Unlimited Projects vs. Quoted Projects: Why CIO Landing Doesn’t Offer “Unlimited”

The offer that sounds too good to pass up

A growing number of managed service providers (MSPs) now advertise unlimited projects. Server replacements, cloud migrations, new office build-outs: all included in the monthly fee. On paper, it sounds like the best deal in IT. You pay one predictable price, and every upgrade your business ever needs is covered.

We understand the appeal. Nobody likes surprise invoices. But after years of watching how these agreements play out, we chose a different model. This page explains why, and what risks a business takes on when it signs with an unlimited-project provider.

What "unlimited" usually means in practice

No provider can deliver truly unlimited work at a fixed price. A large migration can take hundreds of hours. If every client asked for one at once, the provider would go out of business. So the limit is always there. It just moves somewhere you can't see it.

That limit typically shows up in a few places:

• Scope language. Projects are included "within reason" or "within the standard stack." The provider decides what counts.
• Fair-use clauses. Contracts often let the provider reprioritize or defer work it considers excessive.
• The project queue. The provider controls the schedule. A project can be "included" and still wait months.
• Exclusions. Third-party licensing, hardware, vendor fees, and specialist work are commonly carved out.

None of this is hidden in bad faith. It is simply how the math has to work. But it means the real question is not "Are projects included?" It is "Who decides which projects happen, and when?"

The incentive problem: the improvement nobody mentions

Here is the core issue. When projects are included in a flat fee, every project the provider recommends is a cost it absorbs. Every project it doesn't recommend is money it keeps.

That doesn't make anyone dishonest. But incentives shape behavior quietly. A provider under margin pressure starts asking different questions. Not "What would make this client stronger?" but "What can we hold off on?"

We have seen the result many times when taking over clients from other providers:

• An on-premises domain controller kept alive years past its useful life, because replacing it was "included" and therefore never prioritized.
• A business still running file shares and servers that should have moved to the cloud long ago.
• Security and compliance gaps that were known, but never raised, because fixing them meant a large block of free labor.

The most expensive projects are often the ones a business needs most. Those are exactly the ones an unlimited model makes least attractive for the provider to suggest.

The client usually never finds out. You can't ask for an improvement you don't know exists. Your IT partner is supposed to tell you.

Why big projects break the unlimited model

Small changes fit comfortably into a monthly fee. Large projects do not. Here is the kind of work we mean:

Effort ranges are approximate and vary with size and complexity.

An unlimited-project provider has to fund this work from the same monthly fee that pays for help-desk tickets. Something has to give. Usually it's timing: the project waits. Sometimes it's quality: the project gets done fast instead of done right. And sometimes it simply never gets proposed.

The risks of hiring an unlimited-project provider

1. Silent neglect. Needed upgrades go unrecommended because they cost the provider money. Your environment ages without anyone telling you.
2. Endless waiting. The project is technically included, but the provider controls the queue. "Next quarter" can turn into next year.
3. Rushed work. When labor is free to the client and expensive to the provider, there's pressure to finish quickly. Testing, documentation and training are the first things cut.
4. Disputes over scope. "Unlimited" invites disagreement about what's covered. Those arguments happen at the worst moment, when you need the work done.
5. Hidden cost in the base price. Somebody pays for the projects. Every client funds them through a higher monthly rate, whether they use them or not.
6. Painful exits. When a business finally leaves, it often inherits years of deferred work, all at once, from the next provider.

The common thread: you lose visibility. You can't see what was not recommended, and you can't easily tell whether a delay is reasonable.

To be fair: what the unlimited model gets right

There are good providers offering unlimited projects, and the model has real strengths. Budgets are predictable. Clients don't hesitate to ask for help because of a quote. And a provider paying for its own support load has a reason to fix things that generate tickets.

But that last incentive only covers projects that reduce the provider's workload. Projects that make your business more secure, more compliant or ready to grow often don't reduce tickets at all. Those are the ones most at risk of being quietly deferred.

Per-project billing has its own risk, too: a provider could oversell projects to earn more. The answer to that is transparency, not bundling. Which brings us to how we work.

How CIO Landing does it instead

We split IT into two parts and price each one honestly.

Day-to-day IT: one monthly plan. It covers support, monitoring, maintenance and the full security stack. We have one plan, because every client gets the full security stack. Calls during business hours are covered by your plan. See our pricing.

Projects are quoted, clearly and up front. When your business needs a migration, an upgrade or a new site, we write it up: what it is, why it matters, what it costs and how long it takes. You decide.

This model keeps our incentives where they belong:

• We have no reason to stay quiet. Recommending an improvement never costs us money, so we tell you everything we see.
• You see the whole picture. Every recommendation is in writing, so nothing gets deferred without your knowledge.
• Projects get done right. Each one is scoped and staffed properly, not squeezed in between help-desk tickets.
• You control the timing. You choose what happens now and what can wait, based on your budget and priorities.

We also publish our contract terms, including the right to exit if we fail to deliver support, at ciolanding.com/documents.

Questions to ask any IT provider

Whether you choose us or someone else, ask these before you sign:

1. What exactly counts as a "project," and what is excluded?
2. Who decides when a project starts, and is there a committed timeline?
3. Can you show me the improvements you'd recommend for my business today, in writing?
4. What happens if we disagree about whether something is in scope?
5. If I leave, what deferred work will I be inheriting?

A good provider will answer all five without hesitation.

Frequently asked questions

Does CIO Landing offer unlimited projects?

No. Day-to-day IT support, monitoring, maintenance and the full security stack are included in one monthly plan. Projects, such as migrations, upgrades and new office build-outs, are quoted separately, in writing and up front, so you decide what happens and when.

Why doesn't CIO Landing include projects in the monthly fee?

When projects are bundled into a flat fee, every project a provider recommends is a cost it absorbs, which creates a quiet incentive to defer needed upgrades. Quoting projects separately means recommending an improvement never costs us money, so we tell you everything we see.

What is included in the monthly plan?

Help desk support, monitoring, maintenance and the full security stack for every user, at $150 to $225 per user per month. Hardware, software licenses and projects are extra. See our pricing.

How are projects quoted?

Each project is written up before any work starts: what it is, why it matters, what it costs and how long it takes. You choose what happens now and what can wait, based on your budget and priorities.

Talk to us

Want an honest look at what your IT actually needs? Call our sales team at (312) 858-8886. We'll tell you what we see, even the projects you may not want to hear about.