The three jobs
- Telling you what the standard requires of a company like yours. Interpretation and scoping — what applies, what does not, and what “enough” looks like for a 20-person shop rather than for an aerospace prime. This is the part you are genuinely buying expertise for.
- Producing the documents and records. The bulk of the hours, and the part most often delivered as a folder of templates with your name dropped into them.
- Running the internal audit and management review. The rehearsal for the real thing, and the part that benefits most from somebody experienced walking your floor.
Most quotes bundle all three at one day rate. Ask for them separately and the conversation changes, because the second one is the expensive one and the one you have most choice about.
What it costs
Day rates run $500–$1,250. One-time engagements run $5,000–$15,000 depending on how much of the writing they take on, and full-service implementation reaches around $15,000 at the top end.
None of that includes the certificate. That is a separate $3,000–$5,000 to an accredited certification body, it cannot be avoided or shopped away, and it is the one line where paying somebody independent is the entire point. The full cost breakdown has the rest, including the line nobody quotes you: your own team’s time.
What no consultant can do for you
Issue the certificate, or audit you for it. A certification body may not consult for a company it certifies, because the independence is what the certificate is worth. Nor may anyone who helped build your system be the one to audit it. If a single firm offers to do both, they are selling something other than an accredited certificate — which your customer can check, and increasingly does.
Make the system yours. An auditor does not read your procedures and tick them off. They take one, walk out to the person doing the job, and ask them to describe it. A document nobody on the floor recognises is not a documentation problem — it is evidence the system is not in use, and that is a serious finding. This is the specific way a bought template folder fails, and no amount of day rate prevents it.
Consultant, software, or neither
The three jobs above are also the answer to this. Job one is what a consultant is genuinely worth paying for. Job two is what software is for, and where the day rate is hardest to justify. Job three is worth buying in once and learning to do yourself, because you will need it every year afterwards and an auditor will ask who ran it.
A shop with somebody organised and willing to own it often needs less consultancy than it thinks. A shop where nobody has the time usually needs more. Neither answer is about the standard; both are about who you have.
Four questions before you sign anything
Which standard is my customer actually asking for?
Read their email again before you spend anything. Aerospace customers ask for AS9100 and medical device customers for ISO 13485 — both related to ISO 9001, neither satisfied by it. A consultant scoped to the wrong one leaves you short of the certificate you were asked for, and you pay twice to find out.
Who writes the documents — you or us?
Both answers are legitimate and they cost very differently. A consultant who writes them is faster and dearer, and leaves you with a system in somebody else's words. One who coaches your people is slower and cheaper, and the knowledge stays in the building. Get the answer in writing before the quote.
How many days are on site, and what happens on them?
Day rates are quoted per day, so this is the price. The days worth paying for are the ones that need eyes on the floor. Reading, writing and reviewing do not need a car journey attached.
Will you also certify us?
The answer has to be no. A certification body is barred from consulting for a company it certifies, and where a client has had help from a related body the recognised remedy is that it cannot be certified for two years. Anyone offering both is either not accredited or not being clear about what they are selling.
Is it worth doing at all?
You do not have to take a consultant’s word for that. We keep a live list of public contracts that name the standard, rebuilt daily, so you can see whether the demand is real in your line of work. If an email from a customer is what started this, the three questions to send back are worth ten minutes first — a surprising number of these requests are softer than they read.
In California, where aerospace and medical device customers make the wrong-standard mistake unusually likely, there is a page on what is different locally.