[JCG]

Thank you all for your responses. I was referred to my chemist by a friend who had worked with him before on a product & had a great experience.  My friend’s product was about 80K, so when I got the pricing of 25K on mine, I didn’t think that sounded so bad.

I tried to shop around to get an idea of what other chemists charge but they all needed to know exactly what my product was to be able to give me an estimate of their charges (except for one chemist who just said she charges $100 an hour).  At that point, I backed out of those conversations because my product/idea/concept is so easily duplicated, that even though I have a trade secret, anyone could steal the idea/concept & have it on the market in months. I know people say this all the time but there isn’t a product like mine on the market yet so it’s quite secretive.  I didn’t want to risk divulging this information (even with an NDA) in fear that someone would steal it anyway.

Which brings me back to my current chemist.  He has to RE an existing product & then alter ingredients/amounts so as not to infringe on anyone else’s patent & to make it my own (yet still make sure it works  the way I need it to).  We are then adding a couple other new/different ingredients.  He said pricing includes the RE, R&D, safety & efficacy testing & then the final written formulation document that will be the start of a patent.  He says he will source my raw materials & has all the contacts to start manufacturing right away & that from start to finish it will take approximately 2 months.  He’s also been somewhat of a mentor to me through this process as I am a new entrepreneur & the business advice/help he’s given me by phone & email so far has been invaluable.  

I should have done my homework from the beginning but based on the recommendation of my friend, I went all in & divulged everything to my chemist pretty much right away before we even discussed cost.  I got too excited & wanted to get the ball rolling with my business asap.  Lesson #1 learned on my road of entrepreneurship. I suppose negotiating is a possibility at this point. 

Thank you all again for your comments!