Some advice required, been asked to quote for a support contract.

[Clippy]

Sounds like Win Win.

5 Students at £15-20 per hour when on an actual call out that you are charging for, you charge £50. Kerching.

And you pocket the annual retention charge with someelse doing all the work.

Keep us posted on progress.

WHS.

Also, I would look into setting up a basic helpdesk s/w (like ZenDesk) so you can track/trend the type of issues that are arising.

[TheAnalyst]

Quick update, seems I picked him up wrong when I thought he had said 1 hour response, or he has re-thought it and realised it's pretty demanding?!

Hi XXXXX,
Sorry for not getting back to you earlier, it has been hectic.
The kiosks are out of scope. They are maintained by the supplier. They might hire you ad hoc for hardware failures. I have to discuss this with them.

I understand your point for availability and reward. Please send me a proposal that you find acceptable.

Monthly or quarterly fee is discussable & 4 hour response time is acceptable, also we can dicuss SLA for priotising things.

rgds. XXXXX

Looking good... now I have to come up with some figures

I have to bear in mind that it's basic support now with a 4 hour response, I'm thinking:

• £400 monthly availability retainer
• 10 hour support block at £300
• 20 hours support block at £550

or

• £800 monthly fee inclusive of 16 hours support (4 hours per week)
• Additional support hours @ £25 p/h

or

• £500 monthly availability retainer
• Support hours @ £30 p/h

Esentially I want to gaurantee some hours every month, if they cant do this then what hours they do use will cost them marginally more and there will be an insreased retainer...

I don't want to appear cheeky though.... any advice?

Thanks!

[pmeswani]

Quick update, seems I picked him up wrong when I thought he had said 1 hour response, or he has re-thought it and realised it's pretty demanding?!




Looking good... now I have to come up with some figures

I have to bear in mind that it's basic support now with a 4 hour response, I'm thinking:

• £400 monthly availability retainer
• 10 hour support block at £300
• 20 hours support block at £550

or

• £800 monthly fee inclusive of 16 hours support (4 hours per week)
• Additional support hours @ £25 p/h

or

• £500 monthly availability retainer
• Support hours @ £30 p/h

Esentially I want to gaurantee some hours every month, if they cant do this then what hours they do use will cost them marginally more and there will be an insreased retainer...

I don't want to appear cheeky though.... any advice?

Thanks!

Or 10 days @ £400 p/d per year (i.e. £4k a year per client). £20 p/h (or whatever you can justify charging) outside this limit and / or £10 p/h per phone call.

[Scrag Meister]

Where are you? and how far from the site?

£25ph seems quite cheap when taking travel and what have you into consideration.

£400 / 30days approx £13 per day for the inconvenience assuming 15 hour retained day is < £1 per hour, not a great deal, IMHO.

It could be just the London in me speaking.

Then again if you think it's worth the effort then fair play to you.

[TheAnalyst]

I'm only about 15 mins from the site at any time, most days.

With the response now 4 hours, even if I'm working, 99% of the time my workmate at my main job will be available within this timeframe and would be very happy with £30 p/h as and when so this really simplifies everything. We've also talked about splitting it down the middle and each of us take a shifts of being "on call" if you like to release the burden a bit...

I have to put it into perspective, my main job pays me £21 a hour and It's a VERY good rate for 2nd line technical desktop support in Glasgow, last time I checked this was London rates for the role. This opportunity is a very "non-technical" role and I don't want to risk scaring them off... I see this as an important stepping stone to something potentially bigger if I can gain a few contracts like this.

Going into that meeting yesterday I'd have been reasonably happy with the extra £500 a month even if that included, say, 10 hours support (although I was not aware of their availability requirements)

Not sure wether to offer them the 3 options above or just one... don't want them to think I've just been picking figures out of the air that's all

Thanks again for the advice!

[Scrag Meister]

Or perhaps you could have an hourly retention rate.

e.g They want 8am-11pm with 4 hour call out
9-5 is £1.50 per hour retainer, all others £2 per hour
That would be £26 per day retention, = £750 per month on retention

or £2.50 and £3 for 2 hour call out. etc..

or adjust as you see fit.

GL

[TheAnalyst]

Well that's the quote off...

XXXXXX XXXXX (T/A) XXXXX Technology Solutions
XX XXXXX Street
XXXXXXXXX
Glasgow
GXX 1XX

Mobile: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Email: [email protected]

Quotation for IT support services

Hi Xxxxx,
I have produced the following quote that I feel would best meet your requirements.

The required support of 15 hours a day, 7 days a week is demanding in as much that it requires me or my associate to be available for a large number of hours each month. Although you indicated that once established the support requirement may only be somewhere in the region of 10 hours per month the availability has to be a key factor in my fee.

Service requirements:
IT support services @ XXXXXX, XX XXXX Street, Glasgow, XX XXX.

Hours supported:
0800 – 2300, Monday – Sunday
Holiday periods (xmas/new year) to be discussed.

My proposal:

• I will provide IT support services to XXXXXXX (Glasgow) staff and customers within the agreed supported hours.
• I will always provide support within the Service Level Agreement which allows a response time of 4 hours at maximum but wherever possible I will aim to respond sooner and in line with priority of the issue & the business requirements.
• If I am not available personally then I will provide support by way of a trusted and qualified associate.
• Wherever practical I (or an associate) will attend the XXXXXXX site however there may be occasions where it's more suitable to utilise remote support via telephone or suitable remote support tool.

My proposed fee:

Option 1
£800 monthly fee inclusive of 16 support hours per month
Additional support hours @ £30 p/h (minimum of 1 hour per job)

Option 2
£400 monthly availability fee
10 support hour block @ £300 additional support hours @ £30 p/h (minimum of 1 hour per job)
20 support hour block @ £500 & additional support hours @ £25 p/h (minimum of 1 hour per job)

Option 3
£500 monthly availability fee
Individual support hours @ £35 p/h (minimum of 1 hour per job)

For a number of years now, alongside my main job as an Apple and Microsoft certified desktop support engineer, I have worked with a number of small businesses and many home users on an “ad-hoc” basis.
This is the first (of many, I hope) on-going it support contract I have tendered for, myself, as a sole trader.

My plan for the future is to aim to develop this type of support into a full time business and I view this contract with XXXXXX as a first step towards this goal and an altogether fantastic opportunity.

With everything considered, If my proposal is not suitable in any way I openly welcome any alternative suggestions you may have.

Kind Regards
XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Guess it's a waiting game now, hope it comes across as professional enough

[TheAnalyst]

Got the contract!

• 4 hour response with low priority jobs logged in the evening to be dealt with next day.
• £400 monthly retainer plus minimum 10 support hours @ £30 p/h each month.
• Additional hours @ £30 p/h (minimum 1 hour per job)

Around 20 hours per week for the first 3 weeks with flexible start times to assist with initial rollout and get up to speed.

My colleague and I are going to split the cover (and fee) between us and we have a third person (ex colleague) who can fill in if required at an agreed rate. This takes the burden of all that availability away from me which is good, it also gives us scope to find other similar contracts going forward without encroaching on our full time contracts.

Quite pleased now

[Scrag Meister]

Congrats, well done.

I hope it all works out financially and time wise.

[lje]

Got the contract!

• 4 hour response with low priority jobs logged in the evening to be dealt with next day.
• £400 monthly retainer plus minimum 10 support hours @ £30 p/h each month.
• Additional hours @ £30 p/h (minimum 1 hour per job)

Around 20 hours per week for the first 3 weeks with flexible start times to assist with initial rollout and get up to speed.

My colleague and I are going to split the cover (and fee) between us and we have a third person (ex colleague) who can fill in if required at an agreed rate. This takes the burden of all that availability away from me which is good, it also gives us scope to find other similar contracts going forward without encroaching on our full time contracts.

Quite pleased now

Good news and good luck!