Before jumping head-first into the waters of ISO, you need to know: what is the cost of ISO certification?
The answer to this question and many others you have about ISO certification is the same: Depends.
How long does getting certified take? How much time do you have to invest to maintain certification? What is the best certification? The answer to all of these questions is dependent on your particular circumstances.
(Click HERE to get a FREE gap analysis).
Still, we always try to offer some guidelines. Here are a few rough estimates we made based on our years in business working with many different kinds of organizations.
Breaking Down the Cost of ISO Certification
- Copies of the Standard: To meet the standard, you have to know what the standard is. This alone can run up to $120.
- Hiring a Registrar: You need to hire a professional for 2-3 days for small size Organization at roughly $1,400 to $1800 a day based on the standard.
- Internal Costs: When calculating the cost of ISO certification, you need to figure out how much time your employees will be dedicating to the project. They must learn and implement the standard. Who are you going to assign the job to? Putting your most competent professionals in charge will save you a great deal of time and effort in gaining compliance. You’ll also have fewer mistakes to correct later on.
Depending on the size of your company, your current quality management system, and whether you get external help, expect to include 50 to 500 man hours in the cost of ISO certification.
How does your company stack up to the ISO standard? Click HERE to get a FREE gap analysis.
- External Costs: If you choose to hire an ISO consultant, you will save a lot of man hours. Your upfront costs may be higher. Consulting costs can range from $500 to $40,000 depending on how big and complex your company is. Price will also be affected by whether you want on-site or virtual consulting.
The Absolute Minimum Cost of ISO Certification
While we cannot tell you the cost of ISO certification for your company, we can put a lower limit on the price. As a small organization, you need to set aside an absolute minimum of $10,000.
This price tag may seem high, but the cost of ISO certification is dwarfed by long term pay out.