The cost of a new office IT setup in Dubai depends on scope, not a standard rate. Cabling, network and Wi-Fi, rack and power, workstations, Microsoft 365 licences, security, backup and installation labour make up the project, and ongoing support is priced separately. A dependable total only comes from an itemised, fixed-scope quote after a site survey.
Part of our guide to New Office IT Setup.
How much does it cost to set up IT for a new office in Dubai?
There is no honest single price, because two offices with the same headcount can need very different work. What you can know in advance is how the budget is built: a one-off project for cabling, network, devices, accounts and installation, and a separate ongoing fee for support once staff move in.
Listonics publishes no price list for this reason. Projects are quoted as a fixed-scope, itemised proposal after a free site survey, and support is a fixed monthly fee per user or per device. The rest of this guide explains each budget line, what moves it, and how to tell whether a quote is complete. For the full scope of work, see the new office IT setup service.
What is a new office IT budget made of?
Almost every new office IT budget is built from the same lines. A quote that leaves one out has not removed the cost; it has moved it to later, usually to an invoice nobody expected.
- Cabling: data points to desks, meeting rooms, printers and access points, with containment, patch panels, labelling and certification testing.
- Network and firewall: a business firewall, internet failover, switches that power access points and cameras, and their configuration.
- Wi-Fi: ceiling-mounted business access points positioned from a survey, with separate staff and guest networks.
- Rack and power: the rack, a UPS, a dedicated power circuit and comms room cooling, coordinated with the fit-out contractor.
- Workstations and peripherals: laptops or desktops, docking stations, monitors, headsets, printers and meeting room equipment.
- Microsoft 365 licences: a licence for each user on the plan that fits the business, plus setup of mailboxes, shared files and permissions.
- Security: endpoint protection, multi-factor authentication, device management, email security and disk encryption.
- Backup: a copy of Microsoft 365 data held outside the tenant, and NAS or cloud backup for any files kept locally.
- Installation labour: survey, design, installation, configuration, testing, documentation and engineers on site for the first working day.
- Ongoing support after go-live: helpdesk, monitoring, patching, backup checks and on-site visits under a monthly plan.
What drives the cost of each budget line?
Each line has its own drivers, and most are set by the floor plan and the way the business works rather than by the equipment brand.
- Cabling: how many data points, the length of cable routes, the cabling category, whether ceilings are still open, and building rules on working hours.
- Network and firewall: how many internet lines, which security features are licensed on the firewall, and how many separate networks are needed.
- Wi-Fi: floor area, glass partitions, concrete cores, how densely people sit, and whether coverage must reach storage or outdoor areas.
- Rack and power: whether the space already has a usable comms room, cooling outside building hours, and how long the UPS must run.
- Workstations: whether devices are new, reused or supplied by the client, the specification each role needs, and monitors per desk.
- Licences: the Microsoft 365 plan chosen and whether some staff need advanced security or compliance features. Listonics supplies licences at cost.
- Security and backup: how sensitive the data is, what clients or regulators expect, and how much data sits outside the cloud.
- Labour: out-of-hours or weekend work, phased moves, migration of existing email and files, and fit-out delays that force return visits.
- Support: users and devices covered, coverage hours, response targets and how many on-site visits are included.
What scope does a 10, 20, 50 or 100-person office need?
Scope grows with headcount, but not in a straight line: larger offices add layers such as more network segments, device management and a local backup target. The table describes typical scope only. For detail by size, read the guides for a 10-person office, a 20-person office and a 50-person office, and the Dubai office IT infrastructure benchmark for the planning assumptions behind each size.
Example (hypothetical): a 20-person team moving into a shell-and-core unit needs cabling for every desk, meeting room and access point, a rack with UPS and cooling, a firewall with a failover line, switches, surveyed Wi-Fi, managed laptops, Microsoft 365 accounts with multi-factor authentication, and backup of Microsoft 365 data. The same team moving into a fitted office with sound, tested cabling might need only network equipment, devices and accounts, which is a much smaller project.
| Office size | Typical scope | What drives cost |
|---|---|---|
| 10 people | Cabled desks and a meeting room, a small rack, a business firewall, a switch, access points from a survey, laptops, Microsoft 365 with multi-factor authentication, cloud backup of Microsoft 365 data | Whether usable cabling already exists, device specification, and whether a failover internet line is planned |
| 20 people | The smaller office scope plus more meeting rooms, a shared printer on its own network segment, device management for laptops and a failover internet line | Meeting room equipment, monitors and docking stations, and device management setup |
| 50 people | A comms room with cooling and UPS, a switch stack, separate networks for staff, guests, printers and cameras, several meeting rooms, email security and often a NAS for large local files | Comms room works, Wi-Fi density, number of network segments, migration from an old office and phased move-in |
| 100 people | The mid-size scope with more resilience: redundant internet, a larger switch stack, centralised monitoring, a NAS with an off-site copy and structured onboarding for new starters | Floors and cable distances, redundancy expectations, out-of-hours installation, and whether an in-house IT lead shares the work |
What makes a new office IT quote reliable?
A reliable quote is itemised, fixed in scope and based on a survey of the actual space. When a new office is priced from headcount alone, the gaps show up later as variations.
- It follows a site survey or a review of the fit-out drawings, not a phone call.
- Every line is itemised: data points, network equipment, access points, devices, licences, labour and documentation.
- The scope is fixed, with written assumptions about working hours, building access and who supplies what.
- Exclusions are stated, for example electrical circuits, builder's works, furniture cabling or internet provider charges.
- It lists what you receive at handover: a network diagram, asset register, account list and port map.
- Ongoing support is quoted separately, so project and support costs can each be compared on their own terms.
What are the most common new office IT budget mistakes?
Most overruns come from items nobody priced, not from expensive equipment. Our new office IT checklist shows when each of these decisions needs to be made.
- Budgeting for laptops and forgetting cabling, Wi-Fi and the firewall.
- Leaving the comms room without cooling that runs outside building hours, then paying to fix overheating later.
- Ordering internet lines late and paying for temporary connectivity at opening.
- Treating the internet provider's router as the office Wi-Fi.
- Skipping backup of Microsoft 365 data because it is already in the cloud.
- Cabling for today's headcount only, then reopening ceilings when the team grows.
- Treating support after go-live as part of the project rather than a running cost.
- Comparing quotes by total alone when one excludes items the other includes.
How was this cost guide put together?
This guide describes how Listonics scopes and quotes new office IT projects. It is not a price survey and contains no market data, prices or averages. The office sizes in the table are planning examples that show how scope changes with headcount; the real scope of any office comes from a survey of that space. Timing is covered separately in the new office IT setup timeline guide.
How does Listonics quote a new office IT setup?
Listonics starts with a free site survey, then issues a fixed-scope, itemised proposal covering cabling, network and Wi-Fi, rack and power, devices, Microsoft 365, security, backup and installation. Support after go-live is a separate fixed monthly fee per user or per device. One team handles the whole project rather than several vendors, and at handover you receive a network diagram, asset register, account list and port map that belong to you. Book a free office IT assessment to get an itemised quote for your space.
Frequently asked questions
Listonics does not publish prices, because a rough number without a survey is usually wrong in one direction or the other. Two offices with the same headcount can differ in cabling condition, comms room works, device choices and security needs. A free site survey produces an itemised, fixed-scope quote you can compare line by line.
Usually not. The fit-out contractor covers partitions, ceilings, electrical works and sometimes containment, while the IT project covers cabling, network, Wi-Fi, devices, accounts and security. Confirm who supplies each item, especially cabling, containment and comms room cooling, so nothing is priced twice or left out.
Often, yes. Laptops, monitors and some network equipment can move if they are in good condition and still supported by the manufacturer. An audit shows what is worth reusing and what would cost more to keep than to replace. Existing cabling in a new space should be tested before anyone relies on it.
Licences are a running cost billed per user, while creating accounts, mailboxes, shared files and security settings is project work. Listonics supplies Microsoft 365 licences at cost, and ongoing administration sits in a support plan or is charged per user.
Because it is a different kind of spend. The project builds the office once; support keeps it running every month through helpdesk, monitoring, patching and visits. Listonics prices support as a fixed monthly fee per user or per device, which makes it easier to compare with hiring in-house or paying per incident.
Last reviewed September 13, 2026 by the Listonics engineering team.