$75 to show up, $50 for additional hours. Let's say it takes you 5 hours, maybe just charge $250. Find out how long it takes you to do a typical EM, then that's your quote.

Do what auto shops do. Charge for 50% to 100% more than cost of parts + a decent hourly. If clients want to bring you parts then they understand that if they are the wrong parts it is on them to handle not you.

So, charge $100 for the parts + whatever you feel your time is worth.

I have no idea of the going rate. I just had my car worked on though and learned some things, lol.

Also depends on how deep a cleaning you're going to do. Clean the plastics? Clean under the plastics? Take all the posts out to clean around them better? Clean all the posts too?

$200-$300. More if the game requires extensive mechanical work.

I'd charge far more then there going to want to pay. Most people when you tell them a dollar amount for working on there game they about a heart attack. Plus there is no way I'd do it at there house because its going to take 20 hours minimum (even to do a "light" shop job) and I'm not spending the night there.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I wouldn't touch it, even for the $50 and hour price because at 20 hours that's $1000 and there certainly not going to pay that. If you figure $250 divided by 20 hours now your down to $12.50 per hour, plus the moving of the game back and fourth....blah blah blah and then hope they don't call you when one of those new light bulbs goes out, which they will unless you change out every socket in the game and then your talking major time.

This is why I've given up on working on other peoples games. The dollars don't make sense but they certainly turn into cents the longer your tied to it. I'll give them all the free advice they want on how to go about doing it themselves though, I have no problem with that.
And that's just my two cents.

John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, MI
269-979-3836

I do some of this for buddies, not typically shop jobs but repairs and the like. I ask to keep the machine for a few months and play the snot out of it as my fee.

Thats pretty much how I do it, i charge a flat rate, plus parts, and tell them I will call when its done, but dont hold your breath, I do it as a hobby, and take my time.

That's a little drastic.

If someone truly needs their game shopped out, I'll tell them it's gonna be $500-$800 parts included, and they need to either bring the game to me and pick it up, or pay me for delivery.

Surprisingly enough some people take me up on it. That's worth it to me - it's a fair profit on what is generally gonna be 10-15 hours of work.