[?] Subscribe To This Site

Computer Home Businesses: Start a Computer Installation and Maintenance Business

Computer home businesses can be profitable for people with experience and strong computer skills. Along with outsourcing of formally lucrative chief information officer jobs, large companies and firms have shifted from small computer service firms to more corporate, better-branded service providers such as Geek Squad.

Yet there is still a great amount of business for computer technicians who are willing to develop a sound processing structure and service smaller, but ever-needy businesses with a computer network. There is no longer the same lucrative markups on equipment and sales, most computer installation and network maintenance companies will develop specification for new systems and equipment, source the computers peripherals at companies like Dell and HP, add a small markup for their planning and purchasing time, and make the bigger portion of their revenue on the time in the installation. Once a business has acquired the equipment from a systems provider, they are likely to purchase a monthly maintenance contract to make sure the system stays in perfect running condition and all updates are properly downloaded on a regular and timely basis.

It is helpful to have a technical or academic degree in computer science, but it is by no means required. Many of today’s computer technicians come from a wide variety of background and fell into the field by taking some indirect route.

What you need to know about this business

The startup costs are between $275 and $500.

The estimated first-year revenue is between $40,000 and $50,000.

The average rate charged is $125 per hour. Another price option that many IT companies use it graduate scale of rates based on window of response time. For example if a customer wants a guaranteed response within 24 hours, the hourly rate to $150.