[Asterisk-biz] How to charge for Asterisk installation & ongoing support?

[Paul]

Todd Lieberman wrote:

> Mike, just bill per hour.  Charge what you can get away with.
>
I second that motion.

For hardware that I don't want to sell(like windows workstations) I bill 
per hour for helping the customer buy it online. If he is super worried 
about downtime I tell him to buy two of them because it will still cost 
less than I would charge for a new PC with on-site service and a quick 
response time.

Don't sell or rent hardware unless you are really want to be responsible 
for it. Things like buying spare parts today at twice the price they 
will cost when you actually need them will bring you down. You have to 
have a plan and a commitment to the idea of renting/selling * servers. I 
wouldn't jump into that in order to sell only 2 machines.

Always remember that even if you are only a block away from a wholesale 
distributor of things like digium there is no guarantee that they will 
be in stock the day you need one to get a customer back up and running. 
You can always find a compatible keyboard or mouse  when you need one 
but last time I looked at BestBuy and Circuit City they didn't have any 
T-1 pci cards for sale.

Bottom line is that you want to sleep well and live long.

>
> Mike Dent wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> I'm just wondering how other people cost/charge for * boxes they have 
>> installed
>> in *small* businesses?
>>
>> Asterisk is such a complex beast and is capable of so much it seems
>> equally complex to figure out a charging model!?
>>
>> I'm contemplating installing a pair of servers at a small company with
>> two separate locations, one main aim is to provide a IAX link between
>> the two but I'm sure they will want other features!?
>>
>> Renting vs purchasing? Support contracts? etc?
>>
>> Does anybody have any pearls of wisdom about this topic they are 
>> happy to share?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> Mike (UK)
>>
>> fwd:526146
>>
>> (sorry for the double post, I should have only posted this to the biz
>> list - hey thanks for pointing that one out SteveC!)
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>>
>
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