Security depth
The biggest single variable. Ask specifically whether EDR, email security, awareness training, and backup are inside the base rate or billed separately.
Most providers in this industry make you sit through a discovery call and a demo before naming a number. We'd rather you could budget before you pick up the phone.
Fully managed IT. Monitoring, help desk, patching, backup, and cloud administration.
Co-managed, for teams with internal IT who need escalation and after-hours coverage.
Project and block-hour work: migrations, buildouts, office moves.
A 25-person company typically lands between $3,500 and $7,500 per month for full managed IT. For comparison, one fully loaded in-house IT hire runs roughly $85,000 to $120,000 a year and covers one shift, one skill set, and no vacations.
| Service | Typical range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Security assessment | $3,500 – $15,000 one-time | Headcount, number of locations, and which compliance framework applies |
| Managed security | $35 – $90 / user / month | Whether it includes 24/7 human alert review and compliance documentation |
| Compliance uplift | +30 – 50% over baseline | HIPAA, PCI DSS, and CMMC each add tooling, documentation, and audit prep |
| Network assessment | $2,500 – $7,500 one-time | Square footage, wireless survey scope, and number of sites |
| Office network deployment | $8,000 – $40,000 | Switch count, firewall tier, and access point density |
| Enterprise Wi-Fi | $600 – $1,400 per access point | Installed and validated, including mounting and terminations |
| Cat6 cabling drop | $150 – $350 per drop | Ceiling access and building construction, far more than cable cost |
| Cat6A cabling drop | $225 – $450 per drop | Run length and whether it feeds Wi-Fi 6E/7 or 10G links |
| Rack / IDF buildout | $3,000 – $12,000 | Port count, patch panel quantity, and power distribution needs |
| Huddle room AV | $6,000 – $15,000 per room | Display size, conferencing bar quality, and whether cabling exists |
| Conference room AV | $18,000 – $45,000 per room | Dual display, ceiling audio, camera tracking, control system complexity |
| Boardroom / divisible AV | $60,000+ per room | Video walls, divisible room logic, custom millwork integration |
| VoIP platform licensing | $15 – $40 / user / month | Contact center features and AI call intelligence push toward the top |
| VoIP implementation | $75 – $200 / user one-time | Call flow complexity, number of ports, CRM integration depth |
| AI readiness assessment | $5,000 – $20,000 one-time | Data volume, tenant sprawl, and how many systems are in scope |
| AI project build | $8,000 – $50,000 | Scope, far more than headcount |
The biggest single variable. Ask specifically whether EDR, email security, awareness training, and backup are inside the base rate or billed separately.
Business-hours support and true 24/7 are very different staffing commitments, and the price reflects that. Check which you're being quoted.
A one-hour critical response commitment costs more than a four-hour one, because it requires more standing capacity.
HIPAA, PCI DSS, and CMMC each add documentation, controls, and audit preparation on top of ordinary managed IT.
On-premise servers, multiple sites, and legacy applications all require more management than a clean cloud-only environment.
The most common quoting trap: a low base rate with project labor, onsite visits, and after-hours work all billed on top. Ask for the exclusions list in writing.
Partly because scope genuinely varies, and partly because vague pricing protects margin during negotiation. Scope does vary — but that's an argument for publishing ranges and explaining what moves them, not for publishing nothing at all.
Security depth. Two providers quoting the same headcount can land $80 per user apart, and the gap is almost always what security tooling, backup, and compliance work sits inside the base price versus what gets billed later as a surprise.
Per-user has largely replaced per-device, because most employees now use three or more devices. Per-device pricing effectively penalizes you for issuing someone a laptop and a phone.
Auto-renewal terms, what counts as in-scope versus project work, after-hours billing, onboarding fees, and — most importantly — what happens to your documentation and credentials if you leave.
Managed agreements are typically annual, because the first 60 to 90 days involve real onboarding investment on our side. We'll discuss term length openly rather than treating it as a lock-in mechanism.
Yes, and often that's the right approach. Many clients start with one service — a phone migration or a security assessment — and expand once they've seen how we work. We'd rather earn the rest than bundle it into an opening quote.