Resolved Job Time Allowance

In the automotive industry the manufacturers have published times required for all repair tasks when it comes to repairing or replacing a part on any model that they produce. This way dealers and repair shops can establish time lines to repair your car with which they can base rates with which to pay their staff and charge their customers.

I was wondering, does anything like this exist in the computer industry (if so, I have not seen it)?

Has IBM or Dell determined how long it should take to replace a hard drive or add a memory module or replace a laptop CPU fan, etc., etc.?

If so, it would be invaluable for establishing estimated labor rates that we could portray to our clients or base staff payment rates on.

Any insight or thoughts on the idea?

 

I doubt very much whether any Electronics Manufacturer would let you know that detail.
Most Dealer Designated Repair Shops will undertake to investigate the problem on the understanding that you pay them a set fee up front - then if you are still standing after they quote the cost of repairs - they will use your deposit/examination fee as part of the overall cost if/when you agree to continue with said repairs.
We didn't do that in my time in the Motor Industry, but I think they do now.

Most of the set charges for service in the Motor Industry were grossly inflated eg; 10,000km service would be CHECKING security of bolts/nuts and fittings with a set charge of $150.00. Usually involved about ½-¾hr and materials were extra!

I used to do these service checks for clients at TOTAL TIME cost = $30-$45!
It recently cost me $55.00 upfront for a warranty claim on a faulty DVD unit.
Cheers Neil.

 

Just saw this Advert:
Scan & clean virus & install Norton Internet Security 2010 1 U 3PC Pack
3.6 hours $494.00

Scan & clean virus & Install NIS 1 user. 3.2 hours $179.00.

NIS cost deduct then you can figure labour charge. Neil.

 

Nice work if you can get it.... mind you, one would have to work with NIS...

In North America the auto manufacturers publish standard times to do a job. This is to tear down and replace any part on a vehicle. As an example, on a car I owned last year the "time required" to replace the right front shock absorber was 90 minutes. It took the dealer's mechanic almost 3 hours for whatever reason. The bill was only for 90 minutes though. Thank goodness it was under warranty.

 

I've never seen one and I've been an electronics technician for almost 40 years. The reason why is cars are mostly mechanical and mechanical procedures are pretty easy to time and figure out how long, on average, they should take to get done. Mechanical problems are, for the most part, easier to troubleshoot too. And today's cars, with more computing power on-board than went to the moon, will report to the mechanic what is wrong - making troubleshooting that much easier - with some exceptions of course.

With electronics, there are many things that can cause something not to work and so troubleshooting problems is typically the most challenging and time consuming as the technician must work his or her way through a list (made up as the problem presents itself) of the most common to most obscure likely causes, which then must be eliminated one by one. In electronics, it typically is easy to fix the problem, taking only a few scant minutes, or even seconds to replace the part - it is determining what part needs to be replaced that is the challenge.

I suppose someone could come up with a list of standard procedures such as adding RAM, adding a hard drive, cleaning a case, replacing an inverter, but there's just not that many to mess with. And when I think about it, most folks don't just add a 2nd drive, they want to replace the boot drive, and while it takes about 2 minutes to physically swap it in, it can take many hours to move the data, OS, and programs, then test it to make sure it works. And I always blast out the interior of any machine that comes my way, and sometimes that is easy, but if the user smokes and/or has pets especially cats, cleaning can be a real PITA.

Everybody always wants a free estimate before work begins. But with broken electronics, that is really hard to do because you have to troubleshoot to make an estimate. And once you've done the troubleshooting, you've done the majority of the work - for free. This is why many shops charge for estimates, and then credit that charge to the bill if the work is done there.

An hour and a half lunch!

 

Thanks for the replies.. all good information.

I have established rates for routine procedures such as a clean up and OS re-installation all with the caveat that excludes unforeseeable problems, for which I charge base a labour rate of $70/hour.

It might be wort a poll to see what rates BBS members charge for various services.

 

Bill you laid it out spot on. What you are inferring to is the need for a Diagnostic Procedure to follow.
As my job in the Motor Industry (NZ) involved training Automotive Technicians, I found the biggest problem was getting them to stick to the Diagnostic Tree.
Jumping about looking at various things eventually cost more time. Having the right tools for the job and the knowledge to use them was another problem area.
One of the biggest hassles in electronics, is that there are so many of the parts that are replaced as a unit and therefore costing a job (which seems small) becomes expensive.
Technologies rapid advances also make a lot of parts obsolete and gets way ahead of our pockets.
Even in the Motor Industry, components are becoming non-serviceable. Neil.

 

No doubt. When I was in tech school, we started with the Atomic Theory, free electrons in outer shells, reading schematics, and how to troubleshoot down to the discrete component with sophisticated test equipment. Then we spent a solid two weeks learning how to use a soldering iron on multi-layered boards. And, in fact, 25 years ago, we used to repair motherboards because they cost too much to replace. Today, if the graphics card fails, you replace the card. If the motherboard fails, you replace the board. Even if you had the training and skills to troubleshoot and repair a motherboard, it is not likely a schematic has been published so you could troubleshoot it.

Of course this is good for the consumer because computer prices are so cheap. The only downside is all the damage to the environment as all these precious metals and other toxic wastes ends up in landfills, if not consciously recycled.

That said, on cars, instead of getting cheaper and cheaper, the prices keep getting higher and higher, in part because the whole assembly must be replaced.