Managed IT & helpdesk, quoted three ways.

Per user

A user with a laptop, a desk phone and a shared floor PC is one billable user and three things to patch. Per-user pricing moves that risk onto the provider, which is fine until they discover it and re-scope at renewal.

Per device

Servers, hypervisors and network gear are usually priced on a separate line at three to six times the workstation rate, and the headline device count in the proposal often excludes them entirely.

Flat rate

Flat rate is per-user pricing with a fixed headcount band baked in. Cross the band — a seasonal hiring run, an acquisition — and the invoice re-tiers mid-term.

Co-managed

The split of duties, which is where all the money is. A co-managed bid that does not name which tickets your internal admin still owns is not a price, it is an intention.

Which endpoints are in scope, and are servers counted at the workstation rate?

Is after-hours support included, or billed at an hourly rate against a multi-year term?

Who owns the RMM, EDR and documentation tenancy if we leave?

What is the onboarding fee, and what does it actually cover?

You describe the environment once

Headcount, endpoints, servers, what already lives in the cloud, and any compliance obligation. Two minutes.

We invite three or four providers

MSPs that work your area, your company size, and your regulatory profile. Never more than four, so nobody is cold-calling you.

We normalize what comes back

Per-user, per-device, and flat-rate bids all converted to a common cost per endpoint, with every carve-out and exclusion flagged.

You get the tabulation

One sheet, with contacts. Take the discovery calls you want, ignore the rest. Nothing is owed either way.