A quote that is far below the others is rarely a bargain. The saving has to come from somewhere, and the usual place is work that does not show until later.
Where the hidden costs sit
- Respins. A board that was not reviewed for manufacturing or for noise needs a new revision. Each one costs design time, new boards, assembly and weeks of delay.
- Failed certification. A design that was not built with radio and EMC limits in mind fails the lab, and the fix often means changing the board or the enclosure.
- Field returns. Marginal power design, poor thermal behaviour or untested batteries appear in customers hands, where each failure costs far more than a test would have.
- A design nobody can reproduce. Missing files, undocumented choices and firmware that cannot be rebuilt tie the product to one supplier.
- Tooling already cut. A change after the moulds are made costs a mould round.
What a cheap quote tends to leave out
- Design review for manufacturing before tooling.
- A written test plan and production test method.
- Certification planning and lab support.
- Delivery of source files, firmware source and build instructions.
- A real prototype stage before tooling, as opposed to a single build.
A development board is not a prototype
A hand-wired development board proves the idea. It does not prove the product, because the real PCB, the enclosure, the battery and the antenna all change the behaviour. Budget for a real design.
What to ask before accepting a low price
- What exactly is included, and what is excluded?
- Which validation builds are planned?
- Who owns the design and the firmware, and when do the files arrive?
- How is certification handled?
- What happens if the first build fails?
This is why we like to agree a written scope and deliverables with you at the start. See what NRE covers.
Planning a product? Tell us what you are building.