Most shops make their margin on the hardware. We do not — parts are bought at cost and you see the supplier invoice. The only thing you pay us for is the labour line, which is $100 to $200 depending on how complex the build is. That is the entire reason our quotes come in shorter than a big-box store's for the same specification.
It also means our advice is not tied to what we have in stock. If the right graphics card for your budget is on sale somewhere we do not buy from, we will tell you to buy it there and bring it to us. Our fee does not change.
Specced to your monitor, not to a number
The most common way people overspend on a gaming PC is buying a graphics card their display cannot use. A card built for 4K gaming paired with a 1080p 60 Hz monitor is several hundred dollars doing nothing. Before quoting we ask what resolution and refresh rate you play at, what games actually matter to you, and whether you stream or edit alongside — then spec to that.
The same logic applies to workstations. Video editing wants core count, fast storage and plenty of RAM; CAD often wants single-core speed and a certified GPU instead. Those are genuinely different machines at the same price, and building the wrong one is an expensive mistake to discover three months in.
What the labour fee covers
Assembly and cable management, a BIOS update, thermal verification under load, a stress test, Windows installation and activation, driver setup, and migrating your files from an old machine. You collect a computer that is ready to use, not a box of parts that boots.
We also register the component warranties and hand over the paperwork. Individual parts typically carry two to three years for a GPU or PSU and up to five for an SSD — that coverage is yours, and it is worth having the documentation when you need it.
Bringing your own parts, or upgrading what you have
If you have already bought parts, or want to carry a graphics card or drive over from an older machine, we will build around them at the same labour rate. We check compatibility before you order rather than after — socket mismatches, RAM that the motherboard will not run at its rated speed, and cases that will not fit the cooler are the three that catch people most often.
Not every machine needs replacing, either. A GPU swap, a bigger SSD or a cooling service is often the whole fix, and that is billed hourly rather than as a build.