How we price product development, and why we have a minimum
A fixed-price discovery phase, a scoped budget per phase after it, and a floor under every project. Here is the logic, including the work we decline.
Clients ask how we charge. The short version: a discovery phase at a fixed price, then a scoped budget per phase with a gate between phases, and a minimum below which we do not take a project. This article explains each part and why.
The discovery phase: one fixed price
Every larger project starts with two weeks of discovery at a fixed 10,000 euros, with no obligation to continue. It ends with a requirements list, a risk map, a product architecture and a proposal for the phases that follow. If the client goes elsewhere afterwards, they keep all of it.
We fix this price because the scope is the same every time, and because a client committing a large budget to a studio they have not worked with deserves a low-risk way to find out whether the fit is right. Almost every discovery phase turns into a project. That is not because it is a sales trick; it is because two weeks of real work settles the questions that make a client hesitate.
After discovery: a scoped budget per phase
Strategy, design, engineering, manufacturing support. For each, a proposal that describes the scope, the deliverables, the reviews and the budget. The budget is based on what discovery established, not on a guess made before the product existed.
A gate sits between phases. The client sees the deliverables, decides whether to continue, and can stop with something usable: a validated concept, a frozen design, a release package their own factory can quote from. We re-scope the next phase at each gate with what we have learned, so the budget tracks the product rather than an early assumption.
When the scope changes mid-phase, we say so in writing and price the change before doing the work. That sentence is how projects stay on budget.
What is in the budget and what is not
The proposal includes the design and engineering work, the prototypes listed, the reviews and the documents. It lists separately what is passed through at cost: tooling, certification testing, purchased components, travel to factories. We do not mark those up, because marking them up would give us a reason to want more of them.
The minimum, and why it exists
A design-only project starts at 30,000 euros. Design and engineering together start at 50,000 euros. Full development from strategy to manufacturing typically lands between 80,000 and 150,000 euros and above, depending on part count, mechanisms and the certification route.
The floor is not arbitrary. Below it, the work cannot be done at the standard our clients hire us for: the research gets skipped, the prototypes get skipped, the factory conversation gets skipped, and the result is a rendering rather than a product. We would rather say no than deliver that.
The floor also protects the client. A product that will carry a company for years deserves a development budget in proportion. If the budget is not there yet, a discovery phase and an honest conversation about timing serve everyone better than a thin project.
What we do not quote
Some requests we decline before pricing, because the shape of the request predicts the outcome:
- Price comparisons. Three studios, one brief, cheapest wins. If price is the only criterion, the brief is not ready and the project will be decided on the wrong thing.
- Concept-only work. Renders without engineering or a path to production are marketing material. We build products that get made.
- Styling refreshes and cost-down exercises with no engineering need. Our depth is wasted and the client pays for it.
- Investor-demo prototypes. Built to look finished for a pitch, rarely useful afterwards.
- Rescue jobs with a deadline next week. We help clients in trouble, but a proper diagnosis takes longer than a week, and a promise to fix it faster would be dishonest.
- Public tenders. The process is slow, the conversion is low, and the work rarely rewards design.
On discounts
We do not move on price without understanding what drives the concern. Sometimes the right answer is a smaller scope, a later start, or a discovery phase first. A discount with no reason behind it tells the client the first price was not real, and it tells our team the work is worth less than it is. Neither is true.
What we ask in return
A single decision-maker, reviews that happen on the dates agreed, and honesty about the budget from the first call. Tell us the number. We will tell you what it buys, and if the answer is "not enough yet", we will tell you that too.