Sample Pricing for Product Development
How much should you budget for hiring a product development firm?
Wondering what it might cost to develop your product?
Development cost is an important factor for product viability. Along with production cost, tooling cost, sales price, and sales volume, it is a critical input to the financial analysis that drives your decisions.
The examples below show development, engineering, and prototyping cost, but do not include tooling costs, first-run production costs, packaging cost, etc. In some of these examples the timeframe is driven by the client’s target spend rate per month.
Several factors impact the total cost of development. Product complexity and level of cost-optimization are two of the biggest drivers. Accordingly, the project examples and related costs may not correlate to the actual cost of your project.
Project Example |
Development cost($) |
Timeframe |
| Rugged single-part plastic product that incorporates innovative mechanical elements | $44,000 | 4 Months |
| Large industrial equipment incorporating a purchased drivetrain with custom designed ruggedized chassis, controls, cooling system, and enclosure | $450,000 | 12 Months |
| Industrial docking station for proprietary tablets, including secure bet sheet metal enclosure and mounting considerations | $125,000 | 3 Months |
| Rugged wearable electronic device that measures acceleration to warn the user of hazardous conditions | $75,000 | 6 Months |
| Rugged single-part steel hand tool for specific cutting tasks, with multiple proprietary features integrated | $20,000 | 2 Months |
| Re-design of existing Specialty equipment for specific industrial application requiring rugged design, electronics integration, touch screen, sensor integration | $95,000 | 9 Months |
| Industrial automation cell for production of a small medical device with very high precision, using commercially available robotic arm but custom designed fixturing, infeed, and outfeed | $370,000 | 12 Months |
| Rugged home appliance with integrated wireless communications (BLE and WiFi) plus integrated mechanicals and control systems | $525,000 | 15 Months |
| Commercial equipment incorporating industrial servos, motion control, custom chassis, control scheme, multiple sensor sets, and communication with outside hardware | $380,000 | 12 Months |
| Enclosure development for rugged (IP-67) industrial product that is mounted inside fleet vehicles. | $44,000 | 4 Months |