No clue how to price a PCB design

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,621
Didn’t get that far, from a meeting last week he’s told me he’s presold his units to the STEM education market. I will ask for more detail while we talk on Tuesday when he has all the stuff ready to hand over to me.

In fact he’s asked me for product ideas/design to expand his product category in the future
If he gets good and reliable service from you, he probably prefers that, than going to a specialty company where he knows it will cost $$$'s.
Doesn't sound like it is a mom & pop operation with that much equipment, does he run them himself, or have machine operators?
Max.
 

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Wolframore

Joined Jan 21, 2019
2,609
He’s got what looked like about 20-30 employees. All he does now is just oversight and develop new markets. I met him through his financial adviser who’s a fan of my projects. He’s pretty much set for life.
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,621
In fact he’s asked me for product ideas/design to expand his product category in the future
Keep in mind that when you do this kind of work, he is not just paying you for your actual time involved as he would a guy operating a machine and pushing a button.
Anyone that produces something that has taken some kind of involved learning experience generally over a certain period of time, at a cost at an institution, or even just learned in their own time, has to recoup something for this personal time and effort.
IOW, he is also buying your knowledge as well as your time.
Max.
 

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Wolframore

Joined Jan 21, 2019
2,609
I quoted $500 and he didn’t even flinch. Should have quoted higher. Haha. But it’s an ice breaker and one to get us started working together.
 

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Wolframore

Joined Jan 21, 2019
2,609
Then he told me he’s charging $500 per unit. I know I didn’t quite high enough. I will ask unit cost next time.
 

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Wolframore

Joined Jan 21, 2019
2,609
So now I’m on hold while they order parts. They want a working board as a deliverable. This took a lot longer than I originally thought. Making components fit into an enclosure is a pain in the butt. I was able to improve the design in a few ways.

Meanwhile they sent a second RFQ. This one is a bypass cap board that goes into its own enclosure. Seeing bits and parts is not ideal but I suppose it’s all that needed to get it done.
 

RobNevada

Joined Jul 29, 2019
66
I always like to think about the IBM tech that was called out to fix an IBM system installed in the 70's. He arrived at the site in 1979 and was there for about an hour while he unpacked his tools. Then after listening to the client for 15 minutes he went over and tighten a screw. The mainframe came to life and began functioning again. The bill was $50,000 dollars and the client said why so much. The tech responded I knew what screw to adjust. Same for PCB Designers.
 
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