ISO 9001 Consultant Cost: Fees, Audit Days and Internal Time

By Ishan Maharaj, Founder and Principal Consultant. Last reviewed 26 October 2026.

What goes into the total cost of ISO 9001?

What do our consulting services cost?

Prices exclude taxes. Payment is 50% on acceptance and 50% on delivery. Full details are on the consulting page.

Illustration only, not a quote: at $900 per day, 4 consultant days cost $3,600, 8 days cost $7,200 and 12 days cost $10,800. Ask any consultant, including us, for days and deliverables in writing so quotes compare like for like.

How many audit days will the certification body charge for?

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) sets the starting point in mandatory document MD 5. Table QMS 1 relates the number of people working under your control to initial audit time (Stage 1 plus Stage 2). The figures below come from the 2013 edition as published by a national accreditation body; a 2019 answer from European co-operation for Accreditation confirms the same 1.5 days for one to five people. Certification bodies adjust these figures, and any reduction may not exceed 30%.

Surveillance audits total about one third of the initial audit time each year, and recertification is normally about two thirds of what an initial audit would take at that point. A surveillance or recertification audit is unlikely to be shorter than one day.

Does upgrading to ISO 9001:2026 need additional mandays?

Possibly, and the certification body decides. Global ACI rule TECH-3-TR says a transition audit can be combined with a surveillance or recertification audit, or run as a separate special audit. It rates extra time as "possibly", requires the body to justify its calculation, and notes that additional time may not be needed for a full system audit. It gives no fixed number of days. Ask your certification body how it will treat your transition, and whether it can be done at your next scheduled audit.

Key dates under the same document: no new ISO 9001:2015 certifications after 31 March 2028, and 2015 certificates invalid from 30 September 2029. ISO published ISO 9001:2026 on 16 September 2026.

Worked example: how to build your own estimate

Take a 15-person company seeking first certification.

1. Certification body: the MD 5 table gives 2.5 days for the initial audit. Multiply by each body's quoted day rate. Surveillance is roughly a third of 2.5 days each year, but at least about one day.
2. Consultant: decide the scope (gap assessment only, review of documents, or implementation support) and multiply the agreed days by the day rate.
3. Internal time: list who will write, train and sit in audits. Multiply each person's hours by their loaded hourly cost.
4. Add the three and compare with a templates-led route.

Should I buy templates instead of a consultant?

• Choose templates if one person can give the work regular time and your processes are ordinary for your sector. The Complete QMS Documentation Kit is a one-off purchase.
• Choose a consultant if an audit date is close, findings are open or nobody owns the system.
• Choose both if you want to keep costs down: templates plus a fixed-scope document review or a gap assessment.

The full comparison is on templates versus a consultant. For services overall, see ISO 9001 consultant.

Frequently asked questions

Is ISO 9001 certification expensive for a small company?

It scales with headcount through audit days, so a five-person company is audited for fewer days than a sixty-person one. The total still depends on each body's day rate, which we cannot verify for you. Request at least two written quotes.

Does ISO charge for certification?

ISO does not certify organisations. ISO says certification is performed by external certification bodies, which set their own fees.

Is the consultant's fee included in the certification fee?

No. They are separate. Certification bodies and consultants are separate organisations with separate invoices.

Can I reduce the cost?

Yes: prepare the system yourself with templates, buy only the consultant hours you need, and ask your certification body to combine the transition audit with a scheduled audit where its rules permit.

Next step

Book a free 30-minute scoping call and we will tell you which route fits, including when the answer is "buy the templates and do it yourselves".

Sources

• IAF MD 5:2013, Determination of Audit Time of QMS and EMS (Table QMS 1)
• European co-operation for Accreditation, IAF MD 5 answer (September 2019)
• IAF MD 5, surveillance, recertification and adjustment rules
• Global ACI, TECH-3-TR ISO 9001:2026 Transition, v1.03
• ISO, Certification
• ISO, ISO 9001:2026

Audit-time figures are a starting point, not a quote. Neither a consultant nor templates can guarantee certification.