A lot of Jacksonville firms hit the same fork. Hire an internal IT team, or pay a managed provider. This page walks a planning model we use in those conversations. The dollars are estimates from that worksheet. They are not a quote, and they are not a promise of what you will pay.
If you want the live range we publish for a typical 10-50 person office, that is on the managed IT Jacksonville page: roughly $1,500-$6,000 per month, depending on users, compliance, and how messy the environment is. The model below is a different size of problem. It is what it looks like when you are trying to replace a three-seat internal department.
Three seats, loaded
The worksheet assumes you staff three roles and load benefits, training, gear, and space at 25% of base pay.
| Role | Estimated annual pay |
|---|---|
| IT manager | $100,000 |
| Network administrator | $70,000 |
| Help desk technician | $50,000 |
| Extra load (25% of those salaries) | $55,000 |
| Internal total | $275,000 / year |
Those salary lines are planning numbers from the worksheet. They are not a Jacksonville salary survey. Your market may sit higher or lower. The shape is the point: once you need a manager, an admin, and someone on the phones, you are not hiring “an IT person.” You are hiring a small department.
The managed line (same worksheet)
The comparison side is a managed engagement that covers monitoring, help desk, backups, security, and planning, at an estimated $12,000 per month ($144,000 per year). That is the worksheet’s stand-in for “what it costs to buy the function.” It is not a rate card. Your number will move with user count, locations, and compliance.
If someone quotes you $12,000 and you have 20 people in one office, ask them to show their work. That is usually the three-seat replacement scenario, not the small-office band on our managed IT page.
The arithmetic, and what it misses
$275,000 minus $144,000 is $131,000 per year in this example, on paper.
Cash is not the only difference. An internal trio is three people. A managed team is a bench: after-hours coverage, specialists you do not hire full-time, and someone still answering when your IT manager is on vacation.
The feeling side of that trade is how a Jacksonville healthcare organization described life after they left an unresponsive provider. The Dupuy Group is the logistics version: hours a week spent on broken systems, then the work coming back.
If you want this model run on your actual headcount and stack, call (904) 992-6970.
FAQ
Is $12,000 a month what NetTech charges?
No. That figure is from an internal comparison worksheet for a three-role replacement scenario. Published guidance on our managed IT page is a lower band for smaller offices. Ask for a scoped proposal.
Where do the salary numbers come from?
They are the worksheet’s planning estimates for a manager, a network admin, and a help desk tech, plus 25% for benefits and overhead. They are not a live payroll study.
Why not just hire one IT generalist?
You can. This model is what it costs when the workload actually needs manager plus admin plus help desk. One generalist is a different design: usually cheaper, usually thinner.
Does this include cybersecurity tools and after-hours coverage?
The worksheet’s managed line is described as monitoring, help desk, backups, security, and planning. Tooling and after-hours depth are why firms compare a retainer to three loaded salaries, not to one W-2.
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