Engineering time and clearance, more than drafting. Someone must describe the process, someone must check the wording, and translations may be needed for work instructions produced abroad. Ask for an itemised scope, and confirm official charges at the time of the relevant step rather than budgeting from a figure quoted earlier.
Budget the internal hours too
The cost that surprises manufacturing employers is usually their own: senior engineers pulled into drafting and review during a ramp-up. Estimate those hours openly and decide who carries them. Ask what the adviser's scope covers if the disclosure boundary forces a rewrite, and what happens if counsel concludes the intended placement raises an offsite issue that changes the plan before anything is filed.
The predictable costs are drafting, review, translation, and legal analysis. The unpredictable one is engineering time, which falls on the same people the plant needs during a ramp-up. Estimate those hours openly, name who releases them, and put the estimate in front of the operations manager rather than the finance team, because the constraint is availability rather than money.
Ask what the adviser's scope covers if the disclosure boundary forces a rewrite, and what happens if the intended placement raises an offsite question that changes the plan. Government charges vary by route and change over time, so confirm them at the official source at the point they fall due rather than budgeting from an earlier quotation.