It is the question everybody wants answered before they pick up the phone, and almost nobody in this industry will answer it. You get “it depends on your requirements” and an invitation to a discovery call. So here are actual numbers, including mine.
The two markets, and why they confuse people
There are two completely different things being sold under the name IT support, and comparing their prices tells you nothing useful.
Managed support is a monthly contract per person. Across the UK that runs roughly £30 to £50 per user per month for basic cover, £50 to £85 for something more involved, and £85 to £125 or more where compliance is part of the deal. For a team of ten that is somewhere between £300 and £1,250 every month whether anything breaks or not.
Pay as you go is per hour or per job. Published UK rates for reactive support sit around £70 to £150 an hour, with project work quoted between £650 and £950 a day. You pay when something happens and nothing when it does not.
The monthly figure looks smaller. Over a year it usually is not.
Which one you actually need
The honest answer is about headcount and dependency, not about what a salesperson calls you.
Under about fifteen people, pay as you go is almost always cheaper. Add up what genuinely went wrong last year. For most small offices it is a handful of incidents, a couple of new starters and one project. At an hourly rate that is a few hundred pounds. On a per user contract you would have paid several thousand for the same year.
Above twenty five people, or if you are regulated, the maths flips. Volume becomes constant, someone needs to own it, and an SLA starts being worth what it costs.
If your business stops when IT stops, buy the contract regardless of size. A dental practice or an accountant in January is not in a position to wait until someone is free.
What I charge, and why it is published
I price by the job rather than by the clock, because you want to know what a thing costs, not what my hourly rate is.
- New starter set up and onboarded, £140
- Half day on site, £280
- Full day on site, £450
- Annual security and backup review, £350
- Ten hour pre paid block, £600, which works out at £60 an hour
Anything that does not fit one of those is £70 an hour, with a two hour minimum on site and one hour remote. No contract, no minimum term, no monthly fee for the privilege of being a customer.
I publish these because you should be able to work out roughly what a job will cost before you ring anybody. It also saves us both a conversation if I am too expensive for what you had in mind.
The questions worth asking whoever you call
Whether or not that is me, these four separate the firms worth having from the rest.
What is your minimum term, and what is the notice period? Twelve months with three months notice is fifteen months of commitment. Plenty of contracts are written that way and it is rarely mentioned.
Who actually turns up? Ask whether you get the same engineer. If the answer involves a queue, you will be explaining your setup from scratch every time.
What is not included? Out of hours, project work, hardware procurement and anything involving a third party supplier are the usual exclusions, and they are where the unexpected invoices come from.
What happens to my data if I leave? A good answer is immediate and unbothered. A vague one tells you a great deal.
The short version
Under fifteen people, pay per job and keep the money. Over twenty five, or regulated, buy a contract. In between, work out what last year actually cost you and let that decide it.
If you want a straight answer about which side of that line you are on, tell me roughly how many people you have and what broke last year and I will tell you honestly. If a contract is right for you and I am not the one to provide it, I will say so.
More detail on how I do IT support in Cambridge, including the full price list.