that I'm not taking issue with dude who wants to teach guitar on the side - but there's avenues for that sort of self-promotion (Craigslist, for example). But if he's making a career out of it, then there's a serious need to spend money so that he doesn't look like a hack. "

So you have all of your car repairs done at dealers, have only fully licensed repairmen do all home repairs/fixes, and only eat at 4 star restaurants? If not you are undercutting the professionals.

4/13/2011 11:56:06 AM

Quote :

"Without starting a pissing match, pricing like that for web design takes the work I and others do for a living and devalues it dramatically. Undercutting market rates sets the customer's expectation unreasonably low."

If he really is "undercutting," then he'll be flooded with business and won't be able to keep up with the workload. If his web development skills are not up to par, then he isn’t undercutting at all, he’s providing a comparatively lower quality service for a lower price.

Your point here could be applied to all of the other services he's providing. I guarantee any established computer repair service is going to charge twice as much as this guy if not more, but as someone that is working solo, he can afford to charge less, since he's got less overhead. He doesn't have the reputation or the brand, and he might not have the same skills, but this is what entrepreneurship is about: lowering the price in order to sell your labor and building on it.

[Edited on April 13, 2011 at 12:00 PM. Reason : ]

4/13/2011 11:56:26 AM

That's bullshit. You don't get to decide what people "need" in any field no matter how cutting edge and vital you think your over saturated industry is.

If your quality and services are top notch and truly vital, than you should have a reputation and a strong pitch for why your prices are worth it.

If you're fresh market you don't bitch about food lion having cheaper and lower quality apples. If you're BMW you don't bitch about Honda having cheaper and less sophisticated cars. You put out a good product and convince consumers you're worth the price.

4/13/2011 12:05:03 PM

^^^ Not the same, and that's an extremely weak argument. You're arguing manual labor versus skilled trade. Any greasemonkey can read a manual and replace a car part.


^^ Yes, it could very well be. But again, it's the same argument ^ posed. Replacing a part isn't hard, so charging twice what he does for those services would be overcharging.


^ Again, since you're an engineer, and engineers tend to have this massive chip on their shoulder when it comes to anything that's not engineering, I'll point to the previous example I made. Wasting people's time with shit products does nothing to improve the industry. You wouldn't trust a cheaply made bridge, so why should you trust a cheaply made website?

4/13/2011 12:13:35 PM

Quote :

"Replacing a part isn't hard, so charging twice what he does for those services would be overcharging."

Pretty sure the scope of what he's offering for $40 is way outside of simply changing a part. Shops would charge way more for what he's offering

Quote :

"engineers tend to have this massive chip on their shoulder when it comes to anything that's not engineering"

yep that's exactly whats going on here

[Edited on April 13, 2011 at 12:19 PM. Reason : moar]

4/13/2011 12:14:14 PM

^^It's not a weak argument at all because your job can be done half a world away for a quarter of the cost.

You're just full of shit. Admit it.

4/13/2011 12:16:55 PM

so in conclusion, absolutely nobody agrees with kiljadn

4/13/2011 12:18:49 PM

More like: So in conclusion, engineers sneer at anything they don't do for a living and oversimplify it



i haven't gone into the psychology and proven methods that make worthwhile design (and development, because that's important too) a selling point, because obviously those points would be lost on most everyone in this thread - they've come in with some preconceived notion that anyone can build a website, and that $200 is a fair price


yes, anyone can write code

making it look good, having it communicate a solid purpose, convert viewers into customers, and be a solid return on investment takes more than just shitting out an HTML/PHP/ASP file.

[Edited on April 13, 2011 at 12:19 PM. Reason : .]

4/13/2011 12:19:24 PM

Re: Engineering analogy -

in engineering if someone finds a cheaper way to do something, as long as function and reliability are not sacrificed, the solution will be welcomed.

when defining a "proper" website, you're being subjective because the success of it has yet to be determined. just look at the guy who made a million dollars with that "buy a pixel" idea.

Quote :

"Small businesses need the same sort of quality that you see from larger businesses in order to stay competitive, because they're now sharing the same space."

yeah, but its the client's responsibility to stay competitive, not yours. if their $200 website is getting them great business, then they have succeeded, regardless of how fancy it looks or how much time it took for the guy to develop it.

4/13/2011 12:19:54 PM

Quote :

"they've come in with some preconceived notion that anyone can build a website, and that $200 is a fair price"

And that's what you call a strawman argument.

Nobody is saying that.

All we're saying is for susie homemaker to blog about her kids, a $200 site will work fine. For an avon rep who just wants her picture and contact info, a $200 site will do just fine.

4/13/2011 12:21:27 PM

first off, thanks for ruining my for hire thread to bitch about how much better you are than me.

secondly, i said starting at $200. i have done websites for over $1,000 but never over $1,500.

I don't see the problem with doing a $200 website like this:

http://bellaimaging.net/

i did that for $200 + 2 dinners + 1 bottle of jack for a friend of a friend.

I already own everything needed to have webhosting so i do that for $40/year which makes me $20 and pays whatever domain fees and what not.

As far as the rest of the work, especially the hardware, i'm very good and have been managing a electronics repair center for over 4 years and am HP, Apple, and Microsoft MCITP certified.

Lastly, All i want to do is make some extra cash because i am going to vegas this summer for my bachelor party and would like to have the extra money to spend on booze and food.

I guess now i'll make another thread that will eventually get trolled im sure.

4/13/2011 12:21:44 PM