CAD / Reverse
The 3D Scanning Service: The CAD Niche That Pays Per Part
Key takeaways
- A single part runs $200-$800; the hardware is paid for by month 2
- The retainer is the asset, not the one-off scan
- Two retainer clients = $2,000-$6,000/month
The hardware tiers
| Tier | Cost | Covers | | Entry structured-light | $500-$1,500 | Single part, small batch | | Mid industrial | $5,000-$15,000 | Multi-part, production |
For a solo operator, the entry tier is enough to start — the constraint is demand, not hardware.
Per-part pricing
| Job | Price | Hours | | Single part scan-to-CAD | $200-$800 | 3-8 | | 10-part project | $2,000-$8,000 | 20-60 | | Ongoing retainer | $1,000-$3,000/mo | 10-20 |
The model
The hardware is a one-time cost that is recovered by month 2. After that, each part is nearly pure margin, and the retainer is the thing that keeps a factory or product team paying for a guaranteed response time. Two retainers is the number that clears $2,000-$6,000/month.
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