Cottonwood Tech Services Lakeview · Lake County, OR (541) 219-1626

Lakeview, Oregon · Elev. 4,802 ft · Serving all of Lake County

The nearest IT department is ninety miles away. Or it's right here.

Cottonwood Tech Services is local computer repair, networking, and honest AI consulting for Lake County businesses, ranches, agencies, and households. On site when it needs hands. Remote when it doesn't.

Based in Lakeview On site across Lake County Remote support anywhere Also serving Alturas, CA

The part nobody out here offers

AI consulting that ends with something working, not a slide deck.

Every business in the county is being told it needs AI. Almost nobody is being told which part, for what, and whether it's worth the money. That's the gap.

I do the hands-on version: sit down with how your operation actually runs, find the two or three places where this technology genuinely saves hours, and then build and install it — not hand you a recommendation and an invoice.

Technical depth, plain English, and a straight good / better / best answer about what it costs and what it's worth.

Who this is for

  • Small businessesQuotes, invoices, scheduling, customer email, inventory notes — the paperwork that eats your evenings.
  • Ranch & ag operationsRecord keeping, compliance paperwork, herd and equipment logs, grant and lease documents.
  • Public agencies & healthcareDocument handling and intake work, done with the privacy and records rules taken seriously from the start.

Worth saying out loud

Sometimes the answer is “don't bother.”

Plenty of jobs are cheaper, faster, and more reliable done the way you're already doing them. If that's the case, I'll tell you, and I'd rather lose the sale than sell you a system you'll fight with for two years.

The other thing worth knowing: these tools make things up. Confidently. Fluent, well-formatted, wrong. Anything I set up for you gets built so a person checks the work where being wrong would actually cost you something — and I'll show you exactly where those checkpoints are and why they're there.

Services

Four things, done properly.

One person who knows your setup, answers the phone, and doesn't hand you off to a call center in another time zone.

AI Consulting

Assessment, tool selection, setup, and training — with an honest read on what's actually worth automating.

  • Workflow review
  • Implementation
  • Staff training
  • Privacy review

Computer Repair

Desktops, laptops, and the machine the whole shop depends on. Diagnosis, hardware, virus removal, data recovery, tune-ups.

  • Hardware
  • Virus removal
  • Data recovery
  • Upgrades

Networking & Security

Wi-Fi that reaches the whole building, wired runs, firewalls, cameras, and backups you can actually restore from.

  • Wi-Fi coverage
  • Cabling
  • Firewalls
  • Backup

Cloud & Microsoft 365

Email, shared files, and accounts set up so they keep working when a laptop dies or an employee leaves.

  • Microsoft 365
  • Email migration
  • File sharing
  • Account setup

How a job goes

No surprises on the invoice.

STEP 01

You call or write

Describe the problem however it makes sense to you. No ticket portal, no jargon required.

STEP 02

We look at it

Remote first when that's enough. On site when it needs hands or eyes on the building.

STEP 03

You get a price

Written, in plain language, before work starts — with the good / better / best options laid out.

STEP 04

It gets fixed

Then I show you what changed and what to watch for, so you're not guessing next time.

Working together

Three ways to hire me.

Most people start with As-Needed and move to a plan once they notice how often they're calling.

Hourly

As-Needed

Something broke, you want it fixed. Straight hourly rate, quoted before I start, no contract and no minimum.

Best for: households and one- or two-person shops.

Monthly

Business Care

A flat monthly rate covering monitoring, patching, backup checks, and priority response — so problems get caught before they close you for the afternoon.

Best for: shops, clinics, offices, and anyone who can't afford a down day.

Fixed bid

Project Work

New office build-out, a network overhaul, an AV or conference room install, an AI rollout. Scoped and priced up front as one number.

Best for: a defined job with a start and a finish.

Service area

Lake County is 8,300 square miles. I drive it.

Roughly the size of New Jersey, with about eight thousand people in it. Distance is the whole reason a local option matters out here.

OREGON CALIFORNIA Lakeview Fort Rock Christmas Valley Silver Lake Summer Lake Paisley Valley Falls Plush Adel New Pine Creek Alturas, CA

Schematic — town positions approximate. Not for navigation.

On-site service across the county, from Fort Rock down to the California line. Remote support reaches anywhere with a connection — which for a lot of problems is the same afternoon instead of next week.

  • Lakeview
  • Paisley
  • Plush
  • Adel
  • New Pine Creek
  • Summer Lake
  • Valley Falls
  • Christmas Valley
  • Silver Lake
  • Fort Rock
  • Alturas, CA
Lakeview → Alturas, CA54 mi
Lakeview → Klamath Falls97 mi
Lakeview → Bend140 mi
Lakeview → Portland340 mi

Outside the county? Ask anyway. Travel gets quoted up front.

Who's coming to your door

Cottonwood Tech Services is one technician who lives here.

Local, and staying

Lakeview is home. You'll see me at the store. That's a strong incentive to do the job right the first time.

Enterprise-grade habits

Years supporting networks, accounts, and workflows for a large public agency — the same standards applied at small-shop scale and price.

Straight answers

Written quotes before work starts. Plain English about what's wrong. No upsell on hardware you don't need.

Actually reachable

One phone number, one person on the other end, who already knows what your setup looks like.

Contact

Tell me what's broken.

Quotes are free. Most questions get answered the same day.

  • Phone (541) 219-1626 Call or text. If I'm under a desk, leave a message.
  • Email mikegharlan@gmail.com
  • Hours Evenings, Fridays & weekends by appointment Evenings and weekends by arrangement. Emergencies, call.
  • Based in Lakeview, Oregon On site throughout Lake County · remote support anywhere

This opens your email app with the message filled in. Prefer the phone? Call or text — that's faster.

Common questions

Before you call.

Do you charge for travel out to the ranch?

Travel within Lake County is quoted with the job, up front, so you see it before you agree to anything. Nothing gets added to the invoice after the fact.

Can you fix it without coming out?

Often, yes. Software problems, email, account lockouts, Microsoft 365, and most configuration work can be handled remotely — usually the same day, and cheaper than a drive.

Do you work on Macs?

Yes. Windows, Mac, and the networking gear behind both.

What does AI consulting actually cost?

The first conversation is free and it's genuinely a conversation, not a pitch. If there's something worth building, you get a fixed-bid number for it before any work starts.

Is my data going somewhere I can't see?

Fair question, and one to ask any vendor. Before anything is set up, we go over where your information lives, who can reach it, and what stays on your own equipment. If you're an agency or a clinic, that conversation happens first, not last.