For a 25-person commercial real estate firm with several properties, use $120 - $250 per user/month as a planning range for fully managed IT in the Atlanta, GA market. That covers an employee-service baseline, not every building system or tenant project. Budget separately for property infrastructure, hands-on work, and any systems the agreement excludes.
What should the monthly IT budget cover?
Start by listing the employee services the firm needs: helpdesk support, endpoint management, patching, account security, cloud services, and oversight of core network services. Ask providers to identify what is included, what is optional, and what is billed separately.
For a property team, technology supports leasing, tenant communication, work orders, financial systems, shared documents, and vendor coordination. A disruption can delay routine decisions and service to tenants. The budget should reflect the importance of keeping those workflows available, not just the number of computers.
Use the managed-service range as a comparison point, not as a promised price or a complete portfolio budget. Quotes can differ in their definition of a covered user, endpoint, security responsibility, support hours, and included project work. Ask each provider to state those assumptions in writing.
Atlanta market planning range: $120 - $250 per user/month for fully managed IT.
Keep recurring support distinct from one-time work. A tenant suite turn-up, network redesign, camera replacement, access-control change, or cabling repair should have its own scope and approval rather than disappearing inside a monthly fee.
Takeaway: Establish the employee-service baseline, then account separately for property systems and project work.
Why do multiple properties change the cost?
Each building can have different internet service, network closets, Wi-Fi, cameras, access control, building automation, and vendor-managed equipment. Systems may have separate owners, credentials, support contracts, and documentation. Supporting several properties therefore requires clarity about what is covered at each site.
Norcross commercial properties can include multi-tenant office, flex, light industrial, and mixed-use space. The right question is not whether each building needs identical equipment. Decide which operating and security practices should be consistent, and document justified site-specific exceptions.
For each property, record the internet provider and handoff location, network-closet locations, equipment inventory and lifecycle status, system owner, vendor contact, support agreement, and access approval process. Track tenant networks separately from common-area or building operations when responsibilities differ.
When a site needs hands-on troubleshooting or infrastructure changes, professional-services labor in the Atlanta, GA market is $125 - $300 per hour for IT or network technician work. Ask whether travel, diagnosis, after-hours work, materials, and closeout documentation are included or separately scoped.
GDS Technology provides riser management services and structured cabling and low-voltage services for infrastructure needs such as carrier coordination, cabling issues, or tenant suite connectivity.
Takeaway: A property-by-property inventory makes infrastructure costs and ownership visible.
How should you separate recurring service from tenant work?
Tenant improvements and move-in or move-out activity can create uneven technology costs. A suite turn-up may involve a carrier handoff, cabling, Wi-Fi changes, or access-control coordination. Camera projects and network-closet cleanup are also different from recurring employee support.
Ask providers to label each cost as recurring service, project labor, equipment, carrier charge, or construction work. Require a written scope when work affects shared infrastructure, tenant access, or a building handoff. Clarify who approves the work and who receives updated diagrams and credentials when it is complete.
For firms with internal IT staff retaining some responsibilities, co-managed IT planning ranges run $60 - $160 per user/month nationally. Treat this as a planning range, not a Norcross market rate. The proposal should name the tasks retained by the firm, the provider's responsibilities, and how incidents and changes move between them.
A portfolio exception register can help keep one-off decisions from becoming invisible. For each deviation from the standard, record its reason, operational impact, accountable owner, approval, and review trigger. An exception may be necessary because of a lease boundary, inherited equipment, or building limitation; it still needs an owner.
Takeaway: Separate recurring fees, tenant work, and capital improvements, and assign responsibility for each.
What should the budget prioritize for continuity and risk?
Identify systems that affect property operations and tenant service: identity and access, network segmentation, internet dependencies, backup and recovery, cameras, and access control. Decide what must continue during an outage or cyber incident, and who is responsible for restoring each system.
Georgia breach-notification obligations may apply when an incident involves personal information, but whether a particular event triggers a legal duty depends on its facts and applicable law. Budget for security and recovery planning appropriate to the business, and consult legal counsel about the firm's obligations.
GDS Technology offers disaster recovery planning and IT compliance services. Define which systems are in scope, what evidence the property team needs, and who makes technical, operational, and legal decisions during an incident.
Edward, a commercial real estate client, said, "GDS tech support gets on top of my problems right away. It is always a pleasure working with them." When comparing providers, ask how requests are received, prioritized, escalated, and communicated under the proposed agreement.
Takeaway: Fund continuity around named systems, clear responsibilities, and a practical recovery process.
How can you compare IT proposals fairly?
Request a proposal that states the employee count, covered endpoints, recurring service scope, security responsibilities, included property systems, project rates, and assumptions about on-site work. Confirm whether every property is within the same service boundary or needs a separate assessment.
Use this checklist to compare proposals on the same basis:
- Confirm the employee count and the endpoints included in recurring service.
- Identify security responsibilities, supported property systems, and explicit exclusions.
- Separate monthly fees from project labor, equipment, and carrier charges.
- Clarify assumptions about on-site work, approvals, and closeout documentation.
If a quote uses per-device pricing, the Atlanta, GA market range is $35 - $110 per device/month. Scope varies, so check whether the rate includes device management, user support, security work, servers, network equipment, or building systems. Do not convert a per-device quote into a per-user figure without an agreed inventory and scope.
National senior IT engineer or consultant planning ranges run $175 - $350 per hour for specialized infrastructure, cloud, or security engineering. This is a planning range, not a Norcross quote. Ask what work requires senior engineering, how it is authorized, and what documentation or handoff is included.
For local context, see the Norcross service-area page and GDS Technology's commercial real estate technology services. Use the proposal review to confirm how the services described align with your actual buildings and operating needs.
Takeaway: Compare written scope and assumptions against the same inventory, not just the headline monthly figure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a reasonable IT budget for 25 commercial real estate employees?
In the Atlanta, GA market, fully managed IT ranges from $120 - $250 per user/month for comprehensive plans. Treat that as an employee-service planning range, not the full cost of supporting several properties. Building networks, cameras, access control, carrier coordination, and tenant projects need separate scope and pricing.
Should building systems be included in a managed IT agreement?
Only when the proposal explicitly includes them. Ask whether networks, Wi-Fi, cameras, access control, building automation, and carrier handoffs are monitored or supported, and identify exclusions. Many properties have separate vendors and ownership boundaries. A system inventory and responsibility map can show which recurring services belong in the agreement and which work needs a separate project scope.
How should we budget for IT work at an individual property?
In the Atlanta, GA market, IT or network technician labor ranges from $125 - $300 per hour. Use that range for scoped professional-services labor, not as a monthly fee. Ask the provider to identify the task, assumptions, authorization process, and whether travel, materials, after-hours work, and closeout documentation are included.
What should we standardize across several properties?
Standardize the information and operating controls that make sites manageable: equipment inventory, naming, system ownership, credentials custody, escalation paths, documentation, and review of exceptions. Do not assume every building needs identical hardware. Record each justified deviation, its owner, and the condition that should trigger reassessment.
Does an IT proposal establish that our firm meets Georgia breach-notification requirements?
No. A technology proposal can describe security, incident response, and recovery work within its scope, but it does not determine whether a particular incident creates a legal notification duty. That depends on the facts and applicable law. Involve legal counsel for the organization's obligations and document who coordinates technical investigation and communications.
