Almost nobody in this industry publishes prices, which makes it hard to tell whether a quote is fair. So here are the numbers, including ours, and what moves them.
The short answer
In Metro Vancouver, fully managed IT for a small business generally runs $110 to $250 per user per month. Most small businesses land somewhere between $150 and $200.
Everything else follows from what is bundled into that number.
Why the range is so wide
Two quotes at $125 and $220 can both be reasonable, because they often are not selling the same thing. The differences that matter most:
Is security included or extra? Some providers quote a low base and then add endpoint protection, email filtering, and backup as line items. Add those to a $125 base and you are frequently near $180 anyway. Neither approach is dishonest, but comparing the base numbers alone is meaningless.
Is it fully managed or partly managed? "Managed" sometimes means the tools are installed and you are on your own for support. Ask specifically whether help desk time is included and whether there is a cap.
Is backup included? Cloud backup for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is often separate. It usually adds $5 to $15 per user.
Are after-hours and on-site visits included? Some plans cover business hours only, then bill overtime rates outside them.
What is the minimum? A lot of providers set a floor of ten or twenty users, which quietly makes them unavailable to a six-person firm regardless of the per-user price.
Hourly rates
Break-fix and out-of-scope work in the Lower Mainland generally runs $120 to $200 per hour, with on-site work at the higher end. Project work is often quoted at a similar rate or as a fixed scope.
If you are considering hourly-only support instead of a plan, the maths is worth doing. Hourly looks cheaper until the month something breaks. It also creates an incentive problem: you hesitate to call about small things, small things become big things, and the provider earns more when your systems behave worse.
Onboarding and setup fees
One-time onboarding typically runs $0 to $2,000 depending on the provider and how messy the starting point is. Some advertise zero onboarding as a differentiator, which is genuinely attractive, though the cost usually reappears in the monthly rate.
What onboarding should actually cover: documenting what you have, enrolling and securing devices, taking over your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant, setting up backups and MFA, and fixing whatever is obviously broken. If it is just an account setup and a handshake, question the fee.
Project work
Network and Wi-Fi builds, office moves, and migrations are normally quoted as fixed scope rather than hourly. For a small office, a proper Wi-Fi and network build usually lands in the low thousands. An office move with cabling coordination is similar. Anything quoted without a site visit or a detailed conversation is a guess.
What we charge
We publish ours on the pricing section, but briefly: $125, $175, or $225 per user per month depending on how much is managed versus set up, and whether ongoing automation is included. Out-of-scope work is $150 an hour. Onboarding is $750 to $1,500 one time. No minimum user count, month to month.
We are roughly in the middle of the market. We are not the cheapest option in the Lower Mainland and we are not trying to be.
Questions worth asking any provider
- What is the all-in monthly cost for our exact headcount, with everything you would recommend included?
- Is help desk time capped?
- Is backup included, and does it cover Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data?
- What counts as out of scope, and what does that cost?
- What is the response time commitment, in writing?
- What is the minimum contract term?
- What happens to our data and documentation if we leave?
That last one tells you a lot. A provider who has a clean answer for how you would leave is usually a provider worth staying with.
The short version
- Expect $110 to $250 per user per month for fully managed IT in Metro Vancouver
- Compare all-in numbers, not base rates
- Hourly is $120 to $200, and creates the wrong incentives as a primary model
- Onboarding is $0 to $2,000 and should include real work
- Ask what is excluded, not just what is included
If you want a straight answer for your specific headcount, our free check includes a number with no obligation attached.