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Should i charge Family and friends for my services.....

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  • Hardware & Software
Last response: in Opinions and Experiences
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August 6, 2014 11:10:12 AM

Hi guys my first post.
My question is should I charge family and friends for my services ?, now I am not a certified pc engineer but I have family and friends that come to me if there is a problem with a pc Hardware/software side of things, I`d feel selfish asking for payment but when you spend hours, days on a pc it feels to me I`m offering a genuine service and as I have a family my time is important to me. I appreciate you`re responses and many thanks in advance

mark

More about : charge family friends services

August 6, 2014 11:20:05 AM

For sure, you can ask for a little bit for all of your time and help.
I got about $90 AUD for building 2 of my friends PC's. :) 
Most people will try and get away with not giving you anything, but if you kindly ask they're usually happy to give you something.
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August 6, 2014 11:24:30 AM

you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service
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August 6, 2014 11:26:37 AM

patrichpachich said:
you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service


What about if its a girlfriends family member ?
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August 6, 2014 11:28:22 AM

mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service


What about if its a girlfriends family member ?


Definitely ask for something! You can't be expected to take time to help out a girlfriends family member without some sort of incentive to do so. :) 
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August 6, 2014 11:32:07 AM

Alex Kelly said:
mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service


What about if its a girlfriends family member ?


Definitely ask for something! You can't be expected to take time to help out a girlfriends family member without some sort of incentive to do so. :) 


for me its ok
if my girlfriend ask for it, ill cost her a sweet thing LOL

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August 6, 2014 11:32:53 AM

Hahahaha.
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August 6, 2014 11:33:37 AM

mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service


What about if its a girlfriends family member ?


Depends on how good a girlfriend it is.
Minimum - 12 pack of your favorite beverage, and their time. They can watch/help you fix it, so that they can do it next time.
More complicated fix? Money.
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August 6, 2014 11:35:00 AM

patrichpachich said:
Alex Kelly said:
mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service


What about if its a girlfriends family member ?


Definitely ask for something! You can't be expected to take time to help out a girlfriends family member without some sort of incentive to do so. :) 


for me its ok
if my girlfriend ask for it, ill cost her a sweet thing LOL


Totally agree we been together 9 years and live with each other but her family come to me for all computer related issues and was just really at the stage of wondering if I should charge after 9 years of them getting my help for free :) 
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August 6, 2014 11:44:52 AM

mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
Alex Kelly said:
mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service


What about if its a girlfriends family member ?


Definitely ask for something! You can't be expected to take time to help out a girlfriends family member without some sort of incentive to do so. :) 


for me its ok
if my girlfriend ask for it, ill cost her a sweet thing LOL


Totally agree we been together 9 years and live with each other but her family come to me for all computer related issues and was just really at the stage of wondering if I should charge after 9 years of them getting my help for free :) 


you know
i feel the same. i am a digital/manual artist, i do portraits and some other artstuff. my relatives, friends ,Co-Officemates and Gf's relatives asking for a free digital portraits.. the thing is they thought its just simple editing photo and i can do it even close my eyes, it discourages me. for portrait i spent 5-10hrs and give them the softcopy just for $50-$100
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August 6, 2014 11:59:10 AM

patrichpachich said:
mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
Alex Kelly said:
mark-11234 said:
patrichpachich said:
you are the only one that can answer that
but we can give you an advice
set your limitations and choose wisely who you should give free service, i think your parents and siblings are the only one that deserves a free service


What about if its a girlfriends family member ?


Definitely ask for something! You can't be expected to take time to help out a girlfriends family member without some sort of incentive to do so. :) 


for me its ok
if my girlfriend ask for it, ill cost her a sweet thing LOL


Totally agree we been together 9 years and live with each other but her family come to me for all computer related issues and was just really at the stage of wondering if I should charge after 9 years of them getting my help for free :) 


you know
i feel the same. i am a digital/manual artist, i do portraits and some other artstuff. my relatives, friends ,Co-Officemates and Gf's relatives asking for a free digital portraits.. the thing is they thought its just simple editing photo and i can do it even close my eyes, it discourages me. for portrait i spent 5-10hrs and give them the softcopy just for $50-$100


That is the correct wording for how I feel after 2-3 days work on a pc (discouraged) now don't get me wrong a thank you goes a very long way but after 2-3 days of work it sways me to actually ask for payment but in a certain way I feel though its wrong
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August 6, 2014 12:18:33 PM

i am my family's go to tech-head as well.

do i charge? that all depends on what i need to fix and whom it is for.

parents or siblings: i do not charge them as we exchange favor for favor and help for help. in some cases they will buy dinner.
friends: i do not charge them however typically they will buy me dinner
distant relatives: i trade favor for favor with a guy who repairs tvs/electronics since he can fix my stuff and i charge a reasonable fee to the rest.

generally i prefer exchanging favors over cash with my own family however for distant relatives, cousins or friends of friends i'd ask for either cash or at least a mealticket depending on how hard the fix is.

if you are close to the people and feel that they will help you out when you need it if you help them out then i would trade favor for favor.
if you are not close to them or if they will not or cannot help you then charge them a modest fee.

at minimum as usafret stated they should either buy you dinner or buy you a sixpack if you help them out on something. in cases where its going to take you a few days to fix, they should give you something worth your time.

however it is your choice alone to make on how you want to deal with them. we can only say how we personally deal with things and what our opinions are.
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Anonymous
August 11, 2014 6:37:57 PM

Anyone here ever watch The Dark Knight? The Joker said it best: "If you are good at something never do it for free." Words to live by.
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August 11, 2014 6:52:38 PM

then i do suppose we should charge you for build advice on your amd thread, yes?

its fine to say such things but remember that it applies to you as well when you want a favor from others.

just some words of wisdom :) 
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August 11, 2014 9:42:57 PM

ssddx said:

its fine to say such things but remember that it applies to you as well when you want a favor from others.



that is totally correct
and i never watch batman movies, even im a fan of Christopher Nolan
i love marvel
just sayin LOL

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Anonymous
August 11, 2014 10:34:29 PM

ssddx said:
then i do suppose we should charge you for build advice on your amd thread, yes?

its fine to say such things but remember that it applies to you as well when you want a favor from others.

just some words of wisdom :) 


If I had to pay for the bad advice given here most of the time, I would delete my account and never return. Most folks haven't the experience to talk about things they claim to know. And advice is free, actually DOING a thing, that'll cost.
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August 12, 2014 11:36:09 PM

It's give and take. Have your family members, friends, lover did any favor for you yet? If you been helping them for a long time and they never done any favor for you, it's time for you to charge them.
And yes, I believed that if they only requested you 1-2 times, you should totally do it for free (unless it's stranger)
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August 12, 2014 11:55:15 PM

You shouldn't charge your family if you want them to respect you and have good opinion about you, if they would want to give you money they will, and for friends yes why not, obviously do discount.
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August 13, 2014 7:45:03 AM

^ Any family member that would look down on you for asking for a little something for doing them a favour (if they never do you any) isn't one worth seeing much. If they do a lot for you however, you shouldn't ask for anything. :) 
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!