Miami, FL · Late 2010s, through three tax seasons
From Empty Office to a Growing Miami Tax Practice
A tax practice in Miami’s airport west commercial district took over a completely empty commercial space with tax season approaching. No cabling, no network, no phones. What they needed was simple to say and hard to deliver: be operational quickly, with local tax preparation work able to continue during an internet interruption. Electronic filing would still need connectivity.
By Lazaro Anias, founder & engineer. Published . Updated .
- Location
- Miami, FL
- Project period
- Late 2010s, through three tax seasons
- Scope
- Cabling, office networking, local software, printing and phones
Where it stands: The engagement covered three tax seasons before the owner later closed the practice. Local systems helped preparers continue working during internet interruptions.
The challenge
- A blank canvas: zero existing cabling, network hardware, or phone system in the new space.
- High stakes seasonality: an ISP outage during peak filing deadlines means direct revenue loss and angry clients the same day.
- Security separation: payment terminals and client tax data could not share a network with public guest Wi-Fi.
What we built
Structured CAT6 cabling
We installed and documented cabling for 16 client-facing workstations. The practice later expanded to 28 workstations on the same backbone.
Network segmentation
Managed switches separated the tax-office network, payment-terminal traffic and guest Wi-Fi with VLANs.
Local tax software and data
The tax software database ran on premises, allowing staff to continue preparing returns during ISP outages. Electronic transmission to outside systems still required connectivity.
Printing and phones
Centralized Xerox printing and VoIP supported the office workflow.
The results
- Staff could continue local tax-preparation work during internet interruptions across the three-season engagement.
- The office grew from 16 to 28 workstations without replacing the network backbone.
- A year-round managed IT arrangement with reduced off-season rates matched the practice’s seasonal workload.
Client details are anonymized out of respect for the businesses involved. The work, the numbers, and the outcomes are real.
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