Transparent, Fair & Capped
Computer Repair & IT Support Rates
Work is £25 per 15 minutes, and the first hour is capped at £75 for remote support at any time and for home visits on weekdays. A home visit has a minimum charge of £50 (30 minutes) in SL5, covering every SL5 postcode, or £75 (1 hour) outside it. Weekend home visits are not covered by the cap: they have a 1-hour minimum and are shown below.
No travel surcharge across all covered Berkshire areas. A visit has a minimum charge: £50 (30 minutes) in SL5 on weekdays, £75 (1 hour) elsewhere on weekdays, and a 1-hour minimum at weekends. Phone and remote diagnosis is free until I tell you what is wrong and what it will cost, normally within about 15 minutes, with no obligation. The visit fee applies once I have arrived, even if you decide not to go ahead; cancelling before I set off is free. Complex jobs (SSD upgrades, data recovery) get a fixed quote before work starts.
No hidden fees, no inflated quotes. Just honest, efficient fixes with my No-Fix, No-Fee Guarantee (t&cs).
Quick fixes via secure screen sharing
- Billed in precise 15-minute increments
- First hour capped at £75, then £25 per 15 minutes
- Email sync, password & login fixes
- Software installation & error troubleshooting
- No-Fix, No-Fee (t&cs)
I visit you in Ascot & across Berkshire
- Zero travel surcharge in SL5, SL6, SL3, SL4, RG12, GU47, GU25...
- Weekday minimum: £50 (30 min) in SL5 / £75 (1 hour) outside SL5
- Weekend visits: £75 first hour in SL5, £100 outside (1-hour minimum)
- Wireless printer, Wi-Fi & new PC setups
- Backup & photo protection setup — £25 per 15 minutes, first hour capped at £75 on weekdays
- Patient, friendly 1-to-1 tuition & advice
On-site repairs & fixed speed upgrades
- Upfront assessment before any work starts
- SSD upgrades: £89 fitting plus the drive at cost
- Windows OS Reinstall & Speed Tune-up
- Data recovery evaluation (physical damage is a recovery attempt at the normal hourly rate; specialist lab work is quoted separately)
- Full residential & business invoices
Virus and scam removal is charged at these same rates. Need me on-site today? An emergency adds one extra hour at the rate that applies; see the virus & scam removal page and the rate card below.
What a visit costs, by day and place
Every price is £25 per 15 minutes. A started 15-minute block is billed in full. There is no VAT: I am not VAT registered.
| Service | Weekdays, 9am-7pm | Weekends, 12pm-5pm |
|---|---|---|
| Remote session | First hour capped at £75, then £25 per 15 min | Same as weekdays |
| Home or office visit, SL5 | 30-minute minimum (£50). First hour capped at £75, then £25 per 15 min | 1-hour minimum. £75 for the first hour, then £25 per 15 min |
| Home or office visit, outside SL5 | 1-hour minimum (£75). First hour capped at £75, then £25 per 15 min | 1-hour minimum. £100 for the first hour, then £25 per 15 min |
| Needed on-site today (emergency) | Add one extra hour at the weekday rate: +£75 | Add one extra hour at the weekend rate: +£75 in SL5, +£100 outside |
If I cannot fix it, the emergency hour is not charged. Same-day visits are booked until 3pm on weekdays and 2pm at weekends, subject to availability. SL5 covers Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale; if you are unsure whether your postcode is in SL5, ask when you call.
Real totals, so nothing is a surprise
| Job | You pay |
|---|---|
| Weekday, SL5, 30 minutes on-site | £50 |
| Weekday, SL5, 1 hour on-site | £75 |
| Weekday, SL5, 90 minutes on-site | £125 (£75 + 2 x £25) |
| Weekday, SL5, 2 hours on-site | £175 |
| Weekday, outside SL5, 30 minutes on-site | £75 (1-hour minimum) |
| Weekday remote, 45 minutes | £75 |
| Weekday remote, 90 minutes | £125 |
| Weekend, SL5, 1 hour on-site | £75 |
| Weekend, SL5, 90 minutes on-site | £125 |
| Weekend, outside SL5, 1 hour on-site | £100 |
| Weekday emergency, SL5, 1 hour | £150 (£75 + £75 emergency hour) |
| Weekend emergency, SL5, 1 hour | £150 (£75 + £75 emergency hour) |
| Weekend emergency, outside SL5, 1 hour | £200 (£100 + £100 emergency hour) |
Common IT Service Tasks & Estimated Costs
Prices include labour. Hardware parts (e.g. SSD drives, power supply units) are quoted separately. I am not VAT registered — there is no VAT to add: the price you see is the price you pay.
How to read this table: labour is £25 per 15 minutes, a weekday home visit starts at £50 in SL5 (first 30 minutes) or £75 outside SL5 (first hour), and on weekdays the first hour is capped at £75. A short printer fix is still £50 in SL5, travel included. Prices shown are for weekdays in SL5. Outside SL5, or at weekends, use the rate card above.
* Note: These service examples are estimates based upon typical tasks. All tasks can vary in length due to unforeseen software or hardware issues. I will always advise you upfront if a task will take longer than normal and provide a clear estimate before proceeding.
The Berkshire IT Services Promise
You Save Money
With my £75 first-hour cap on weekdays, one hour costs £75, not the £100 that four 15-minute blocks would add up to.
No Clock-Watching
I work efficiently to resolve your problem promptly. You only pay for the time I work, tracked in 15-minute blocks.
Local Specialist
Locally owned Windows PC and laptop specialist, in business since 2010, with 30+ years in IT, 16 of them running this business, serving Ascot and the surrounding Berkshire towns.
Who this pricing is not for
A few honest exclusions, so nobody wastes a phone call: most jobs happen in your home or office, or remotely via secure screen-share; Mac hardware repairs, laptop screen replacements and board-level soldering are referred to specialists rather than attempted; and callouts are limited to Ascot and the surrounding Berkshire/Surrey-border towns in my coverage list. If any of those is what you need, I will say so on the phone and point you somewhere useful instead of booking a job I can't complete.
Pricing & Payment Questions
What if my computer repair takes longer than an hour?
The £75 cap covers the first hour of remote support at any time and of on-site visits on weekdays. After that it is £25 per 15 minutes with no further cap, and a started 15-minute block is billed in full. For example, 90 minutes costs £125 (£75 for the first hour plus 2 x £25).
Can I get a fixed-price quote?
Yes, for standard tasks like SSD upgrades (£89 fitting plus the drive at cost), I diagnose first and give you a fixed price quote before starting. Data recovery is billed at £25 per 15 minutes, and a recovery attempt is charged at that normal rate even if I cannot recover your files. It usually costs about £100 but can cost more, depending on how difficult the job is. Drives with physical damage are a recovery attempt like any other: I charge it at the normal hourly rate, whether or not the data is recovered. Specialist off-site lab work, if needed, is quoted separately and agreed upfront.
What is the minimum charge for an in-home visit?
On a weekday, the minimum is £50 (30 minutes) in SL5 and £75 (1 hour) outside SL5, with zero travel surcharge. At weekends every visit has a 1-hour minimum: £75 in SL5 and £100 outside. After the first hour, time is £25 per 15 minutes.
Which areas count as SL5?
Every SL5 postcode, which includes Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale. Anywhere else I cover is charged at the "outside SL5" rates.
Do you charge extra at weekends?
Yes, for most visits. Weekend visits are 12pm-5pm with a 1-hour minimum: £75 for the first hour in SL5 (the same as a weekday hour) and £100 outside SL5. Remote sessions cost the same as on weekdays. Cancelling before I set off is free; once I have arrived, the 1-hour minimum applies even if you decide not to go ahead. If you are unsure, ask for a free phone or remote check first.
What does a same-day emergency cost?
If you need me on-site today, I add one extra hour at the rate that applies: £75 on a weekday, £75 at a weekend in SL5, £100 at a weekend outside SL5. If I cannot fix the fault, that extra hour is not charged. Same-day visits are booked until 3pm on weekdays and 2pm at weekends, subject to availability. Outside those times I will give free phone or remote advice and book the first slot at the next opening.
When does the free diagnostic end and billing begin?
Phone and remote diagnosis is free until I tell you what is wrong and what it will cost, normally within about 15 minutes, with no obligation; work after that is billed in 15-minute blocks and agreed with you first. On a weekday in SL5, the first 30 minutes of a visit covers diagnosis and repair together. The visit fee is charged once I have arrived, even if you decline the repair or decide not to go ahead; cancelling before I set off is free. If I diagnose a fault I can fix and you go ahead, the diagnosis is part of the repair.
Do you charge VAT?
No. I am not VAT registered, so there is no VAT added to any quote or invoice — the price you see is the price you pay.
Can I get an invoice for completed work?
Yes! Every job comes with an itemised invoice showing my trading name, my sole-trader status, a breakdown of the work performed, any parts supplied, and the total amount due — for home users, sole traders and local companies alike.
When is payment due?
Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date. If I haven't received payment by then, I send a friendly reminder. If an invoice is still unpaid after 21 days, a one-off £15 late-payment administration fee is added to cover my admin and recovery costs — it is never a daily charge or a percentage of the invoice.
What payment methods do you accept?
I accept cash, bank transfers (BACS / Faster Payments), and all major debit and credit cards via PayPal secure processing.
The No-Fix, No-Fee Guarantee (t&cs) — Terms in Plain English
- No-Fix, No-Fee (t&cs) in one sentence: if I cannot fix the fault you booked me for, you do not pay for the repair work. The visit fee still applies once I have arrived, whatever the outcome: £50 for 30 minutes in SL5 on weekdays, and the minimum for your area and day elsewhere. Phone and remote diagnosis is always free.
- What counts as “fixed”: the fault you booked me for is resolved and you have confirmed it works before I ask for payment.
- When you pay nothing: I cannot fix the fault you booked me for, so you owe me nothing for the repair work. The visit fee still applies once I have arrived.
- Partial success: if only part of a problem is resolved, you approve the outcome first and pay only for the time genuinely spent — never the full quoted rate for an unresolved fault.
- If the fault comes back: if the same fault returns within 7 days of my visit, call me and I will re-check and re-fix my work at no labour charge.
- If a job runs long: if work looks likely to take longer than the estimate I gave you, I stop and get your approval before going past it. You are never billed beyond an agreed estimate without your explicit go-ahead.
- If you decline the repair: declining a recommended repair does not waive the visit fee once I have arrived. The declined repair itself costs nothing. Extra time you specifically ask me to spend beyond the visit minimum is charged at the usual rate. Cancelling before I set off is free, and phone and remote diagnosis stays free.
- Exclusions: hardware parts, third-party software licences, and specialist off-site data recovery are quoted separately and agreed upfront — you always approve these costs before I buy or install anything.
- Diagnostics: phone and remote diagnosis is free until I tell you what is wrong and what it will cost, with no obligation. A home visit carries the visit fee once I have arrived, even if you decide not to go ahead; cancelling before I set off is free.
Have a Question About Repair Costs?
Call (01344) 288177
Speak directly with me, your local engineer in Ascot. Describe your computer problem in plain English and get an immediate, honest price estimate.