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This page
intends to answer the most
frequently asked questions about working with Mechanical Engineering
Professionals, LLC. If you have more detailed questions, please do
not hesitate to contact us. The one main question we get that we
cannot answer in a generic way is “How much would is cost to design
a [Insert Product Name Here]?” In all product design, cost is
highly dependent on the details, the amount to be manufactured, and
the quality to which it is designed. We are happy to provide detail
estimates to clients serious about production, but hopefully this
information will be useful guidance in perhaps estimating some costs.
Do
you work by the hour or based on a
flat fee?
We are happy to
work either way. Most of our clients prefer a phased flat fee structure
where we break
our fees into phases and charge a flat fee per phase. We can give
estimates for all phases but we usually only give firm price for the
next phase in a long development project. See our project
development process page for a list of the common phases that
we break
a project into.
We are flexible
on payment schedule and
terms as long as it's in the realm of reason. If your company has a
set way to deal with consultants, we can usually find a way to modify
our contracts or procedures to accommodate.
How
much do you charge?
Please see our rates and
fees pages for
a detailed answer and explanation of our fee structure. We usually
work on a flat fee per phase structure (as mentioned above) which
varies the hourly rate. But in general our services can be estimated
based on a $90/hour rate.
Mechanical
Engineering Professionals' Rates and Fees
How
do we start to work with Mechanical
Engineering Professionals, LLC?
The first part
is contacting us to
start discussions on what your project entails. Most clients begin
by signing a non-disclosure agreement with us prior to discussing the
project. We are willing to sign most non-disclosure agreements as
long as they don't have any outrageous clauses (like requiring us to
break our other client's confidentiality). We also have a standard
agreement which you can download by clicking on the link below.
Mechanical
Engineering Professionals'
Standard Nondisclosure Agreement
If you don't
need a nondisclosure
agreement that is fine with us as well.
The next step
would be to discuss your
project and it's requirements in detail. After we have discussed the
project with you, we will come up with an initial estimate. This
usually takes a few days. You can see an example of what an estimate
looks like by following the link below.
Mechanical
Engineering Professionals
Example Initial Estimate
If the estimate
looks acceptable to
you, we will write it into a more detailed official statement of
work. If there was anything you wanted changed from the original
estimate we would discuss it and write the desired statement of work
with the agreed on changes. One can see an example Statement of Work
by clicking on the link below.
Mechanical
Engineering Professionals
Example Statement of Work
The Statement
of Work would become part
of a standard contract to engage us. Our standard contract can be
viewed or downloaded by clicking the link below. Note that we
can
adjust terms to suit a client or use another contract provided it is
agreeable.
Mechanical
Engineering Professionals
Standard Contract
Once the
contracts are signed and we
receive initial payment, work will begin immediately.
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