How much does IT support cost? WaTo's actual rates

Most IT providers won't give you a straight number until you've already had a sales call — the honest reason is usually 'it depends,' but it's also just not common practice to publish rates. We do it differently. Here's exactly what WaTo Consulting charges, straight from our current rates schedule, plus how the wider Australian market prices things if you're comparing.

The short answer

WaTo Consulting charges $180 per hour for a standard on-site callout (travel included), $115 per hour for remote or workshop-based work, and $360 per hour for urgent after-hours or weekend consults. Local courier drop-offs are $40 each. Across the wider Australian market, managed IT is more commonly sold as a per-user monthly fee — roughly $100–$350 per user per month — rather than billed hourly, so the model you're comparing against matters as much as the figure itself.

WaTo's current rates (FY 2026/27)

Callout Consult — $180/hour

Includes travel to your site. This is the standard rate for most in-person work, and also applies to scheduled meetings attended remotely when they need a specific block of staff time.

Workshop/Office Consult — $115/hour

Our discounted rate for work we can do remotely by phone, web development consulting, equipment setup/testing in our workshop, or document preparation.

Urgent Consult — $360/hour

Applies to consulting between 5pm and 9am, on weekends, or when we need to drop other work to attend immediately. We'll always confirm this rate with you and suggest alternatives first.

Courier charge — $40 per drop-off

For non-urgent, local (Adelaide metro) item drop-offs with no on-site labour involved. If we're installing or testing anything while there, it becomes a callout instead.

Retainer arrangements

Regular clients can move to a retainer for predictability, priority access and cost savings over ad-hoc rates — ask us to run the numbers for how often you actually call.

How this compares to the wider market

Most Australian MSPs price managed IT per user per month (commonly $100–$350) rather than hourly — a different model, worth comparing on scope as much as on price.

Who this guide is for

Business owners budgeting for IT support and wanting a real number, not a ballpark.
Anyone comparing WaTo against another provider's quote or price list.
Existing clients wanting to understand which rate applies to a job before it's booked.
Owners who've been quoted a number elsewhere and want to check it against a published schedule.

How WaTo's rates work in practice

Most work is billed at the callout or workshop rate. On-site work is the $180/hour callout rate, travel included. Remote, phone-based or workshop/prep work is the discounted $115/hour rate.
After-hours and weekend work costs more. Anything before 9am or after 5pm on a weekday, or on a weekend, is billed at $360/hour — unless it's scheduled in advance, in which case the standard callout rate applies instead.
We always confirm before charging the urgent rate. If a job might land in urgent-rate territory, we tell you upfront and talk through alternatives before going ahead — no surprise line items after the fact.
Frequent callers often do better on a retainer. If you're regularly booking ad-hoc work, a retainer can work out cheaper overall and guarantees priority access — worth asking us to compare against your actual usage.
Know the rate before something breaks. Understanding which rate applies in advance means no surprises if you need urgent help outside business hours.

How WaTo can help

We publish our actual rates instead of a vague 'contact us for pricing' — you know the number before you call.
Both ad-hoc and retainer arrangements are genuinely available — we'll tell you honestly which suits how often you actually need us.
The urgent/after-hours rate is always confirmed with you first, with alternatives offered, never applied after the fact.
The callout rate already includes travel — no separate travel surcharge added on top.
Adelaide owned since 2001 — rates reviewed annually, not changed without notice.