From unexpected "laptop setup" time to on-site visits you thought were included, there always seems to be something extra and unexpected on the IT service providers' bill.
The Managed IT industry has experienced fast growth leading to pricing models that can vary significantly. Sometimes SMEs gravitate towards Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that advertise low monthly rates (who doesn't love saving some wonga?) only to later discover that those rates do not actually cover everything that an MSP should cover. As an SME, you want to know where your support ends, and where chargeable work begins, so in order to arm you with the info you need to avoiding those extra unexpected fees within your IT support agreements, let's take a look at where such fees might come from.
To be clear, not all MSPs operate this way - many are transparent and upfront about what is and isn’t included (we certainly try to be) - but the confusion often comes from unclear scopes rather than outright bad intent.
The most common hidden fees in Managed IT contracts
Common charges include:
Emergency or after-hours support - Some MSPs would bill more for late night or weekend support, including cyber incident investigations.
Project based work - New setups, upgrades and migrations are commonly labelled as 'out of scope'.
On site visit fees - Labour and travel aren't usually included in the monthly fee.
Hardware costs - Blown up prices for licensing and equipment.
In most cases, these charges exist because they require additional time, specialist resources, or availability that can’t realistically be bundled into a single flat monthly fee without significantly increasing costs.
These extra charges are frustrating for SMEs and make it a nightmare for them to predict their monthly IT expenses. This is why avoiding those MSP hidden fee contracts is more than a financial worry; it is all about building trust.
Emergency or after hours support
Many MSPs structure their 'basic' plan to only cover support during their normal business hours. Anything outside of those business hours would be classed as 'premium labour'. Some contracts do state that 24/7 support is not included, which means any help provided after these business hours will be chargeable. This would also include cyber incident investigations and the response that follows.
The reason this is charged separately is because most of the time it would require on-call staffing and sometimes escalated resources. This is why if you have a late-night outage or a server failure on a weekend often results in an invoice that is more than a tad higher than you were expecting.
Maintaining a 24/7 on-call team is expensive, which is why you'll find that the majority of MSPs charge extra for out-of-hour reports to offset the extra costs of staffing.
This is also why cheaper support plans usually come with stricter time boundaries. Maintaining true 24/7 cover has a real cost, and not every business wants to pay for it upfront.
There are several things that fall under the project-work umbrella, such as:
New server setups
Microsoft 365 migration
Implementation of new cybersecurity tools
The restructure of shared drives
Brand spankin' new network equipment installations
These aren't seen as 'break-fix' issues, so an MSP would usually categorise them as out-of-scope. In simple terms, managed support is designed to keep existing systems running, not to design, change, or replace them.
These tasks usually require planning, specialist engineers, and more time, which means they would fall into a different pricing bucket entirely. That is why you can find your monthly fee doesn't cover large upgrades such as the above; they require additional hour and new configurations.
From the perspective of an MSP, whacking all of this work into one flat monthly fee would push the price through the roof, whereas from a clients perspective it would feel like another one of those dreaded unexpected charges on an invoice if the contract wasn't as straightforward as they thought.
For most businesses, that would make monthly support unaffordable - even if they rarely needed that level of change.
On-site visit fees
You're paying for IT support, so obviously that should include someone popping their head in when something needs attention, right? You'd think so...
In reality, most managed IT contracts are built around remote support first, because it’s faster, more efficient, and easier to scale.
As an SME, this could come as a shock to the system, like dunking your head into a bucket of ice water, especially if you thought these on-site visits were part of their unlimited support. On-site visits usually require pulling somebody away from scheduled work, sourcing the extra resources and then spending extra dosh on the trip to your office.
That is why MSPs would typically treat on-site labour as an additional charge instead of a standard inclusion. It isn't that they don't want to help you out; it's simply because it costs more to deliver that type of support consistently without sending the monthly fees to the moon.
Alongside answering the question on everybody's mind, we also took a little dip into a few other questions surrounding hidden costs within Managed IT Contracts. You can find the article here - it's pretty informative if I do say so myself!
Hardware costs
Another area where those dreaded unexpected bills start to pile up can be additional costs associated with hardware setups.
Additional harware setup costs are a trade‑off for convenience, accountability, and compatibility assurance. The issue only arises when pricing isn’t explained clearly, or when customers aren’t given the option to supply their own equipment if they prefer.
MSPs will happily set up the following on our behalf:
Laptops
Firewalls
Licensing
Switches
This convenience does comes at a price though (as most things convenient do). This is justified by MSPs by the labour it takes for their staff - grabbing the laptop(s), handling the warranties, installation, configuration and making sure the gear is compatible with your companies' environment.
Some MSPs are prone to charging inflated rates or bundling tools into a package that isn't as transparent as you would think, whether it's for:
Security tools
Backup software
Endpoint protection
Microsoft 365
For an SME trying to budget, these extra costs can be pretty daunting, especially when you thought you had everything covered in that misleading flat monthly rate you were quoted. Without clear visibility on hardware pricing, it's almost impossible to predict your future IT spending.
This makes trust and transparency more important than it has ever been.
How to avoid unexpected IT charges
Before signing an IT support agreement, it’s worth asking:
What’s included in day‑to‑day support, and what’s classed as a project?
Are on‑site visits included or chargeable?
What counts as out‑of‑hours or emergency support?
How hardware and licensing is priced, and whether self‑procurement is an option
How additional work is quoted and approved before it starts
Why transparency matters more than ever
MSP hidden fees contracts are a budgetary nightmare, but they're also an indication of unclear agreements and expectations that are mismatched. From emergency labour and project work to on-site visits and bloated hardware charges, these extras can turn an at-face-value monthly rate into a financial migraine in a matter of weeks for SMEs.
As the managed IT landscape grows and a wider variety of pricing models become available, transparency is no longer a nicety; it now must be a necessity. Businesses deserve billing that is easy to predict, honest scopes of work, and partners who prioritise trust over attempts to upsell unnecessary additional services.
By understanding where these unexpected costs can happen, SMEs can choose what MSP provides the most clarity, long-term value, and constant consistency without any nasty surprises lurking in that harrowing small print.
Ditch the hidden fees, get IT support you can put your trust in!
At One2call, we believe the key to avoiding billing surprises is clear scopes, documented inclusions, and upfront conversations before any chargeable work begins - not unexpected invoices after the fact.
