Every hardware team eventually has to pick an external product design partner. Over 10+ years in Dongguan we have worked with more than 200 client companies and shipped 320+ mass-produced products, with roughly 65 percent of clients returning for a second or third project. Across those engagements the questions clients ask are remarkably repetitive, and so are the mistakes. This is the checklist we would use ourselves if we were the buyer.
The direct answer: judge a product design company on five things. (1) Do they have mass-production cases in your product category? (2) Will they volunteer a manufacturability judgement before you pay? (3) Is the quotation broken down to deliverables and process steps? (4) Are revision rounds and overage billing written into the contract? (5) Do they stay involved through tooling and trial moulding? Price reference: industrial design only runs RMB 5,000-12,000; design plus structure RMB 15,000-40,000; a full package from appearance to structure, CMF, prototype and tooling follow-up RMB 30,000-80,000.
Why buyers should care: most teams shop on style. In practice projects rarely stall on style. They stall on the last four checks, because those are where scope, cost and responsibility are actually defined.
Part 1: The Five Checks
The conclusion first: same-category cases, willingness to name risks, itemised pricing, written revision terms, and involvement through mass production. If any one of the five is vague, a rework cycle is likely.
The five map onto five plain questions. Same-category cases tell you whether they understand your product type. A manufacturability opinion tells you whether they can catch tooling problems early. An itemised quotation tells you where the money goes. Written revision terms tell you at which revision the meter starts running. Post-delivery involvement tells you whether anyone is still there after the drawings are handed over.
Part 2: How to Verify Each Check
Check 1 - same-category cases. Ask: "Have you done this product category? Show me one from the last two years." Look for photos of real parts, tooling photos and assembly-process photos, not renders. A passing answer names the specific bottleneck that product hit - a heat-dissipation grille needing a slider in the tool, or key travel conflicting with water resistance. A portfolio of renders plus "the style is roughly the same" signals limited production experience.
Check 2 - manufacturability judgement. Ask: "Will the enclosure be injection moulded or die cast? How many process steps?" What you are really testing is whether they raise risks before the deposit is paid. A passing answer points out draft direction, wall thickness and snap-fit issues on the spot, and states which items must wait for the structural review. "No problem, we can make anything" usually means the problems are deferred to after the tool is cut.
Check 3 - pricing transparency. Ask: "What deliverables does this quotation include? Is redrawing included?" Look at whether the quotation is itemised or a single number. A passing answer separates appearance, structure, CMF and prototype into independent line items, and states file formats and quantities - whether a STEP file is provided, whether CMF colour chips are annotated. A single figure with no scope is the most expensive quotation in the end.
Check 4 - revision terms. Ask: "How many revision rounds are included? How is overage charged?" Look for the rounds, the deliverable per round and the overage rate written into the quotation or contract.
Experience note: fewer revision rounds is not automatically better. What matters is whether a change is a necessary revision driven back from structure. That kind of change should be carried by the design side, because it results from an incomplete earlier review. On a blood-pressure monitor project the battery compartment was revised three times before it passed assembly review, and all three rounds stayed inside the project scope with no extra charge to the client.
Check 5 - involvement after delivery. Ask: "Will you go to the factory during tooling and trial moulding? Who follows up when problems appear?" Look for concrete actions: tooling follow-up, trial-mould review, sample sign-off, and how remote projects are handled. A passing answer states a follow-up schedule and response method, and is willing to put it in the contract. For clients outside the region we typically combine video reviews with on-site attendance at critical milestones - being based in Dongguan and working across the Pearl River Delta shortens supplier communication.
One more thing: write down the responsibility boundary. Who supplies the BOM, who liaises with the tooling shop, who owns certification documents. Agreeing this during negotiation is far cheaper than arguing after the contract is signed.
Part 3: Reasonable Fees and What Pushes Them Up
On our current terms, appearance design alone is RMB 5,000-12,000, appearance plus structure RMB 15,000-40,000, and a full package from appearance through structure, CMF, prototype and tooling follow-up RMB 30,000-80,000. Where a project lands depends mainly on four factors: part count, whether free-form surface modelling is required, whether a functional prototype is needed, and whether certification is involved. Going from five parts to twenty changes the structural workload substantially.
On timing, the industry norm is 2-4 weeks from kickoff to an appearance proposal, plus 4-8 weeks for structural design and prototype validation; products requiring certification need additional test time. Actual duration depends heavily on how fast the client gives feedback.
Price sanity check: an appearance design below RMB 5,000 is either a template job or a transfer of structural risk to you. For a quote above RMB 80,000, ask first whether the extra covers tooling, certification, or multiple on-site tooling visits.
Part 4: The 8 Questions to Ask on the First Call
- Have you mass-produced a product in my category? Can I see photos of real parts?
- Who owns this project, and how many years of experience does the lead designer have?
- What deliverables does the quotation include, and in what file formats?
- How many revision rounds are included, and how is overage billed?
- How many days from kickoff to the appearance proposal?
- Will a manufacturability check be done at the structural stage, and by whom?
- Will you attend tooling and trial moulding, and how many times?
- How are payments split by milestone, and can they follow deliverable milestones?
Question 2 is the most commonly skipped. A ten-plus designer team and a two-person studio cannot take on the same project complexity. Knowing who the lead is and how many projects they run in parallel is more useful than looking at company headcount.
FAQ: Choosing a Product Design Company
Q1: How do product design companies normally charge? Appearance design RMB 5,000-12,000; with structure RMB 15,000-40,000; a full package RMB 30,000-80,000. The exact band depends on part count, surface complexity, whether a functional prototype is needed and certification requirements. Ask for the quotation to be split into appearance, structure, CMF and prototype line items so it can be compared item by item.
Q2: What should I prepare before approaching a design company? A product function description, target selling price, dimensional constraints and reference competitors - those four are enough for a first meeting. You do not need a complete requirements document. Once function, cost and size are fixed, the design direction narrows considerably; the more complete the input, the closer the first proposal will be to something usable.
Q3: How can I tell whether a case portfolio is real? Ask for photos of physical parts, tooling and assembly, and ask the team to describe the specific problems the product hit. A portfolio of renders with no detail is usually concept work. Asking "how many revisions did this one take, and where did it get stuck" separates real from staged quickly.
Q4: Can I work with a company in another region? Yes. Remote collaboration with small and mid-size manufacturers across the country is routine; what matters is attendance at critical milestones. Design reviews run online, and milestones that require seeing physical parts - tooling and trial moulding - are handled on site. Travel arrangements should be written into the collaboration terms up front.
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