Freelance On Site Repair?

[StradivariusBone]

So I've read through a lot of the forums and I can't quite find exactly what I'm looking for here. I've had in my head an idea for some time now to start doing some freelance work on the side in the capacity of existing system repair and minor consulting. Here's the angle I'm working from- I frequently get calls from friends of friends who dabble in some sort of tech support for either a school or performing space or church where volunteers or non-skilled employees do a bulk of the operating of equipment.

Most of the time, these are well-meaning non-trained individuals who don't see an obvious fix to the problem. The most recent encounter was at an elementary school that was having feedback issues when using choir mics. The problem was that their sidefill monitors where on the same output as their mains and everything was going through both. I repatched to use an aux out and they are back in business. They had told me that prior to my help, the school district had sent 2 or 3 people out to investigate, and these were vendors not district personnel. That's where I feel a market might exist. If a vendor can't identify a problem that straightforward, then maybe I can find a side gig here is my thought.

My two big questions are pricing and how do I protect myself? I have no idea where to even begin looking at pricing outside of what I bill for my own hours here (set by our school board) at $25/hr for house manager/TD. I feel like a flat rate for up to 2 hours of work, plus travel beyond a certain radius might be a decent place to start, but I am curious what others think.

Protecting myself legally is also another big concern. It's one thing to walk in for free and fix stuff. No one's going to raise hell when it's broken a week later from a component you never even saw failing. But the minute you charge someone, then if anything is out of place your work gets called into question. I've seen "no-fix, no-fee" guarantees, but should I look into insurance and/or licensing for simple stuff? It's hard to justify investing a lot up front since I don't know how far this will actually go.

I think this is a service that would be useful in my area. There are a few other shops that do event support, but not many that specialize in on-site repair like this. A lot of them do it begrudgingly and rather just rent rigs for various events from large-scale outdoor music down to weddings.

 

[RickR]

An LLC with insurance is really the only safe bet going solo. Going Guerilla Repairman will work for the occasional job but will eventually become an issue. Signing on with a local shop can provide lots of similar benefits and many others such as dealership status and a client base.

Licensing is optional but you should know what your state rules are. A few years ago all my state inspectors were told to write enough citations to justify their job. There is far more work in setting up new systems than in repairs and that's where you tend to find inspectors, but not always. Being a general contractor can provide quite a bit of freedom but most theatrical issues will be electrical or outside of licensing rules.

Pricing is wild! High rates can work as a declaration of expertise but scare off clients. And the reverse!

 

[TNasty]

I agree with RickR about the LLC stuff.

I'd suggest that you write a report on what you did once you finish a job, that way you can make your clients rest assured (and possibly confused, but that's not the goal here), and make it clear what you did and didn't do. I find that many people like to know what you just did to their system, and will get paranoid if they don't know what the issue was and how you fixed it.

You've got two types of people. One being the kind that will be happy that you fixed it. The other being concerned about it, and will typically be satisfied if you get them lost in technical explanations.

 

[MikeJ]

Consider that there are many other costs involved with being self-employed. I have often seen $100 per hour as the minimum for a service based job. At a bare minimum, consider your insurance, and that you will need to pay BOTH halves of payroll taxes; a bit over 15% total.

Higher prices will also drive away some customers. This is good. Very cheap people will be more likely to complain, try to get things done for free, and then lie to other people about your service. Don't take this as "poor people suck," but there really are some customers you don't want.

Back in the day, when I was young and dumb, I had bars call me up to fix a sound system problem and trade me a burger and some beers. Well, I was probably going to have some beers and a burger anyway, but now I don't have the time or the need for a free meal. Every once in a while I will do something like that for free, just because the sound is so bad I want to leave and go somewhere else.

 

[microstar]

Yeah, it sounds great until you find out that many schools make the person in charge of the facility have you estimate your charges before you do anything, then they have to get a purchase order (days or weeks later), then have you work around their use of the stage, and then take a month or more to pay your invoice. And they will require proof of insurance before they will put you on their approved vendor list, which you will have to provide each year. In short, you'll have to jump thru a lot of hoops and they just won't write you a check before you leave.
But it can be rewarding. Good luck!

 

[themuzicman]

I've had in my head an idea for some time now to start doing some freelance work on the side in the capacity of existing system repair and minor consulting. Here's the angle I'm working from- I frequently get calls from friends of friends who dabble in some sort of tech support for either a school or performing space or church where volunteers or non-skilled employees do a bulk of the operating of equipment.

I do a bit of this, not as much as I'd like - but enough. The real issue is getting people to realize you're worth the money. A lot of the time when the initial phone call where the potential client is telling me about their issue they'll try to fish for the solutions.

I would avoid no-fix/no-fee as a blanket rule - I've been to places that the fix would require some money, and some people just can't be swayed. My last consulting gig, I was called in to consult about a venues staff, management wanted to replace the audio department after repeated complaints from patrons about audio quality. After a week of on-site consulting and training I discovered the audio staff quite competent, but lacked any power to change the audio system. We moved some things around, went over some best practices, and optimized some things, but it was still not the complete simple fix my client was looking for. If I had guaranteed a fix to the situation, I would have been out a week of payment.

That being said, I tend to charge 2 different rates - a consultation/teaching rate, and a fix-it rate. If they want me on-site to consult on issues I get the scope of the problem, and then bill in 8-hour chunks, with an hourly after 8 hours in a single day. A week or two later I send whoever my contact was a document that details my observations and potential fixes that they can enact. If I'm there to teach, we'll talk about best practices, do some minor fixing, and then teach procedure. I generally don't do any write-up or documentation on these days unless they pay out a second day for me to do paperwork off-site. My fix-it rate is literally just to show up and fix. I generally bill a 4 hour minimum, and hourly after - even if I'm there to fix something and am in/out under the minimum. I've been called to fix audio systems that weren't outputting audio, only to find the amp rack unplugged. I still charge four hours, the other 4 hours of my teaching rate is provided for free in those cases.