Starting A Computer Repair Shop

[skrillet]

I am starting the process of setting up a computer repair shop in my town. I am currently looking at buildings to lease. I would like the communities opinions on a few things I am not sure about.

1) What is the best distro of linux for pc and mac repair? I am not sure if I should use a live cd or set up a dedicated machine and just remove the hard drives and connect them to it.

2) I am not really sure on a good price list for services.

3)What is a good cheap screen capturing software on Windows to make demos for customers?

4)Will I need to get all my certifications or does the end user really not care?

3)Where can I find books to study to become Apple Certified Macintosh Technician because there is not a Apple Authorized Service Provider in my town and I would have the market cornered?

4)I would also appreciate any other advice anyone has.

Thank You

[BlueWyvern]

Well I can't answer all your questions but

2.) check out your competition... best buy or what have you to see what their prices are for things and make yours either cheaper or about the same, keep in mind if it's just you that you can charge whatever you personally want to make while keeping in mind any overhead (rent for the building etc etc) but if you have multiple employees figure them into the equation... dealerships for example will pay a mechanic $13 dollars an hour, and their cheapest service is approximately around $50, you put part away into the employee's pay and the rest goes to profit/overhead.

3-1.) If you are wanting to make demo videos to show things off or simulate a virus or what have you, You can get camtasia but it is $299. I am sure others exist that could be much cheaper if not free. *ninja edit* Alternatives to Camtasia

3-2.) Start with your local book store or bn.com for apple certification, if no results are found there contact apple directly. This may be what you are looking for.

4-1.) People don't care if you are certified for computer repair as long as you have and keep a good reputation and can offer a better price than the competition. If you plan to do business to business services they may want to see/know if you are certified.

4-2.) I don't know about the area you are in but where I am small computer shops have a bum rap because of incidents where people were dropping computers off for repair, given a claim ticket and return in a week only to be told some blatant lie about how their computer is not here and someone else picked it up or they had a break in the previous night, etc etc. When in reality the owner gutted the PC and sold it for parts or built new machines from it... Trust me, It's happened and at more than 1 computer shop.

Hope this helps.

Edited May 7, 2010 by BlueWyvern

[Infiltrator]

4-2.) I don't know about the area you are in but where I am small computer shops have a bum rap because of incidents where people were dropping computers off for repair, given a claim ticket and return in a week only to be told some blatant lie about how their computer is not here and someone else picked it up or they had a break in the previous night, etc etc. When in reality the owner gutted the PC and sold it for parts or built new machines from it... Trust me, It's happened and at more than 1 computer shop.

Hope this helps.

Have they been prosecuted for doing that?

[joeypesci]

It maybe cheaper to hire a small van and go on the road. If you hired a mini van you could even, possible setup inside the van. So you pick up the PC from the persons place, either take it home and repair or repair it in the van. That way, you don't have to pay rent for the store.

If you then become big, you can get a store.