# What does the engineering cost cover? — SyntaForge

Canonical: https://syntaforge.com/en/knowledge/engineering-costs/
Language: en

> This is a text rendering of the same public webpage. Use the canonical URL for citation. Private inquiry records and administrator data are never included.

[Home](https://syntaforge.com/en/) / [Knowledge](https://syntaforge.com/en/knowledge/) / Starting a project

Starting a project

# What does the engineering cost cover?

[All questions](https://syntaforge.com/en/knowledge/)

## The short answer

The proposal should separate development work, prototypes, tooling and test fixtures from the unit price. The scope and payment stages are agreed before the work starts.

## In more detail

Depending on the project, one-time engineering costs may cover mechanical design, circuit and firmware work, prototype materials, molds and production test equipment.

If the specification changes, we review the effect on cost and schedule before proceeding. Any tooling rebate or other commercial arrangement belongs in the signed terms.

### Let’s talk about your product.

Share the user, the task and what you have so far. We can work through the next step together.

[Talk to us](https://syntaforge.com/en/contact/)

#### Related questions

[Can we start with just an idea?](https://syntaforge.com/en/knowledge/starting-with-an-idea/) [Can we start with a small batch?](https://syntaforge.com/en/knowledge/small-batches/) [How will we work across time zones?](https://syntaforge.com/en/knowledge/working-across-time-zones/)