Break/Fix vs. Managed IT: The Real Math

The most common objection to managed IT is the monthly cost. “Why would I pay $X per month when I can just call someone when something breaks?”

It’s a fair question. Here’s why the math doesn’t work out the way it seems.

What break/fix actually costs

Break/fix IT means you call a technician when something goes wrong. They charge hourly — typically $125-200/hr in the Las Vegas area, often with a minimum. Sounds reasonable if things rarely break.

But “rarely” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

Here’s what a typical year looks like for a 15-person office on break/fix:

3-4 workstation issues requiring onsite or remote support: 6-10 hours
1-2 server or network problems: 4-8 hours, often at emergency rates
1 email or M365 issue affecting the whole office: 2-4 hours
Patch-related problems (something breaks after an update): 2-3 hours
1 security incident or scare: 4-8 hours minimum, potentially much more

That’s roughly 18-33 hours at $150/hr average = $2,700-$5,000/year — and that assumes nothing seriously bad happens.

Now add the invisible costs:

Downtime while waiting for the tech to show up. Break/fix techs aren’t sitting by the phone waiting for your call. Response times are hours, sometimes a day.
Problems that never get caught. Nobody’s monitoring your backups. Nobody’s checking if patches applied. Nobody notices the failing hard drive until it fails.
No relationship with your environment. Every visit starts with “so what do you have here?” The tech doesn’t know your network, your software, your users.

What managed IT actually costs

A managed IT engagement for a 15-person office in southern Nevada typically runs $100-200 per user per month, or roughly $1,500-3,000/month. That’s $18,000-36,000/year.

More expensive on paper. But here’s what’s included:

Monitoring every endpoint 24/7 — problems are detected before users notice
Automated patching — security updates applied on schedule, not when someone remembers
Daily backup verification — not just “backups are running” but “we confirmed the data is recoverable”
Help desk support — call or email, get a technician who already knows your setup
Security fundamentals — MFA enforcement, endpoint protection, email security
Vendor management — we deal with your ISP and your printer company
Quarterly reviews — a technician sits down with you and shows you what’s happening in your environment

Where managed IT actually saves money

The real comparison isn’t “monthly fee vs. hourly rate.” It’s:

Managed IT prevents the expensive events. A monitored backup catches a failure on day one instead of the day you need to restore. A patched system doesn’t get hit by the vulnerability that made the news. A properly configured firewall blocks the intrusion attempt that would have been a $50,000 ransomware incident.

Response time is immediate. Your managed provider already has agents on your machines and knows your environment. There’s no “let me connect and figure out what you have” delay.

Predictable budgeting. One monthly number. No surprise invoices for emergency weekend work.

When break/fix makes sense

We’re not going to pretend managed IT is right for everyone. If you’re a 2-3 person office with simple needs — a few laptops, cloud email, no server — break/fix might genuinely be the better fit. The math changes when you have fewer endpoints and less complexity.

But once you’re past 5-10 people, have a server, handle sensitive data, or can’t afford a full day of downtime — the equation tips decisively toward managed services.

The question to ask yourself

It’s not “can I afford managed IT?” It’s “can I afford the downtime, the unmonitored backups, and the security gaps that come with not having it?”

If you’re not sure where you fall, a free assessment takes about 15 minutes and gives you a clear picture of where you stand.