WHY Del Mar PC charges an hourly rate instead of "flat rate" pricing:

Some companies charge by the hour (time + material) and others charge by the job (flat-rate). Both types of pricing have been around for many years. I have done both types of pricing at one time or another for the twenty years I have been repairing computers. All repairs represent some level of risk that the job will turn into a larger project than originally anticipated. The two pricing methods determine who is taking that risk. When a company is charging by the hour, the customer is taking the risk that the job could take longer or be more costly. When a "flat-rate" amount has been agreed to in advance, the company is taking that risk.
The time + material pricing method for charging is typical and normal. Historically, repair services are charged by the hour while replacement computers are bid at a contract dollar amount. If the customer feels more comfortable with a firm price they will ask for and get a firm price – once the technician knows enough detail about the job to intelligently estimate the costs. The customers seldom know, however, that in order for the technician to give a firm quote he must feel secure that he will not be working for free and he will bid accordingly in the higher range of anticipated cost. This is reasonable and prudent in order to avoid any misunderstandings later. In most cases a skilled technician working by the hour can effectively estimate the final cost and can convey that information to the customer upon request. So it seems that time + material payment basis can optionally be converted to a "flat-rate" basis at the customer's discretion (before the work begins).
The question then is - what is fair? The fairest it can be is this – The consumer pays for what he gets and gets what he pays for, no more – no less. Consequently, the technician gets paid for his time and his materials – again, no more and no less. From a fairness point of view this is as good as it gets. Time + material is the way to go with repair work, in my opinion, if you want a fair deal for both yourself and the technician. Flat rate pricing used to be called "contract price". The concept was that if the customer was aware that the labor rate and the material cost was significantly higher than normal then they would not agree to pay for it. The solution was to mask the higher price of both labor and material until it was too late to find another option. This was done by simply not having an hourly rate. With no hourly rate the consumer cannot price shop. Now the cost of the job cannot possibly be known until the technician had gotten into the house, racked up some kind of charges such as a "show up fee", diagnostic fee" or "travel fee" - typically $100 to $125. Only then did the customer know the "flat rate" cost of the job. After the customer takes off work, waits for the guy to show up, and is already committed to the above minimum fee, he is hit with the whopper cost. The customers is now leveraged as he now must either; accept the contract price, pay the $100 -$125 for nothing of real value, or go back to the phone book and call another company. Neither option is very appealing to the customer in this position.
The bottom line is this: flat rate pricing for residential service and repair work is intentionally designed to dramatically increase both the customer's cost and the company's profit. Increasing profit is not a new business desire. What is new is the hiding of the cost from the customer until it is too late to do anything about it, and the total disregard for the traditional concept of truthfulness and fairness in customer relations. As a business owner, I love the idea of increasing my profits and having more money to sock away for my retirement. I just cannot justify the method of getting there. The flat rate pricing method tends to alienate customers as they typically feel that they have been taken advantage of (and they have in most cases).