Prototype Development Near New York City
New York has everything a hardware startup needs — capital, talent, customers — except a place to actually build the hardware. Real fabrication space was priced out of the boroughs years ago. So the city's hardware founders end up choosing between shipping CAD files to a factory they'll never talk to, or a shared prototyping studio where their unreleased product sits on a bench in full view of strangers.
There's a third option, very close by. RMA Engineering is a full product development workshop in North Jersey, just across the river — mechanical engineers on staff, 3D printing, CNC machining, and production tooling under one roof. Close enough that your prototypes move between us in hours, without Manhattan rent baked into your invoice.
Built for how NYC hardware teams actually work
Iterations in hours, not freight days.
Each prototype round reaches you fast — local courier, same metro, same timezone. Design decisions that take a week of cross-country shipping take a day here.
A closed-door shop, not a shared bench.
Unlike open maker spaces and studio floors, our workshop is closed to visitors — every client's unreleased product stays behind our doors, including yours. NDAs before you share anything.
Priced by the work, not a "package."
3–5 prototype rounds is normal for a real product: $100–2,000 proof-of-concepts up to $5,000–30,000 production-intent builds.
Keep the cap table clean.
No equity, no royalties, no licensing claims. Your CAD files, prototypes, and tooling rights are contractually yours — the answer your future investors want to hear.
One team through production.
When the prototype works, the same shop handles DFM, tooling, and your first run — no handoff to a mystery factory.
From idea-stage to Series A
We work with NYC founders at every stage: pre-prototype (start with the free design review — most first stages start around $2,000), demo-day-bound (looks-like and works-like builds for investor meetings), and production-bound (design-for-manufacturing and first runs, typically 8–16 weeks).
Questions NYC founders ask us first
Ready to build your hardware, close to the city?
No pressure, no obligation — just a straight answer on what your product needs.