10 Design Mistakes That Make Your Product Too Expensive to Manufacture
If your product costs too much to build, you’re going to feel it everywhere.
Your margins will be too thin to make a profit. Your retail price will be too high to compete. You’ll struggle to scale, or even survive.
And by the time you realize it, it’s often too late. Because most cost problems can’t be patched in at the end they’re baked into the design from the start.
That’s why in this video, I’m going to show you the 10 design mistakes that quietly drive up your product cost and make everything harder down the line.
Avoid these early, and you’ll save money, scale faster, and actually have a shot at your product being successful.
Let’s get into it.
Mistake #1: Over-Engineering the Design
This is probably the #1 way to waste money on a product. It’s especially common with first-time creators who want to make something amazing and include all the latest features.
But what you end up with is a product that’s more complex than it needs to be and a lot more expensive to build.
For example, one of the most common examples I see is adding wireless charging.
It sounds great in theory, and for some products it’s necessary.
But for most products, a simple USB-C connector for charging is cheaper, easier to implement, and more user-friendly.
Another common trap is choosing an overpowered microcontroller or even worse, jumping up to a full microprocessor when a simple MCU would have done the job just fine.
You’re not just adding component cost. You’re also adding more power consumption, more heat, possibly a larger PCB, and much more complex firmware development.
The simpler the design, the cheaper it will be and usually, the more reliable too.
Mistake #2: Overly Expensive PCB Design
The PCB is one of the most expensive parts of your product not just to fabricate, but to assemble too.
And it’s incredibly easy to let cost spiral out of control if you’re not paying attention to how you design it.
A board that’s physically larger than it needs to be wastes material, and that directly increases cost per unit. But going too small can be even worse.
When you shrink the board too far, you start running into layout constraints.
That forces you to use more layers, tighter routing, blind or buried vias, or even flex circuits all of which raise the cost significantly.
Then there’s complexity. Adding extra layers when they’re not needed. Using blind or buried vias instead of standard through-hole.
Using flexible PCBs where a rigid board would work. These all come with a big price tag.
And don’t forget assembly cost. If you mix through-hole and SMT components unnecessarily, or use fine-pitch packages that require special handling, your assembly costs will go up fast.
Keep your board as simple, spacious, and conventional as your product allows.
Mistake #3: Choosing Over-Specified Components
This one’s subtle but adds up quickly. A lot of engineers choose parts that are far more capable than needed, just to be safe or out of habit.
That might mean a voltage regulator rated for an amp when your product only ever pulls 200mA. Or a temperature sensor with precision you don’t need.
Or a connector rated for outdoor use when your product is only ever used indoors.
These things add cost for no real benefit. Multiply that across 10 or 20 components on your BOM, and you’ve quietly increased your unit cost by a few dollars.
Instead, start with your actual performance requirements. Pick the cheapest part that meets them with a bit of margin just not 10x margin.
And when in doubt, simulate, prototype, and test. Don’t overspec everything to just play it safe, because you’ll literally pay the price later.
Mistake #4: Custom Parts Too Early
I know how tempting it is to design custom batteries, custom chips, or custom radios.
Custom design ensures your product is absolutely as good as it can get.
But unless you’re producing in very high volumes, custom parts are usually a mistake especially early in development.
They add massive engineering costs.
They require expensive tooling. They have long lead times. And they often lock you into a specific supplier.
For example, a custom battery might look great on paper, but now you need to deal with battery certifications, and wait 6 – 12 weeks just to get samples.
An off-the-shelf pack from a major vendor might not be use every cubic millimeter of available space, but it’ll be cheaper, safer, and available right now.
You can always go custom later, when your volumes justify it. But early on, use off-the-shelf components wherever you can.
By the way, if you’d like help avoiding these types of mistakes check out the Hardware Academy where you get support and training from me and other experts.
Mistake #5: Overly Complex (or Unnecessary) Display
Displays are one of the most expensive parts of many products not just in raw cost, but also in what they force the rest of the system to become.
If you add a display, now you often need a more powerful processor to drive it. That means more power consumption, possibly a bigger battery, and maybe even a second power rail.
Now you need more complex firmware. Maybe even a GUI framework.
And the worst part is, in a lot of cases, the display isn’t even necessary.
If your product is intended to be paired with a smartphone anyway, you can often skip the display entirely and use Bluetooth Low Energy to connect with a mobile app. That app becomes your user interface.
This won’t work for every product, but it’s an option worth considering especially early in development.
No display = lower BOM, simpler firmware, better battery life, and a much cheaper product.
Mistake #6: Using Brand-Name Parts Without Need
This one requires some nuance. I absolutely encourage people to use brand-name parts for critical functions like microcontrollers, radios, power supplies, and anything safety-related.
But for simple parts like passive components, analog switches, level shifters, or logic gates using a big-name part from TI or Analog Devices might not be necessary.
There are a lot of reputable, lower-cost suppliers and even good-quality generic parts that perform just as well for a fraction of the price. You just need to validate them properly.
That might mean testing a few samples, verifying tolerances, or doing a second-source qualification.
But in many cases, it’s worth the effort for the savings you get especially if you’re producing at scale.
Mistake #7: Not Designing for Manufacturability (DFM)
Designing for performance is one thing. Designing for production is something else entirely.
If your design looks great on paper but is difficult to assemble, solder, or inspect on a production line, it’s going to cost more to build.
That might mean slower assembly, more defects, or higher labor cost.
Good DFM practices don’t just make your product easier to build. They make it cheaper too and more reliable.
Mistake #8: Unnecessary Mechanical Complexity
This is a classic cost driver, especially for enclosures and housings.
Sometimes a product ends up with a 3-piece or 4-piece enclosure when a simple two-piece design would’ve worked fine.
Or you get a complex mold that requires side actions, sliders, or collapsible cores which drives up both mold cost and per-unit cost.
And then there are the fasteners. I’ve seen products with 12 screws where 4 would do. Or sometimes screws being used where a simple snap fit would have sufficed.
Every additional part adds assembly time, sourcing cost, and failure points.
A good mechanical design balances function, strength, aesthetics and cost. Simpler is almost always better.
Mistake #9: Skipping Manufacturing Cost Estimates Early
This is one of the biggest strategic mistakes I see.
Many entrepreneurs develop the entire product prototype, firmware, enclosure, everything before ever getting a real manufacturing quote.
And then they’re shocked when they find out the product will cost $80 to build when they were planning to sell it for $99.
At that point, it’s too late. You’ve already committed to the design. Redesigning for cost adds delay, revalidation, and more money.
Instead, you need to bake cost estimation into the early design process.
Get ballpark quotes on PCBs, components, enclosures, assembly, testing, and packaging as soon as you have a system-level block diagram.
Do this before you invest too much into development not after.
Even rough numbers will help guide smarter decisions and avoid expensive surprises.
Mistake #10: Ignoring Power Efficiency
This one sneaks up on people. If your product isn’t power-efficient, you’ll end up compensating with bigger batteries, larger regulators, heat sinks, and even thermal protection circuits.
All of that increases cost. And it’s not just hardware. If your firmware keeps peripherals awake when they’re not needed, or polls sensors too often, you’re wasting power for no reason.
Optimizing power early gives you more freedom to use smaller components, smaller batteries, and simpler enclosures.
That means less cost across the board and better battery life as a bonus.
If you found this video helpful then you’ll probably like these other videos in this same series aimed at helping you avoid costly mistakes.
