Questions, answeredFrequently asked questions
Straight answers about what's covered, where we work, and how it's priced.
Does Common Good Labs offer IT support and server management?+
Yes. Alongside our software and design work, Common Good Labs provides managed server monitoring and maintenance, and everyday IT support for small and medium businesses and non-profits. That covers Windows servers and Hyper-V virtual machines, backups and restore testing, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, networks and Wi-Fi, workstations, and staff onboarding and offboarding.
What areas do you provide IT support in?+
We provide on-site IT support in St. Marys, Stratford, and across Perth County, Ontario, and remote support for clients anywhere in Canada. Server monitoring and maintenance is done remotely, so distance is not a barrier.
What does managed server monitoring actually check?+
Our agent reports daily on free disk space and growth, CPU and memory use, server uptime, pending Windows Updates and required reboots, backup completion and available recovery points, Hyper-V virtual machine state and heartbeat, antivirus definition age, drive encryption and Windows activation, and critical or error events in the Windows event log. Anything outside safe thresholds raises an alert to us.
How do you know our backups actually work?+
We do not just check that a backup job reported success. On a quarterly schedule we restore a real file from the most recent recovery point and verify it, which is the only way to prove a backup is genuinely usable. The result is recorded in your maintenance run and in your monthly report.
Do you work with non-profits and charities?+
Yes. Charities and non-profits get 20% off our monthly plans. We also help you make the most of non-profit technology programs such as discounted or donated Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace licensing.
How much does IT support cost?+
Our prices are published. Monitor is $10 per workstation and $40 per server, with a $100 monthly minimum. Protect is $35 per user, with support billed hourly. Managed is $125 per user, plus $150 for each server, with a 5-user minimum, and includes remote help during business hours. All prices are in Canadian dollars per month, plus HST, and charities and non-profits get 20% off. Onboarding is quoted separately, once we've seen what you're running.
Do we have to be an existing Common Good Labs client?+
No. Many IT support and server management clients have never had a website or app built by us. If you just need someone reliable looking after your server and your team's day-to-day technology, that is a perfectly good place to start.