There are many factors to consider when proposing a budget for this kind of project.
The graph below shows a rough estimate for the hourly rate for chartered engineers who belong to the Engineering Council based on years experience.
Another factor to consider is location. The graph below shows that the hourly rate varies upon the location of the engineer with the UK.
Also, the hourly rate will vary depending on whether the engineer is self-employed or working for another company.
And obviously, the hourly rate will vary depending on the type of engineer.
Ideally the costs of the project need to be kept to a minimum, however, it is likely that in order for the project to have the best overall outcome the following roles would need to be filled:
Project Team:
Project Manager
Industrial Designer
Electrical Engineer
Mechanical Engineer
Software Engineer
In terms of wages, most employees will be paid based on experience. This could be anything from £15 – £60 an hour.
The project itself is realistically going to take between 1-2 years to complete.
The average amount of hours that one person works in one day is 8 hours.
If each Engineer/Designer (excluding the project manager) were to be paid £30 per hour for an 8 hour day of work then the total costs for just one day of work would be £960 (£240 to each employee).
It is unlikely that these employees will be needed throughout the whole course of the project.
The minimum timescale for the project is 12 months so based upon 3 months of work from each employee, working 8 hours a day, 4 days a week at the rate of £30 per hour the costs to hire these employees for 1 year will be around £46,080.
The wages of the Project Manager still need to be added on to this.
Assuming that the project manager will be paid roughly the same but for a period of 12 months, the costs for the overall wages of the above employees will estimate around £92,160.
Other factors to consider:
- Costs of Materials
- Material to make the frame of the glasses
- The lenses
- The Augmented Reality Lens
- The Software (Android)
- The Microphone(s)
- The Micro-projectors
- Sales and Marketing
- Promotional costs
- Packaging
- Costs of production
- Costs of material
- Costs of employees
I understood that this project was going to be cost worthy but I didn’t understand just how much. I decided to get in touch with some companies via email to see if they could give me any advice on how to lower costs or even a rough estimate on how much they think the project is likely to cost overall. I emailed well known companies as well as freelancers. Only one person responded to my email and here is what he said:
James’ response got me thinking. I was unaware of how much a project like this would actually cost. I realised then that the costs of production for my project were going to be extortionate!
But then I figured that the costs of production may actually be a lot less because the plan is to only incorporate the essentials, the elements that are in most smart glasses are not needed, for the purpose of this project is to create a pair of smart glasses that display an Augmented version of a woman singing BSL, there is no need for extra components such as navigation, headphones, bluetooth connection, wifi connection, photography etc. Hopefully, this will result in the overall costs being reduced.
Having said this, I’ve realised that I have not considered the costs of hiring a Sign Language Interpreter, and because a highly qualified professional interpreter is required, the costs may be expensive.
Sign Language Interpreters
Figures from the National Career Service website estimate that the hourly rate for a freelance sign language interpreter vary from £25 – £30 an hour. Wages for interpreters who are employed by another company can vary depending on experience and location.
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/job-profiles/british-sign-language-interpreter
I would need to consider the fact that additional charges may occur for hiring a sign language interpreter to work on a project like this, as they will not be performing their ordinary job role.
Summary of Expenses
I decided to make a rough spreadsheet of the estimated overall costs. My projected costs are based upon project tasks divided into five subject categories, Project Design, Project Development, Project Delivery, Project Management and Other Costs.
I have based the labour costs for employees (Project Manager, Industrial Designer, Software Engineer, Hardware Engineer, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers) on a wage of £30 per hour per 8 hour day. This may be subject to change. Therefore I have allocated an additional £7,680 to cover 384 hours of work.
The costs for the Sign Language Interpreter is based up 96 hours of work at an hourly rate of £50.
I have allocated £60,000 for all materials (including hardware and software).
The total contingency allowance is £17,100.00 to cover any overtime in hours, extra material costs, additional travel expenses and any other costs not mentioned.
The total costs estimated for the whole project is £129,430.00 based on a 1 year timeframe.
