How to price projects?

[eduar]

Hello guys I need your guidance on pricing projects.

There is a company that want to hire my services for a Schematic a PCB layout project. Is not going to be a complex board, I estimate no more than 6 pages. This is going to be my first time providing services of this type. So, I have no idea how to price it. The client is waiting for my proposal. What do you recommend to me? Any strategy to estimate the price?
I look forward to hearing from you.

[robertferanec]

This is a tricky question

We work on hourly bases. It is normal, that projects keep changing during development and if a fixed price is provided, it may be sometimes quite difficult to work on the project.

Everybody ask for estimation, but it depends on many factors (e.g. Stackup, VIAs vs uVIAs, Size of board, Number and size of BGA components, Number of components, Number of pins, ... ) and it is sometimes very difficult to answer. Generally, simple boards are up to 50 hours, more complex boards (with a CPU and memory) starts around 200 hours.

Some time ago I have posted our timesheets from some projects, this may help you:
- How long it takes to design a Baseboard for Computer on Module
- How long it takes a Junior Engineer to design an Advanced board?
- x86 Custom Board Design – How long it takes?
- How long Schematic design and PCB layout take – Check here

[eduar]

Thanks for your Answer Robert, it helps a lot.

[mairomaster]

^^Great information! I didn't know about those posts.