Most people call a model shop once and immediately discover they cannot answer the first three questions. Is this an appearance model or a functional one? Do you have STEP files or just a sketch? What finish and color, and against what reference? The shop is not being difficult. Those answers change the price by a factor of ten and the schedule by a month, and getting them wrong is the usual reason a model arrives technically correct and completely useless for the meeting it was built for.
Three kinds of model, and why the prices are so far apart
Appearance models
An appearance model exists to be seen and held. Nothing inside it works. It is usually machined or printed, then filled, sanded, primed, and painted until it reads as a finished retail product across a conference table. Weight is added deliberately with steel or brass slugs, because a light object reads as cheap no matter how good the paint is. These are what go to investor meetings, packaging photography, and trade shows.
Functional models
A functional model does the job. Buttons click, a motor drives the mechanism, electronics run. It very often looks rough, with visible fasteners, a printed housing in whatever color the powder was, and wires exiting somewhere inelegant. Trying to make one model do both jobs is the single most expensive decision in this category, which is why the looks-like versus works-like distinction is worth settling before you request a quote.
Engineering models
An engineering model is built to be measured. It exists so someone can check fit, clearance, assembly sequence, or a tolerance stack in physical form, and it is made in materials chosen for dimensional behavior rather than looks. This is where how much deviation is acceptable in a model stops being an abstract question, because a shop that hits plus or minus 0.010 inch charges differently from one held to plus or minus 0.002 inch.
Two variants sit alongside these. Scale models compress a large product into something a person can carry, with real consequences for what you can learn, and a scale model trades away everything that depends on absolute size. Cutaway models are built to explain, and a sectioned display model shows the mechanism the sales team keeps trying to describe.
What you are expected to supply
The more of this you bring, the less you pay, because every gap gets filled with billable interpretation.
- Geometry. Native CAD or a STEP file is ideal. A dimensioned sketch is workable for simple forms. Photographs of a hand-built mockup with a ruler in frame are better than nothing and are accepted more often than people expect.
- Finish reference. A physical object you want the surface to resemble beats any adjective. Gloss level, texture, and softness of edges are all judged by comparison, not description.
- Color. Pantone or RAL numbers, ideally with a printed or physical chip. Screen colors are not colors.
- Function scope. An explicit list of what must actually work and what may be faked. Ambiguity here always resolves in the expensive direction.
- Branding artwork. Vector logo files and the intended application method, since a pad-printed mark, an applied label, and a machined-in logo look nothing alike.
- Deadline and audience. Who sees it, on what date, and from how far away. A model seen from three feet needs different work than one that gets handled.
If your color and finish decisions are still open, that is a design task rather than a shop task, and it belongs in the color, material, and finish stage before anyone starts cutting.
What comes back
A good shop delivers more than an object. Expect the model itself in protective packaging or a fitted case, a short note on materials and processes used, the file set as modified for fabrication, and photographs. Ask up front about two things people routinely forget: whether the shop will supply the modified fabrication files back to you, and who owns the model and the tooling used to make it. Both should be settled in writing before work starts.
Expect a defect list too, because a hand-finished object has a finite standard. Reputable shops state their acceptance criteria, such as no visible seam lines at eighteen inches, rather than promising perfection. On painted models, plan for a touch-up round after shipping damage, which is common enough that many shops include a small repair kit.
Realistic lead times and price bands
| Model type | What it proves | Typical lead time | Typical price each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic study model, unfinished | Proportion and size | 2 to 5 days | $200 to $900 |
| Finished appearance model | How the product reads to a buyer | 2 to 4 weeks | $2,500 to $15,000 |
| Functional model, mechanical | The mechanism works | 3 to 6 weeks | $4,000 to $30,000 |
| Functional model with electronics | The whole product behaves | 6 to 14 weeks | $10,000 to $80,000 |
| Engineering fit model | Parts assemble and clear | 1 to 2 weeks | $300 to $3,000 |
Rush work is real and costs 30 to 100 percent more. The bands widen fast with size, part count, and clear or metallic finishes, which are the two surfaces that punish any flaw underneath. For a broader view of where prototype money goes, the general cost breakdown for prototypes is a useful sanity check before you set a budget.
How to brief a shop so the result is usable
Write the brief around the decision the model has to support. We need to know whether buyers at a retail meeting believe this is a premium product produces a different build than we need to know whether the lid closes without binding, and a shop told the first will happily deliver something useless for the second.
Then be explicit about three things. State what may be faked, in writing, item by item. State the viewing distance and whether the model will be handled by strangers, because handled models need durable finishes and internal reinforcement. State the revision plan, since asking for one round of changes after a first review is normal and pricing it up front prevents an awkward conversation later.
Finally, book a review at the unfinished stage. Almost every shop will show you the model in primer, and that is the last moment when a proportion change is cheap. Once the color coats are on, the paint work behind a production-looking finish has to be stripped and redone to change anything underneath.
Projects House builds appearance, functional, and engineering models for US clients and will help you decide which one your next meeting actually needs. Describe the product, the audience, and the date through our contact form and we will come back with a scope and a realistic schedule.