How long does ISO certification take, and what does it actually cost?

For a small, single-site business (under 10 employees), the certification body's audit fee is typically around £2,250–£2,750 for the initial certification to one standard. If you use a consultant to prepare you, expect to add consultancy fees on top — day rates commonly run £400–£1,000 per day, or you can agree a fixed project fee. There's also a small one-off cost (around £130–£150) if you need to buy the official standard document.

Most small and medium UK businesses take three to six months from a standing start to certification audit, assuming someone is dedicated to the project. It can stretch to nine months or more if the work is shared among staff who also have their day jobs to do. A transition from ISO 9001:2015 to ISO 9001:2026 for an already-certified business is usually much faster — often a matter of weeks.

UK SMEs typically budget £4,500–£14,000 for the first year, covering consultancy support and certification. Certification body fees generally run £1,200–£3,500 a year, with annual surveillance audits of £1,000–£2,500. Implementation from scratch usually takes six to twelve months. If you already hold ISO 9001, adding ISO 14001 as an integrated system is significantly cheaper and faster.

Broadly, yes — ISO 45001 follows a similar cost and timeline pattern to ISO 14001, since both build on the same Harmonised Structure as ISO 9001. Many businesses implement 14001 and 45001 together as one integrated management system, which shares documentation, audit programme and management review, and cuts the combined cost significantly.

There's no fixed published price, because cost depends heavily on your number of sites, headcount and how mature your existing ISO 9001 system and core tools (APQP, PPAP, FMEA, MSA, SPC) already are. It's a bigger undertaking than ISO 9001 alone, so budget for higher consultancy and certification-body audit-day fees. Most suppliers get a fixed-scope quote after a gap analysis.

From a standing start, twelve to eighteen months is typical, reflecting the extra core-tools work and the two-stage initial certification audit. If you already hold ISO 9001 and have reasonable core-tools capability, nine to twelve months is achievable.

Cost depends on site count, headcount and — the biggest single factor — whether you hold design responsibility. Organisations with a mature ISO 9001 system already in place often reach AS9100 certification in three to six months; starting from scratch typically takes six to twelve months.

Consultancy fees cover the preparation work — gap analysis, documentation, training, internal audits and audit support. They do not include the certification body's own audit fees, which are paid separately to an independent, UKAS-accredited certification body, because no consultant is allowed to certify their own client. Ongoing costs after certification include annual surveillance audits and, every three years, a recertification audit.

It's possible for a very small, simple business with a dedicated resource and strong existing documentation, but be cautious of any provider promising certification in days or a couple of weeks — a credible UKAS-accredited certification body needs to run a genuine two-stage audit, and rushing the groundwork tends to produce a system that fails its first surveillance audit.