Even for the experienced, estimating a new IT maintenance job can be difficult. You want to make a healthy profit; but you don’t want to price yourself out of the running.
We’ve created this simple 7 step guide to pricing IT maintenance jobs to help you stay both competitive and profitable!
Step 1 – On Site Visit
Don’t just take the customer’s word for the work that needs to be done! Visit the site for yourself to see exactly what’s required. How old the hardware is, what software is being run, how it’s being used and how it’s currently being maintained, and even how tech-savvy the users are can all influence the rate you’ll need to charge… And if there’s a lot of on-site support required, you’ll want to factor in travel costs and time, too.
Step 2 – Estimate the Workload
Now that you know exactly what needs to be maintained you can start to work out how much time and resources the project will require from you.
As well as your own time and expertise (or that of anyone on your team who will be delivering support) you’ll want to consider factors such as whether you’ll need to
keep spare hardware on hand for emergencies.
Step 3 – Estimate the Cost of Delivery
With all the time and resource details nailed down, you can apply your pricing model to determine what it will cost you to deliver the level of support and maintenance required.
The cost of your labor, your time, and other expenses like travel and hardware supplies should all be factored into your final cost estimate.
Step 4 – Include Your Marketing Costs
Remember that actually delivering the IT maintenance service is only part of your cost of doing business. If you had to spend money on marketing and advertising to generate the lead, then that’s a cost you’ll want to factor into your estimate.
Step 5 – Leave Room for Profit!
There are a number of factors that will determine what profit markup you add to your estimate. How established your business is, what reputation you have in the market, how many other businesses are competing for the job.
Ideally, you’ll want to allow at least a 20-30% markup to ensure you remain profitable, even if you occur a few unforeseen costs here and there.
Step 6 – Make Your Final Calculation
The total of all your costs, plus your markup, will give you the final price you put to the customer.
Step 7 – Make It Specific!
A monthly price of exactly $800 looks “made up”. Potential clients will assume you’ve rounded your price up. A monthly cost of $812.67 looks like you’ve calculated exactly what the job will price. It’s a small detail, but it can make a difference!
Billwaze 