The fast jobs: batteries, ports, screens.
Twenty to sixty minutes on the bench, most of them done the same day. A phone battery, a port full of lint, a laptop that dies at noon, a controller that drifts, a drive that makes everything slow. These are the jobs where the part costs little and the wait should too — so we keep the common parts in hand and quote before we start.
Phone battery $59–$99 by model · Screen protector $10 · SSD upgrade $99 + parts · RAM upgrade $79 + parts · Ports, screens and drift quoted after diagnosis
Why some are quoted instead of flat: the honest answer
Why only some of these have a flat price
A flat price is easy to publish. It is harder to make true.
A battery has a known cost. A port does not.
A phone battery is a part with a model-specific price, which is why $59 to $99 is a real number you can plan around. A charging port might be ten minutes of cleaning or an hour of board work, so it gets quoted after the diagnosis instead of a number invented to look confident.
Lint first, always
Most "my phone won't charge" jobs are compacted lint in the connector, and it looks exactly like a dead port. We check that first because it is a minute of work and frequently the entire repair — and because charging you for a port you did not need would be the easiest dishonest dollar in this trade.
The port gets repaired, the board does not get swapped
When a port is genuinely worn, it is repaired on the board rather than the board being replaced wholesale. That is the same bench that recaps and reworks boards, and it is the difference between a repair you can afford and a quote that makes the device "not worth fixing."
And screens are their own conversation: a panel has a real parts cost, and on an older or cheaper device it can exceed what the thing is worth. We quote the screen and the alternatives together with the economics attached, so you decide with the number in front of you instead of finding out afterwards. Sometimes the honest answer is "don't."
Prices
Flat where it is genuinely flat. Quoted where the model decides the part.
| Job | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Phone battery replacement | $59–$99 | By model. The exact figure is quoted before work starts and does not move after. Swelling, dying at 30%, shutting down in the cold is usually the battery, not the phone. |
| Screen protector install | $10 | Counter job, about fifteen minutes, applied clean. |
| SSD upgrade | $99 + parts | Drive swap with files and programs moved over. The single biggest speed change available on an older laptop. |
| RAM upgrade | $79 + parts | Memory installed and tested. |
| Charging port & USB | Quoted after diagnosis | Lint ruled out first. The port is repaired on the board, not the board swapped. Worn pins, broken tongues, damaged connectors. |
| Screen & glass replacement | Quoted after diagnosis | Phone, tablet, laptop and e-reader panels. Quoted with the economics attached, and "don't" is a real answer. |
| Controller stick drift | Quoted after diagnosis | Stick module replacement and calibration, plus button and trigger faults. |
| iPod battery & screen | Quoted | Plus parts, quoted per model before any work starts. |
Prices in USD, current as published. Parts are listed at cost on the quote you approve. Full book: pricing.md.
The jobs people actually come in with
If yours is on this list, we have almost certainly done it this month.
"My phone won't charge"
Lint first · then quotedNine times out of ten it is compacted lint in the connector, and that is a minute of work. If the port is genuinely worn, it gets repaired on the board. Either way you get told which one it was.
"It dies at 30%"
$59–$99Swelling, sudden shutdowns and cold-weather death are battery symptoms, not phone symptoms. A battery is one of the few repairs where the fix is cheap and the improvement is obvious the same day.
"The screen is cracked but it works"
Quoted with the economicsWe quote the panel and tell you what it costs relative to the device. On something older or cheaper the honest answer is often that the glass is worth more than the phone, and we will say so.
"The sticks drift on my controller"
Quoted after diagnosisStick modules replaced and calibrated, triggers and buttons checked at the same time. A drifting controller is a twenty-minute fix and a new one is sixty dollars.
"It's slow"
$99 SSD · $79 RAMA tired mechanical drive is the usual cause, and an SSD is the biggest speed change you can buy on an older machine. Not enough memory is the other one. We check which before quoting either.
"The battery in my laptop is swelling"
Quoted per modelSwollen laptop batteries are a fire risk, not just an annoyance, and they get handled first. Quoted per model before any work starts, because the pack decides the price.
What we don't do
A price only means something if the scope next to it is honest.
Straight about the edges
- No power-tool pack rebuilds. A rebuild needs a spot welder and a fire-safe bench process we have not set up, so those are referred out. We do test whether the pack is even the fault — a charger or a tool connector is often the real problem, and that is ordinary work.
- No cosmetic builds or shell swaps in the marketing. We do repairs on the functional side: a screen you can see, a battery that holds charge, a port that works. We will not take a job whose whole value is how it looks.
- No same-day promise on a part we do not have. If the part has to be ordered, the quote carries the wait instead of optimism.
- We will not sell you a port you do not need. Lint first, then the diagnosis, then the quote.
How it goes
Diagnosis first, then one itemized quote. You approve before anything starts.
The five steps
- 01Book a drop-off or mail it in. Longmont by appointment — call or text to set a time — or ship it from anywhere in the U.S.
- 02Quick diagnosis. $49, and free when you approve the repair. On a charge-port complaint this is where the lint question gets answered.
- 03One itemized quote. Flat labour where it is flat, parts at cost, and the wait written in if a part has to be ordered.
- 04The work. Twenty to sixty minutes on most of these, done by the same person who diagnosed it.
- 05Tested and handed back. Charging verified, battery cycled, sticks calibrated. Watch it on the tracking page.
Mail it in
A phone, a controller and a laptop battery all ship easily.
Same prices, no local requirement
Quick jobs are the ones that mail best, because the part is small and the bench time is short.
- →Return shipping is included up to 15 lbs packed; heavier tiers are a flat rate quoted before we ship.
- →You get an email the day the box lands, and nothing is billed until you approve the quote.
- →A machine you decide not to fix costs you the diagnosis and the trip home, nothing else.
Quick-repair questions
The things people ask before they hand something over.
Straight answers
Almost always the port, and very often not a fault at all — compacted lint in the connector blocks the pins and looks exactly like a dead port. That is the first thing we check, it takes a minute, and it is frequently the whole repair. If the port is genuinely worn or damaged, it is repaired on the board rather than the whole board being swapped, which is what keeps the price down.
$59 to $99 depending on the model. The exact figure is quoted before any work starts, and it does not move afterwards. A phone that swells, dies at 30 percent, or shuts down in the cold is usually the battery and not the phone.
Sometimes, and we will tell you plainly when it is not. A screen has a real parts cost, and on a device that is older or cheaper the panel can cost more than the device is worth. We quote the screen and the alternatives together, with the economics attached, so you decide with the number in front of you rather than after the work.
Batteries, ports, screens, RAM and SSD work are typically 20 to 60 minutes of bench time, and most are done the same day for a drop-off. A job that needs a part we do not have in hand is quoted with the wait attached, so a same-day promise is never made about a part that is not there.
Yes — a phone, laptop, tablet or controller ships easily. Return shipping is included up to 15 lbs packed, the tracking page shows the status from the day the box lands, and nothing is billed until you approve the quote.
No. Pack rebuilds need a spot welder and a fire-safe bench process we have not set up, so they are referred out. We do test whether the pack is even the fault first, because a charger or a tool connector is often the real problem and that is ordinary work.
We do console and handheld repairs on the functional side — a screen you can actually see, a battery that holds charge, a port that works. We do not market cosmetic builds or shell swaps, and we will say so rather than take a job whose whole value is how it looks.
Wondering whether the device is worth fixing at all? The calculator does that math, and the fix-or-replace guide explains it.
Book it in.
Call the shop any time: our AI receptionist answers around the clock and a human follows up. Tell us the model and the symptom, and we will tell you what it needs before you drive over.