Rates & Billing Policies

Clear, transparent IT consulting. No prepaid labor retainers. No managed-service contracts.

An optional Managed Agent device-maintenance and security layer is available month-to-month at $50 per enrolled device per month, separate from live consulting work. The math, the scope, and the billing boundary are visible before enrollment.

IT Consulting & Support Rates

• Base Rate: $275 per hour

• Minimum Charges:

  • On-site service: 1-hour minimum (this first hour functions as a booking deposit)
  • Remote / phone / screen-sharing support: 30-minute minimum (booking deposit)

• Billing Increments: All work beyond the initial minimum is billed in 1-minute increments, based on session timers and documented work.

• Specialty Rate: $400/hour for advanced networking and scientific engineering engagements, 30-minute minimum. Scope is defined and agreed upon during the discovery call. Work performed within that scope is billed at the specialty rate; all other services are billed at the standard rate.

For complex projects that benefit from sustained focus, primary-source research, and uninterrupted execution, see Full-Day & Multi-Day Engagements →.

Unsolicited Marketing Calls — A Separate Rate Schedule

Our support line exists for three kinds of caller: paying clients, pre-approved and established scientific colleagues, and people who need help and cannot pay — the elderly, students, low-income families. We keep that lane open on purpose. It is why the number is published.

If you are a telemarketer, robocenter, or lead-generation operation, you are none of those three, and this schedule applies to you:

• Rate for unsolicited marketing calls received on any published IT Help San Diego line: $400.00 per hour, 30-minute minimum per incident, billed in 1-minute increments thereafter. This is our standard specialty-engineering rate with the standard minimum that applies to all specialty work — specialty engagements are never billed below the specialty minimum. The charge applies to the time each unsolicited call occupies — including interruption, triage, callback, and documentation of the call itself.
• Why our rate is lower than the statutory one: the Telephone Consumer Protection Act allows a called party to recover actual monetary loss or $500 per violation, whichever is greater, trebled to $1,500 per call for willful or knowing violations (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3)). Our posted rate is offered as a settled, documented alternative to pursuing statutory damages. A recipient who answers in small-claims court — a venue the U.S. Supreme Court has confirmed is open to an unrepresented party, Mims v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC, 565 U.S. 368 (2012) — does not get the $100 discount.
• What counts: calls placed without prior express consent by or on behalf of a seller, using live agents, autodialers, or prerecorded voice, to a number whose published purpose is inbound technical support. Congress has found that such calls to businesses "are a nuisance, are an invasion of privacy, and interfere with interstate commerce" (Pub. L. 102-243, § 2(14)–(15) (1991)).
• Evidence: every call to this line is logged with carrier-grade records, timestamps, and where available full transcripts. Records are retained and provided with any invoice.
• Resolution options — either one closes the matter: (1) pay the invoice at the posted rate, or (2) permanently cease all calls to this number. There is no third option.
• This is not an offer of services, and no services were requested. It is a published schedule of charges for unwanted interruptions to a working support line, offered for settlement purposes only, and does not waive any statutory right or remedy, all of which are expressly reserved.

Organizations that genuinely need engineering help are welcome to engage like any other client — through the front door, at the same rates everyone else pays. Organizations that keep calling to sell will receive an invoice, and each subsequent call after an invoice is a knowing and willful contact with a published rate schedule.

IF YOU WANT TO DISCUSS YOUR SPAM PRODUCT IT WILL COST YOU $400HR, BILLED PER MINUTE with a valid card on file, and we can talk about your shitty spam all day long.

Travel

Local travel is billed as follows:

• Transportation: billed at actual cost (e.g., Uber/Lyft).
• Travel time: billed at the standard hourly rate, based on actual transit duration as recorded by Uber/Lyft ride receipts (pickup to drop-off only; wait time is not billed).

For local travel of 15 minutes or less each way, travel time is not billed.
If travel exceeds 15 minutes in either direction, all travel time is billable.

Out-of-area or extended travel is quoted or pre-approved in advance.

Air travel is billed at actual cost (transport and lodging) plus travel time.

Booking & Payment Policy

• Booking Deposit: Appointments are reserved only after the minimum charge is authorized:

  • On-site: 1 hour
  • Remote: 30 minutes

  This deposit applies directly to the first block of service time and is not an extra fee.

• Payment Method: A valid credit card is required to book services. We do not accept checks and do not offer net terms. No card, no service — no exceptions.

• How Billing Works:

  • Scope and estimated time are agreed upon in advance whenever practical.
  • Charges apply only to time actively worked.
  • Billing occurs after each completed session or day of service.
  • Invoices clearly itemize total time worked, billing increments applied, service type (on-site or remote), and the date(s) services were performed.

We do not bill recurring fees, retainers, or unattended time.

Scheduling & Cancellation

• Cancellation / Rescheduling: At least 24 hours’ notice is required to avoid charges.
• Late Cancellations / No-Shows: Cancellations with less than 24 hours’ notice or missed appointments are billed for the minimum booked time, as that time was reserved exclusively for you.

Quick Questions & Brief Communications

• Existing clients may call, text, or email at any time.
• Unscheduled communications lasting 10 minutes or less are not billed.
• If an interaction exceeds 10 minutes, billing is activated for the full duration, subject to standard minimums (30-minute remote minimum).
• Multiple or fragmented interactions about the same issue may be combined and treated as a single interaction for billing purposes.
• Courtesy time is capped at 10 minutes per issue within any 24-hour period — so you can run something by us without fear of being billed.
• The same 10-minute courtesy lane applies to clients enrolled in the Managed Agent device-maintenance layer.

Privacy, Security & Ethics

• All client data is encrypted and never shared or sold.
• We have served high-profile and security-sensitive clients for over 27 years.
• We have never had a data leak and never speak with media or third parties.

Business Ethics — Carey’s Promise

We sell time (research, analysis, execution), not products.
No affiliate commissions. No kickbacks. No hidden incentives.

We do not accept referral payments. Vendors occasionally offer compensation for directing clients to services (e.g., data recovery providers). We decline. Recommendations are made solely on technical merit and verified performance.

Pay-to-play incentives — including referral commissions and locked distributor agreements where service providers are restricted to a single vendor ecosystem — distort outcomes, degrade trust, and undermine the integrity of technical decision-making. In many cases, this results in suboptimal equipment being deployed regardless of better-performing or more appropriate alternatives.

All recommendations are grounded in verifiable data so clients can make informed decisions. Transparency and long-term reliability come first.

Final Notes

IT Help San Diego provides expert support across Mac, Linux, Windows, enterprise networking, cybersecurity, and crisis-response scenarios.

No retainers.
No managed-service contracts.
Clear billing, agreed work, documented time.

YOUR TECH PROBLEMS ARE ABOUT TO DISAPPEAR. 🚀