Pricing

What's the Cost of Product Development?

We have created this indicative guide to provide some transparency around the costs of developing a new product. Estimating the costs for an innovative project can be challenging, as decisions around functionality, materials and manufacturing processes, all impact the final cost. This guide aims to provide some case studies to give an idea of development and tooling costs. Whilst D2M provides product development services, we hope it's useful to have a clearer understanding of the costs that come after, as you move into production. Prices are adjusted for today’s costs and don’t include: testing, certification, intellectual property protection or various other additional factors.

Dostea

Custom prototype electronics, waterproofing, fluid dispensing system, mechanical system for dispensing the tea mixture and interface development were all critical elements of this project. The styling and functional development of the housings required several rounds of prototyping in order to reach this high-fidelity prototype. Further development, and extensive tooling and testing is required to get Dostea to market, but this working prototype supported a successful kickstarter campaign.

Product development cost:

£140,000

Tooling cost:

£200,000

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Time:O:Stat

For over a decade, our team has worked on numerous iterations of this thermostat, across the full spectrum of design services including: concept development, prototyping, manufacturing specifications, and production support. For electronic products, the cost is driven largely by the complexity of the electronics and whether they are bespoke or off the shelf. Certification and testing is also an inherent element of manufacturing this type of product and can add significantly to costs.

Product development cost:

£35,000

Tooling cost:

£20,000-£25,000

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SwitchUp

D2M has developed a number of bags and rucksacks over the years. The process for developing SwitchUp involved concept development, design drawings, material sourcing, prototyping, tech pack development, factory sourcing and sampling support. There usually aren't any tooling costs for textile products, but iterative sampling to ensure the materials, hardware (e.g. side-release clips), construction details and dimensions are right, is crucial. Occasionally it's possible to sample simpler textile products directly with the factory and avoid costly prototyping stages.

Product development cost:

£25,000-£30,000

Tooling cost:

None

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Redback Knee Pads

This soft goods product included the integration of an existing honeycomb sock absorbing panel. D2M developed the textile outer section only but significant work was required to ensure that the product was durable enough for tradespeople. Services included: concept development, design drawings, prototyping, sourcing, tech pack and production support. Where development of an integrated plastic element is required (i.e. bespoke honeycomb structure), development and tooling costs would be higher.

Product development cost:

£15,000

Tooling cost:

None

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Tatty Head

Having explored various concepts, we developed and refined the Tatty Head treat dispenser through iterative CAD modelling and prototyping, before creating a manufacturing specification and sourcing a factory for production. We also developed the branding and packaging for the product. Simple products, which are quick and cheap to prototype often have lower overall development costs, but tooling costs need to be factored in. With an injection moulded product like this, the unit costs are dramatically impacted by the order quantity.

Product development cost:

£12,000 - £15,000

Tooling cost:

£8,000 -12,000

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Product development with D2M

Every project is bespoke

No two projects or clients are ever the same. So we build a proposal that is fully tailored to your needs and the requirements of the project. These proposals are based on the years of experience and knowledge we have about the cost of developing a new product.

We always seek to add value

We know that some of our clients have more experience in product development than others. Where our clients have skillsets or existing networks, we adjust the scope of our involvement accordingly. A collaborative, flexible approach, that minimises investment.

Projects run stage-by-stage

Most of our projects run on a stage-by-stage basis. We usually invoice upfront for each stage of work, and don't move on to the next stage until the client signs off. This eases your cash flow and ensures that the scope for the next stage of the process can be fully defined.

Sometimes projects pause

Funding is usually the biggest factor in the success or failure of a project. If a pause is needed, to access more funding or re-group, that's OK with us. The beauty of the stage-by-stage process is that our clients are only ever committing to the stage they're on.