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Thinking of Opening a Repair Shop

billdeg

billdeg

Technician
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,885
Location
Landenberg, PA USA
The computer shop around the corner shut down (the guy retired) and there is no one in my area (downtown Wilmington, Delaware) who makes repairs.

There is a parts place within walking distance to my already existing business (web design/programming/ISP). I am thinking of expanding into repairs and computer service. I realize that people often just buy a new computer rather than fix their old one. With the economic situation perhaps this will start to change. Then there are the people who's data is lost and they need recovery etc where a new system will not help them. My office is in a business area with business users, not residential.

So here is my question oh wise board members...
If you had a computer shop near by your work and for whatever reason you did not have the ability or time to fix a system yourself, what services would you or your business colleagues want in a shop? What would be the policy? If you currently own or work for such a shop, do you advise that I run away or dive in? Rent is free, labor is reasonably available (but I have no one in mind yet to hire), the neighborhood is so-so.

Thanks and I will take my response off the air.

Bill
 
I don't run a shop but I know people who do. You would need to specialize in something (upgrades, OS reinstalls, virus/adware removal) and pretty much stick to it. General troubleshooting is only usefull to figuring out what needs replaced (PS/RAM/Motherboard), don't over do it.

Be careful that this side project doesn't take up the time you would spend on the other stuff you do now (I asume you make more money per hour doing that).

As stated by others you need a flat fee just to look at something or you will have tons of people coming in and wasting your time.
 
*If* I didn't run a shop, I would want:

parts availability, even used ones
ability to order things
general maintenance ability
can make housecalls
has something that makes you different and attractive. Mine has classic gaming and that's the theme

I've been running my little place for about 6 months (in some form) and these things I offer, and have had people tell me pretty much this stuff. I don't get wrapped up in contracts, nor third party sponsoring (since they want to own me), and I really do gaming things.

I have found that it isn't what you offer, but how you appear and how happy/friendly things seem. There will always be those that refuse to take me seriously because of the gaming, but that's okay. I still wear the NES belt buckly proudly and have repeat customers.

Lemme tell ya, when you open your doors, people will give you stuff. Lots of stuff. It will all be marginally broken. It will all be workable with some kind of fix. Being a little guy has perks like that.

Nathan
 
If you're doing a repair shop, the store part probably shouldn't get too carried away. It's like car sale lots, it would be a nightmare to predict what you think will sell, stock it, and have it depreciate on your shelves with little interest. That's what has been killing a dude I know's shop for a while although he can order any part and get it in a day or two which was nice.

It's good to have the basic parts for your repairs of course, power supplies, hard drives, cdroms, RAM, other easily replaceable items. Most shops if it's taking more than an hour or two to repair just result in "we recommend an upgrade" and sell you a new system.

For me it's too difficult, I don't like the cost so I won't go to one. I guess that's my biggest peeve that I'd look to cater to. Of course you won't have trouble low balling the corp side, they're something like $90/hr for a high school kid to figure out how to turn on your computer for 2 hours until they tell you it needs to be replaced.

Niche stores of course, offer to repair vintage computers and/or electronics. That'll get some pool for the folks who don't want to upgrade or find value in their existing hardware.

- John
 
Purchasing used mobos, video cards, sound cards,
HDs and reselling them. People who want to upgrade,
would like to save as much as they can, so you can
buy their used one and sell them a new system. Then,
you can sell refurbished systems with 1-2 year warranty.

There is nothing "personal" about todays computers,
they should be treated like appliances....

ziloo
 
Let's see, I have a defective IMSAI front panel that I would rather pay to have fixed than attempt it myself. Thinking a bill of around $200 to get it fixed would not be out of the question. I also hate trying to repair Tandy 1000FD floppy drives. Problem there is the whole thing costs $20. I highly doubt I would fork over $80 - $150 to get the floppy drive repaired. Most of the other vintage stuff falls into the same category. I would likely just buy an entire C128D motherboard rather than attempt ram or video chip repair. So, doesn't sound like there is much of a market there. I noticed John at VintageMicro switched over to Apple stuff instead of S-100, etc. Has to tell you something.
 
What I would want in a shop is the inventory out where I can see it. Soo many places are just a small waiting area with maybe a few monitors and a system setup with all the goodies in the back. A sheet of general pricing for part types so I know if I want something before having the guy at the counter go looking for it. Boxes of used cards where you can dig for one you like all at the same price (I used to like the old computer shows where a few venders had older cards pulled from machines in a basket you could dig into, eveeything being the same price). And consistant pricing, if a specific case is $50 now, $80 in an hour, and $120 tomorrow I will not deal with the vender (pulling prices out their rear depending on how clueless you look).

I like having stuff out under glass with pricing, you might find something you need and not what you actually went there for.
 
NathanAllan said:
*If* I didn't run a shop, I would want:

parts availability, even used ones
ability to order things
general maintenance ability
can make housecalls
has something that makes you different and attractive. Mine has classic gaming and that's the theme

I've been running my little place for about 6 months (in some form) and these things I offer, and have had people tell me pretty much this stuff. I don't get wrapped up in contracts, nor third party sponsoring (since they want to own me), and I really do gaming things.

I have found that it isn't what you offer, but how you appear and how happy/friendly things seem. There will always be those that refuse to take me seriously because of the gaming, but that's okay. I still wear the NES belt buckly proudly and have repeat customers.

Lemme tell ya, when you open your doors, people will give you stuff. Lots of stuff. It will all be marginally broken. It will all be workable with some kind of fix. Being a little guy has perks like that.

Nathan
Click to expand...

yep. i scored dozens of free almost-working computers like that when i worked at a repair shop. many of them pretty damn nice. (P4's, Athlon XP, etc) in fact, my main system which i am typing this on is a 3.4 GHz P4 w/ HT that was given to me there. the power supply was dead, so he upgraded. i replaced the power supply and put a nice 320 GB SATA drive in it. (we made clients take their hard drives no matter what for liability reasons.)

i even was given my BMI XT clone working there. there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. it's currently behind and to the right of me running an IRC quote bot. ;)

i also have boxes of various parts i acquired. a shop only needs so many spares. the manager practically thanked me for taking away a lot of stuff he didn't need.
 
Employers I've worked for in the last 10 years (before becoming a consultant) were all 100+ employee companies, and were located in the business/financial district of cities.
They all used either Dell or Compaq, or the equivalent.
All replaced their equipment every two to four years, and they had service agreements with Dell, and the like.
I never saw anything get sent out for repairs. It was either call Dell and they sent a replacement, or it got junked, and a new one was purchased.

If you are thinking of repairs to older computers, or serving smaller businesses, you may have a shot. I don't think the larger businesses want to wait for, or pay for the repairs.

Hell, I'm a one man band, and I replace my business computers every two years or less. It's not worth getting newer computers repaired when you can replace them, and upgrade at the same time, for a minimal, tax deductible cost.
 
thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'd rather spend the day fixing my own stuff, or learning how to engineer better. Maybe I'll just go to school and get a history degree (with specialization in technology history) instead. I guess you can infer that I am looking for something new to do.
Bill
 
For what its worth,

While finishing my degree I ran my own in-home computer repair business for about a year. I advertised in 1 newspaper, lots of competition. The only overhead i had was gas to drive to and fro. BUT one week I made over $1000, the next 2 weeks I made $50 As soon as possible I got myself hired by a local company (soon to be #1 custom manufacturer of PCs in the US) in fact last friday was my 3 year anniversary, sorry im rambling. Now, back to the point. I love being employed, with stability... but I really loved working for myself... working for myself i never had stability, i was able to provide for my family but just barely and sometimes almost provide... I would say go for it, its a dream I never dared venture, I envy you.
 
It's hard going out on your own. I dream of it and have been taking steps towards it.

My advice: find a niche that nobody else around you does... or very few people do.

I do component level repairs for people on old consoles, computers, and arcade game boards. I also sell IC chips for old systems.

You? Cater to the S in SMB (Small-Medium Business) as that is the market with the fewest resources in-house and the largest market for you.

You'll find the SMB market to be crawling with 2 to 4 year old systems that people will keep if they can fix or upgrade them for a decent price. The reason is that they may be running some old assed software that won't run on a PC with a newer OS - especially if they have older hardware accessories. (Dental offices with intra-oral cameras, folks using dot matrix printers for multi-part forms, etc...)

Run some wanted ads for old systems on Craigslist. Find out who the area PC board recyclers are and make friends with them. Those are EXCELLENT sources for parts that are still viable to help keep those older systems running for your customers.

I used to do this back in the mid-90s and had a cult following by my customers. I took care of them so they could run their business. I was always honest with them and they trusted me. I tried my best to NEVER, EVERY break that trust. The resultant word-of-mouth advertising was priceless.

Virus clean-up is a MUST. So is knowing a good anti-virus and anti-spam software to recommend. (I prefer Trend Micro for AV, but their anti-spam sucks)

If you want to get more money then learn networking and sign up to resell some products. I'm partial to Cisco, but then again, I work there for a day job. ;)

Stay away from new PCs. It's hard to compete with Dell and the mail-order folks. Heck, you might even be able still to sign up with Dell and resell their stuff for a small margin which would allow you to pawn off simple software calls to their tech support. ;) New hardware lends itself to lots of phone calls to you. Repairs typically don't.
 
I own a PC shop here in town. Been there nearly 7 years now.

We do everything from PC upgrades and repairs to new builds as well as buy and sell computers.

90% of our business is doing clean restores on computers... you wouldn't believe how many people we get that have been using their PC on the brink of death till it finally crashes!

There are many mistakes I see PC shops make. First off, don't pile used junk everywhere. Apprearance is HUGE and you don't want people thinking the place is full of trash. Buy some new stock or if you do display used items buy some Magic Erasers and go to town with them. Paint brushes are good for dust too.

Another mistake is pricing things way too high. Too many times I've walked into a store and have seen a PIII system with a $200 price tag. Yes, I know you had to replace the hard drive/RAM/PSU and reload Windows... but it's worth $50.

What we do for used PC's and monitors is have a few connections to the local electronics scrap yards. One guy we go to has a steady stream of IBM T30/T42/R50/etc laptops as well as nice HP D510 SFF desktops and 17" LCD monitors. Expect to pay $25 or so per PC/monitor. Clean them up, reload em fresh, and put em up for sale!

I'm kinda rambling on. If you need any ideas, just let me know!
 
Thanks again for the great advice and perspective. I think I am going to go for it.

There is a large condo complex opening up next door to my building and as I said before the guy who was running a PC repair/sales shop a block away has just retired. There is room for this kind of business in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. Nothing ventured!

Bill
 
Last edited:
billdeg said:
Thanks again for the great advice and perspective. I think I am going to go for it.

There is a large condo complex opening up next door to my building and as I said before the guy who was running a PC repair/sales shop a block away has just retired. There is room for this kind of business in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. Nothing ventured!

Bill
Click to expand...

Good luck. Hope you are successful.

Tez
 
Definitely be sure to carry vintage games, unless there's a shop that does that already. It'll bring more people in.

Good luck! Something else, use craigslist, people look at it a lot!
 
I'd have to disagree with stocking inventory.

It ties up capital and the warranty is ticking away.

Since I DO run a computer repair operation, any inventory coming in is "on-demand" since I can get it from my suppliers the next day.

If you are going to run a repair shop, then do that, if you are going to run a computer store, then do THAT.

Even if you get the stuff on net 30, chances are slim that you would move everything in 30 days, inventory-wise, and anything you have for too long will become obsolete and you'll be lucky to get back what you paid for it (don't forget to include shipping in that figure).

I strictly repair and will supply parts and systems on-demand. No matter how much of a item you inventory, you won't be able to beat Big-Box outfits with their regional purchasing power and volume discounts.

Just an opinion from someone that is there.
 
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