The first conversation
Twenty minutes on the phone, or a coffee if you are in town. You describe the symptom. I ask a handful of boring questions. It costs nothing and it ends with you knowing whether this is even a job worth doing.
A-03 · Method and rates
A price before I start, in writing.
There is no discovery call that turns into a proposal that turns into a retainer. There is a conversation, a look at what you have, a number, and then the work. If the number changes, you hear it from me before it happens, not on the invoice.
01
How a job goes
Five stages, no surprises
A look at what you actually have
For anything beyond a single fix, I come and see it. Half of small business technology problems are not the thing people think they are, and nobody can quote honestly on a description over the phone.
A number, in writing
A fixed price where the job allows one. An hourly estimate with a ceiling where it does not. What is included, what is not, and what I would leave alone for now. You approve it before anything starts.
The work
Scheduled around you. Evenings and weekends where a shutdown would cost you money, at no extra charge. If I hit something unexpected, you get a phone call before I spend your money on it, not an explanation afterwards.
The drawing, and the keys
One page: what is plugged into what, which accounts exist, who pays for them, when they renew. Then I show you how to check the backup yourself, hand over every password, and go away until you want me again.
02
What it costs
Published in full · GST extra
Everybody else makes you ask.
Rates are on the page because hiding them only ever benefits the person hiding them. These are the real numbers, and they are the same numbers whether you have three staff or thirty.
| Item | Basis | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| First conversation | No charge | Free | Twenty minutes or so. You are not on the hook for anything afterwards. |
| Remote work | Hourly | $125 / hr | Billed to the nearest fifteen minutes after the first hour. Most small fixes land well under an hour. |
| On-site work | Hourly | $125 / hr | Same rate as remote. Travel included within 40 km of Mission, which covers Abbotsford, Maple Ridge and most of Chilliwack. |
| Half day block | Four hours | $450 | For a planned batch of work. Cheaper than four hours at the hourly rate. |
| Full day block | Eight hours | $850 | Migrations, office moves, and the sort of tidy-up that is easier done in one pass. |
| Fixed-price job | Quoted | By quote | Where the work is well defined, you get one number and it does not move. If I underestimate it, that is mine to wear. |
| Travel beyond 40 km | Per kilometre | $0.72 / km | One way, from Mission. Told to you up front, never added quietly at the end. |
| Same-day call-out | Hourly | $185 / hr | Only when you ask for it and only after I have told you the rate. If it can wait until tomorrow, I will say so. |
| Quarterly check-in | Optional | $350 / quarter | Backups verified, updates reviewed, accounts audited, documentation refreshed. No contract. Stop whenever you like. |
| Your documentationItem A8 on the schedule of works | Every job | Included | Never billed, never withheld, and yours to hand to somebody else. |
03
Talking myself out of work
Read this bit first
When you do not need me.
Genuinely. I would rather you kept the money.
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3.1
It is one computer and you are one person. A good local repair shop will do it faster and cheaper than I will, and there are several in Mission.
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3.2
The vendor's own support covers it, free. If your problem belongs to somebody you already pay every month, my honest advice is to make them earn it. I will tell you what to ask for.
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3.3
You already pay for the thing that fixes it. A surprising amount of what people are quoted for is sitting unused inside a subscription they have had for years.
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3.4
The machine is being replaced in six months anyway. There is no sense spending four hundred dollars nursing a computer that has an end date. I will tell you to wait.
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3.5
Somebody on staff already enjoys this. If you have a bookkeeper or a foreman who likes the technical side, the better spend is an hour of my time teaching them, not a standing arrangement with me.
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