What pricing model(s) do you use for your onsite PC Repair Business
I've been in the industry 12+ years and finally venturing out on my own. I'll be a one man show right now doing in-home and office repairs,etc. I would love to charge clients a fixed rate on jobs but I'm not sure if this will work. I like the fixed rate idea because the customer doesn't have worry that I might be wasting time just to make more money. In addition, it also takes the stress off of myself to complete a job in a fixed amount of time.
What has worked best for you? I want to offer my clients a fair price but I've also got to make a living. And since it's just me, I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not making money when Im driving to and from a job. So, I have to take that into account in my pricing....not to mention the added convenience it provides the client.
Do you charge a higher rate or additional fee for work done on weekends and after normal business hours?
Do you charge a travel fee, if the job is beyond a certain distance, or for every job, or not at all?
I'm leaning towards the following:
1. $80/1st hour with a 1 hour minimum
2. $60/additional hours billed in 15 min increments
3. No travel charge.
4. Undecided about after hours and weekend jobs.
5. Estimate my average time for particular jobs, so I can give the client a very close estimate. Provided there are no other major issues beyond what the client has mentioned that lengthen the job, I'll will stick to my quoted price (hours) even if the jobs runs over the time I specified. I'm counting on the fact that most of my jobs will be completed in a little less than the time I specify. This will cause the occasional longer job to average out to the times I specify.
Any thoughts?
What has worked best for you? I want to offer my clients a fair price but I've also got to make a living. And since it's just me, I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not making money when Im driving to and from a job. So, I have to take that into account in my pricing....not to mention the added convenience it provides the client.
Do you charge a higher rate or additional fee for work done on weekends and after normal business hours?
Do you charge a travel fee, if the job is beyond a certain distance, or for every job, or not at all?
I'm leaning towards the following:
1. $80/1st hour with a 1 hour minimum
2. $60/additional hours billed in 15 min increments
3. No travel charge.
4. Undecided about after hours and weekend jobs.
5. Estimate my average time for particular jobs, so I can give the client a very close estimate. Provided there are no other major issues beyond what the client has mentioned that lengthen the job, I'll will stick to my quoted price (hours) even if the jobs runs over the time I specified. I'm counting on the fact that most of my jobs will be completed in a little less than the time I specify. This will cause the occasional longer job to average out to the times I specify.
Any thoughts?
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FlooringPro
Being in the service industry, leew's idea seems to be the most sound. No one likes mystery charges, but as we all know most end users have no idea what their problem is. Even if you can diagnose the issue over the phone, then your locked into a price that may or may not cover your costs. With leew's method you recover some of those costs over the course of a year. One month the end user may use up all the fee associated with a device, the next month they use nothing. This way you can manage the influx of money better, and the client gets a 'Tech on Retainer'.
ASKER
All good advice. However, I'm not sure how well managed services will go over with the average home PC user? I can't see them paying me a monthly fee when, in their minds, they may not have any problems for 6 months. IF they do, I also see many of them calling me out for trivial issues, that they wouldnt normally call about, just to make sure they get what they are paying for.
Now when it comes to a small office/business, I think this may work well. A few things still come to mind.
1. What kind of response time should I guarantee, if any. Perhaps there should be two versions/rates...for example if it's high priority, I will be onsite within 24 hours but each hour onsite will equate to two hours of the "contracts time".
If they just want to get an appointment scheduled in the next few days to a week, each hour onsite subtracts only one hour from the contract hours...something along those lines. I suppose this is something I will have to work out as the business grows and the opportunity arises. I also have to remember that there is just me! It might not be wise to even offer more than 2-3 companies the 24 hour guarantee. I don't want to over commit!
Now when it comes to a small office/business, I think this may work well. A few things still come to mind.
1. What kind of response time should I guarantee, if any. Perhaps there should be two versions/rates...for example if it's high priority, I will be onsite within 24 hours but each hour onsite will equate to two hours of the "contracts time".
If they just want to get an appointment scheduled in the next few days to a week, each hour onsite subtracts only one hour from the contract hours...something along those lines. I suppose this is something I will have to work out as the business grows and the opportunity arises. I also have to remember that there is just me! It might not be wise to even offer more than 2-3 companies the 24 hour guarantee. I don't want to over commit!
It's not really meant for home PC users. And I don't think I'd offer it to them to start.
One of the things you need to recognize is that you cannot fix everything and sometimes, a wipe and reinstall is the best solution. And if the client protests because they have software they no longer have media to (or worse, they have software their friends or relatives lent them media to), well, you really should charge for the time troubleshooting. You essentially make their decision to steal software more costly than it would have been to purchase it properly. Remember, every minute you spend on a client's system is a minute you cannot spend on another client's system - so if you bill flat rate, that's a problem!
One of the things you need to recognize is that you cannot fix everything and sometimes, a wipe and reinstall is the best solution. And if the client protests because they have software they no longer have media to (or worse, they have software their friends or relatives lent them media to), well, you really should charge for the time troubleshooting. You essentially make their decision to steal software more costly than it would have been to purchase it properly. Remember, every minute you spend on a client's system is a minute you cannot spend on another client's system - so if you bill flat rate, that's a problem!
ASKER
Having said the above, I'd like to back up a little and assume, for the time being, that most of my business will not be "service contracts", at least for a while. How would you guys go about giving a client an estimate? We all know that what should be a 30 minute job can sometimes take 2 hours. Do you quote in time or dollars?
Do you over estimate the average time a little and give them a price based on that estimated time and then stick to it regardless of the actual time. My thinking is that if you generally finish most jobs in less than your estimated time, they will cover the occasional jobs that run over the estimated time.
And if you go this route, I would think that it is best to quote the customer a price rather than an amount of time, thus giving them what pretty much amounts to a fixed rate. Having said that, how do you handle the scenario were the client incorrectly explains the problem or leaves out important info that causes the job to take much more time than your quoted price was allowing for?
Do you over estimate the average time a little and give them a price based on that estimated time and then stick to it regardless of the actual time. My thinking is that if you generally finish most jobs in less than your estimated time, they will cover the occasional jobs that run over the estimated time.
And if you go this route, I would think that it is best to quote the customer a price rather than an amount of time, thus giving them what pretty much amounts to a fixed rate. Having said that, how do you handle the scenario were the client incorrectly explains the problem or leaves out important info that causes the job to take much more time than your quoted price was allowing for?
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Nahh your way over priced bro. Make it all Flat Fees. Ex Diagnostic Charge would be $45.00. Test RAM.. HARD DRIVE. ETC.
OS Reload $70
Back up on Data $50.00 bucks
Iv been in business 3 years now on my own. Set Fees is whats up for residential. When you do business work think in your head how long it would take you to do the job. So in your head if you are pulling CAT5 through a building factor in T&M with 15% Mark up. An if your making $40.00 an hour then say ok well this job will take me probably 4 hours. Plus Travel time.. And make it out to a set fee. Set Fees is the way the be!
OS Reload $70
Back up on Data $50.00 bucks
Iv been in business 3 years now on my own. Set Fees is whats up for residential. When you do business work think in your head how long it would take you to do the job. So in your head if you are pulling CAT5 through a building factor in T&M with 15% Mark up. An if your making $40.00 an hour then say ok well this job will take me probably 4 hours. Plus Travel time.. And make it out to a set fee. Set Fees is the way the be!
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For what its worth, I called about 10-12 other onsite repair shops/guys in my general area. (And I'm talking about going to the client and NOT having them drop PCs off with me) Anyway....$80hr was the most common price I was quoted. A couple quoted $60hr. And a couple quoted over $80hr. And the Best Buy, Circuit City, 800Geeks (all the franchise places) quoted even higher rates. So, I feel I'm in the ball park with the prices I've come up with. I would love to charge fixed rates but I just dont think it's going to the best move, or even possible, most of the time.
I really appreciate all the input from you guys. If you think of anything else, please let me know. Right now I only have a handful of customers that I've been working with for a while. But I've recently placed ads with a couple of local papers that should bring in some more business. With the current few customers, Ive mostly just "played it by ear." As I grow my customer base, I'd like to try and have my pricing consistent, as much as possible, from customer to customer.
I guess I'm concerned that customer A may know customer B and say "Charles backed up my data the other day for $60." Only to have customer B say "oh yeah, he charged me $100 for the same thing." Obviouslly I wouldn't do that but to the customer it may have appeared to have been the same job when his situation involved additional work. I guess that's why communication with the client will be very important. If the job would normally cost $60 but for valid reasons I have to charge him $100, I need to explain that to him!
Thanks again to all of you. I guess I just really needed to discuss this with someone. With your input, I seem to be answering many of my questions as soon as I think of them!
I really appreciate all the input from you guys. If you think of anything else, please let me know. Right now I only have a handful of customers that I've been working with for a while. But I've recently placed ads with a couple of local papers that should bring in some more business. With the current few customers, Ive mostly just "played it by ear." As I grow my customer base, I'd like to try and have my pricing consistent, as much as possible, from customer to customer.
I guess I'm concerned that customer A may know customer B and say "Charles backed up my data the other day for $60." Only to have customer B say "oh yeah, he charged me $100 for the same thing." Obviouslly I wouldn't do that but to the customer it may have appeared to have been the same job when his situation involved additional work. I guess that's why communication with the client will be very important. If the job would normally cost $60 but for valid reasons I have to charge him $100, I need to explain that to him!
Thanks again to all of you. I guess I just really needed to discuss this with someone. With your input, I seem to be answering many of my questions as soon as I think of them!
Good luck if you chose to focus your business on the home user. In my experience and opinion, you're going to have a LOT of work to do if you are going to make a living at it. Read the blog post if you haven't already. You can deduct some things... but have you factored in errors and omissions insurance? Your own health care (maybe your lucky and your significant other has you covered, but if not...). The blog posting tries to help you understand how all the numbers were arrived at... so drop what you want to drop, but keep in mind everything else... and make sure you price accordingly.
Flat fees for backup is DANGEROUS. If you tell me "I'll backup your system for $50" I'll be ecstatic. I have over 1 TB of data... how are you going to back it up? 1 TB of data is a LONG time even on a disk to disk transfer via eSATA. Don't think it's possible? Music and Movies and Games... they all take up a LOT of space and with 2 TB drives available, you could run into this... if not today... then tomorrow.
I don't charge a flat fee to my clients for MOST things, but I DO often assess the situation and explain, the maximum charge will be $x.
Flat fees for backup is DANGEROUS. If you tell me "I'll backup your system for $50" I'll be ecstatic. I have over 1 TB of data... how are you going to back it up? 1 TB of data is a LONG time even on a disk to disk transfer via eSATA. Don't think it's possible? Music and Movies and Games... they all take up a LOT of space and with 2 TB drives available, you could run into this... if not today... then tomorrow.
I don't charge a flat fee to my clients for MOST things, but I DO often assess the situation and explain, the maximum charge will be $x.
ASKER
LEEW: My apologies, I have not yet read the blog post you mentioned. I've imply been very busy and forgot about it. I'll read it today! I really appreciate all the info you guys have put on the table for me to think about!
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But since you have a full time employer, you are not as flexible as you may have to be - what happens if one of your clients' servers fail an hour into your work day? Will your boss be ok with you leaving? That's the big difference. Some people can get health insurance through their significant others... but if you are doing this full time as your primary source of income, you need to keep these things in mind. From my standpoint, if you are otherwise working for another company, you can charge less because your not able to provide the same level of service (that includes responsiveness) as a full time consultant. (kudos to you for charging $125 per hour and keeping things "professional").
ASKER
LEEW: just read your blog post! Great explanation and breakdown. It does amaze me how people will think nothing of paying an electrician, mechanic, plumber, etc $80+ an hour but seem to have a problem with paying similar amounts for tech support.
Another great example: My wife is a hair stylist and we have some of the same clients. They will gladly pay her $85 for an hour of her time AND tip her AND do this on a regular basis (every 4-6 weeks). Some of the same people seem to think me charging them $150 to install a new HD and restore their PC is "expensive."
Another great example: My wife is a hair stylist and we have some of the same clients. They will gladly pay her $85 for an hour of her time AND tip her AND do this on a regular basis (every 4-6 weeks). Some of the same people seem to think me charging them $150 to install a new HD and restore their PC is "expensive."
ASKER
You guys make an excellent point! The home user will often compare your estimate to what it costs to buy a new PC. It may not be an "apples to apples" comparison (data transfer, reinstall & config apps, etc) but they nevertheless, make the comparison.
The business customer is mostly interested in keeping his computers up and running, so the company can do its job.
I'm thinking I definitely need two separate pricing models, with the "business pricing" being somewhat higher. How would you go about explaining the difference in pricing to a business owner who is aware of your "home pricing?" Would you just be honest and say something like "home users have the luxury of just going out and buying a new PC. Downtime is not really an issue with them, as it is with yourself and your business."
The business customer is mostly interested in keeping his computers up and running, so the company can do its job.
I'm thinking I definitely need two separate pricing models, with the "business pricing" being somewhat higher. How would you go about explaining the difference in pricing to a business owner who is aware of your "home pricing?" Would you just be honest and say something like "home users have the luxury of just going out and buying a new PC. Downtime is not really an issue with them, as it is with yourself and your business."
My recommendation - you have ONE pricing model. Home users get a big discount. Why? Because home users are not using their systems with the direct goal of making money - usually, they use them to keep in touch with friends and family, write letters, maybe track home finances, view pictures of friends and family, have their kids write their school reports... etc... your huge home user discount for the same reason Microsoft offers a "Home And Student" version of Office that allows installation on 3 computers and only costs $150. Home users also DO NOT get that "urgent" response if the system fails.
Hi,
Lot's of good advices has been said already, but here's mine:
Do some business with home users as long as you don't have a large enough business customers base and always put a real priority on business customers. As soon as you do have enough of these business customers to make a living, just forget home users and concentrate on what will pay: business customers who needs you to maintain their infrastructures.
On top of that, working for home users is just boring comparatively to maintaining/deploying or migrating business infrastructures.
Well, sorry for my english, I hope you get my point of view.
Good luck!
Lot's of good advices has been said already, but here's mine:
Do some business with home users as long as you don't have a large enough business customers base and always put a real priority on business customers. As soon as you do have enough of these business customers to make a living, just forget home users and concentrate on what will pay: business customers who needs you to maintain their infrastructures.
On top of that, working for home users is just boring comparatively to maintaining/deploying or migrating business infrastructures.
Well, sorry for my english, I hope you get my point of view.
Good luck!
Actually, I have a different thought... Home users are not a waste of time - BUT, I agree they should be the low priority. Reason being, Home users COULD lead to work IN businesses. They could refer you to friends, relatives, neighbors, etc, some of whom could run businesses, start businesses, and/or may be in a position to recommend you to their employer. Just make sure you make it clear to the home user clients that you service business networks.
ASKER
You make a good point, Oliver. And I guess my focus was/is on the home user so much because I feel like that's where I will get most of my initial business. I've always had friends and family ask for my help. And my wife, gabbing in a hair salon all day, has sent quite a few people my way.
Do you guys think the pricing in my first post should be the prices I quote to business customers, with home customers getting a discount OR should the above prices be those I quote home users, while charging businesses a higher rate?
I don't want to over price myself and at the same time, I don't want to sell myself short! I mentioned I called 10-12 competitiors a while back and the average price was about $80/hr. However, I pretended to be a home user when making the calls. It never crossed my mind that ,as a business customer, I would be charged more.
I guess I am stressing about this so much because my first ad goes into the local paper tomorrow! I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I should charge and now I am second guessing myself. Any last minute ideas? I know this is an evoloving process but I really want my original prices to be fairly close to what I will eventually settle on. Keep in mind that I am not in NYC. I live in the southeast...Myrtle Beach, SC, to be exact.
DO you guys think I should call around to some of the shops again tomorrow and ask about pricing for business customers?
Do you guys think the pricing in my first post should be the prices I quote to business customers, with home customers getting a discount OR should the above prices be those I quote home users, while charging businesses a higher rate?
I don't want to over price myself and at the same time, I don't want to sell myself short! I mentioned I called 10-12 competitiors a while back and the average price was about $80/hr. However, I pretended to be a home user when making the calls. It never crossed my mind that ,as a business customer, I would be charged more.
I guess I am stressing about this so much because my first ad goes into the local paper tomorrow! I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I should charge and now I am second guessing myself. Any last minute ideas? I know this is an evoloving process but I really want my original prices to be fairly close to what I will eventually settle on. Keep in mind that I am not in NYC. I live in the southeast...Myrtle Beach, SC, to be exact.
DO you guys think I should call around to some of the shops again tomorrow and ask about pricing for business customers?
Wouldn't hurt... You can call a few places and just claim to be a small office with, say 10 PCs and a Small Business Server... what do they charge per hour?
I would also look for local user groups for some advice.
And find out what the numbers for yourself are before pricing your business fees. In other words, if your state has healthcare plans/systems that make health care cheaper than $1000/month for a family of 4, then you can adjust down accordingly. Same for other things. Raising rates CAN be difficult - just make sure you setup a budget and find out the details of what your expenses will be (use best guesses when you can). I'd say the two most important parts to remember - 1) you will almost certainly NEVER bill 40 hours in a week, so you're not going to "make a killing". Figure when you start, probably 12-20 hours. and hopefully within a few months, 20-24 hours a week. Charge what you will need to charge to keep the business and yourself going and GROWING.
I would also look for local user groups for some advice.
And find out what the numbers for yourself are before pricing your business fees. In other words, if your state has healthcare plans/systems that make health care cheaper than $1000/month for a family of 4, then you can adjust down accordingly. Same for other things. Raising rates CAN be difficult - just make sure you setup a budget and find out the details of what your expenses will be (use best guesses when you can). I'd say the two most important parts to remember - 1) you will almost certainly NEVER bill 40 hours in a week, so you're not going to "make a killing". Figure when you start, probably 12-20 hours. and hopefully within a few months, 20-24 hours a week. Charge what you will need to charge to keep the business and yourself going and GROWING.
We charge $60 p/hr with a two hour minimum. For server related issues, it's $75. Remote is $45. All new customers are pay on delivery. Customers with a good payment history get 30 days. If you are the nice guy, customers tend to walk all over you after a while. Watch out!
Do me a favor and remember this 1 rule: Dont get greedy, it will come around and bite you in the a$$. Too many times companies get complacent with their customers and begin the overcharging/overbilling. Trust me when i tell you, there are no friends in industry. Your best customer will drop you tomorrow, if they think you are somehow cheating them. Always be upfront about charges and never be too proud to take less for something.
ASKER
Thanks for the advice FlooringPro. And that's exactly why I'm here. I want to be fair to the customer but I want to be fair to myself as well. I believe 100% that if you do the right thing, you (and the customer) will always come out ahead in the long run.
If anything, I feel that I have been under charging the few customers I've worked with over the last few months. But sometimes I tend to feel guilty for what I charge, maybe because it comes fairly easy to me. My wife tells me that I have to get used to making/charging more money, if that makes sense to you. It's a little tough to explain. She constantly reminds me of three main things:
1. It obviouslly doesn't come easy to that client or they would not have called me.
2. All the time and money I invested in college and training.
3. There are plenty of other shops out there that will charge the same/similar prices that will probably not treat the client as well as i would.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply to my question today. It's been a LONG day. I'm going to do a little reading then go to bed. I look forward to discussing this more with you tomorrow and in the near future. I hope its ok if I leave the question open for a week or so!?! Goodnight!
If anything, I feel that I have been under charging the few customers I've worked with over the last few months. But sometimes I tend to feel guilty for what I charge, maybe because it comes fairly easy to me. My wife tells me that I have to get used to making/charging more money, if that makes sense to you. It's a little tough to explain. She constantly reminds me of three main things:
1. It obviouslly doesn't come easy to that client or they would not have called me.
2. All the time and money I invested in college and training.
3. There are plenty of other shops out there that will charge the same/similar prices that will probably not treat the client as well as i would.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply to my question today. It's been a LONG day. I'm going to do a little reading then go to bed. I look forward to discussing this more with you tomorrow and in the near future. I hope its ok if I leave the question open for a week or so!?! Goodnight!
If your best customer drops you tomorrow without confronting you about cheating them, then the customer won't be satisfied with anyone. You need to foster good relations, absolutely - and you should NEVER cheat customers. But you should be PROFESSIONAL and charge a PROFESSIONAL rate.
The good thing is that you can compare your rates to places like GeekSquad and get a feel for what you can/should be charging. And keep in mind, MOST of the techs at geeksquad best buy wouldn't use to service their own systems.
Without exception (at least in my opinion), every professional IT person you meet will know something you don't. You may well know MORE than they do, but their experiences and that one product/tool/software they use that you don't will probably have taught them something you don't know. You can learn something from EVERYONE.
The clients are paying for your skills, your knowledge, your time, and your ability to join all three into the most economical solution for them. Attorneys CANNOT gaurantee a "not guilty" verdict any more than you can gaurantee a repaired computer. Really, IT is more like doctors - Doctors PRACTICE medicine - they know how MOST bodies work, how most things in the body works - but just because they know those details does not mean they can gaurantee a resolution for every problem. I don't think I've said it in this question - computers are designed to be logical - but the designs were made by people who are NOT logical.
Finally, if you're doing consulting, you might want to review my web page on a technician's tool kit. (and keep in mind, you can force your clients to buy some of the commercial tools to resolve their problems, or you can charge a slightly higher fee so you can buy them for yourself and use them at all your clients. (consider a product that costs $500 but you are able to buy a license for you (a technician license) that costs $1000. If it takes you 2 hours to use that tool to resolve a problem and you charge $150 per hour, you have SAVED THE CLIENT $200 - because they'd have had to purchase the product that you already had.
(A client with a good business sense understands these economics... a client without a good business sense just sees the dollar value of the check - and is a client you'll have problems with).
Final word of advice (at least on this post). You can go the cheap way. You can buy that $20 switch instead of the $200 switch. And the client may be quite happy with it. UNTIL there's a problem. And you spend 3 hours troubleshooting a network problem that eventually points back to the $20 switch. But a $200 switch might have had management features that, with a simple log in, told you in 5 minutes that port x was causing a problem - allowing you to shut down the port and use a different one. So that $20 switch that initially saved $180 has now cost an additional $450 (3 hours troubleshooting at $150 per hour) PLUS it's disrupted the client's ability to work and possibly idled employees who had to be paid anyway. Going the "cheap" way can end up being VERY expensive - doing so a gamble... maybe it pays off... or maybe you lose money. You should be helping the client understand this and understand the possible losses beyond the initial difference in cost.
Oh yea, hear's that link:
http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/techtoolkit.asp
The good thing is that you can compare your rates to places like GeekSquad and get a feel for what you can/should be charging. And keep in mind, MOST of the techs at geeksquad best buy wouldn't use to service their own systems.
Without exception (at least in my opinion), every professional IT person you meet will know something you don't. You may well know MORE than they do, but their experiences and that one product/tool/software they use that you don't will probably have taught them something you don't know. You can learn something from EVERYONE.
The clients are paying for your skills, your knowledge, your time, and your ability to join all three into the most economical solution for them. Attorneys CANNOT gaurantee a "not guilty" verdict any more than you can gaurantee a repaired computer. Really, IT is more like doctors - Doctors PRACTICE medicine - they know how MOST bodies work, how most things in the body works - but just because they know those details does not mean they can gaurantee a resolution for every problem. I don't think I've said it in this question - computers are designed to be logical - but the designs were made by people who are NOT logical.
Finally, if you're doing consulting, you might want to review my web page on a technician's tool kit. (and keep in mind, you can force your clients to buy some of the commercial tools to resolve their problems, or you can charge a slightly higher fee so you can buy them for yourself and use them at all your clients. (consider a product that costs $500 but you are able to buy a license for you (a technician license) that costs $1000. If it takes you 2 hours to use that tool to resolve a problem and you charge $150 per hour, you have SAVED THE CLIENT $200 - because they'd have had to purchase the product that you already had.
(A client with a good business sense understands these economics... a client without a good business sense just sees the dollar value of the check - and is a client you'll have problems with).
Final word of advice (at least on this post). You can go the cheap way. You can buy that $20 switch instead of the $200 switch. And the client may be quite happy with it. UNTIL there's a problem. And you spend 3 hours troubleshooting a network problem that eventually points back to the $20 switch. But a $200 switch might have had management features that, with a simple log in, told you in 5 minutes that port x was causing a problem - allowing you to shut down the port and use a different one. So that $20 switch that initially saved $180 has now cost an additional $450 (3 hours troubleshooting at $150 per hour) PLUS it's disrupted the client's ability to work and possibly idled employees who had to be paid anyway. Going the "cheap" way can end up being VERY expensive - doing so a gamble... maybe it pays off... or maybe you lose money. You should be helping the client understand this and understand the possible losses beyond the initial difference in cost.
Oh yea, hear's that link:
http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/techtoolkit.asp