DIY works if you have a trained internal auditor, spare hours, and no registrar or customer visit coming. A national firm is usually too much overhead for a 15–200 person shop. A lead-auditor consultant who does the work — not a portal — is the usual fit.
Quality managers and owners at independent shops of 15–200 people, not primes with a corporate QMS staff.
What DIY AS9100 actually costs you
AS9100D is ISO 9001 plus aerospace and defense requirements: product safety, counterfeit parts, configuration management, on-time delivery, and OASIS. A binder copied from another shop will not survive a process-based audit.
Do not buy “AS9100E.” That revision does not exist; the next aerospace QMS revision is IA9100.
DIY is honest when the quality manager can audit processes they do not own, write NC-CAPA that reaches root cause, and keep document control current between jobs. That is rare when the floor is already late on parts.
- You still need objective evidence, not just procedures.
- Internal audits have to be independent of the work being audited.
- Registrar week is a poor time to discover PEAR, risk, or counterfeit clauses were never stood up.
How the three options differ
This is qualitative, not a price sheet. Cost depends on scope, standard, and timing.
| DIY / internal only | National / big firm | Stratos (outsourced team) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who shows up | Your quality manager, on top of production | Often a traveling team. Juniors on-site is common. | Tony does the work, not a login. |
| Software | Whatever you already have | Often a platform or portal you must log into | None. We work in your system, not a portal. |
| Best when | No audit coming. Trained auditor on staff. System already close. | Prime-scale programs. Multi-site corporate QMS. | Independent shop that needs gap analysis, NC-CAPA, audit prep, or document control done. |
When a big firm is the right call
Use a large practice if you are standing up AS9100 across several states, need a deep bench for a program office, or your customer named a national provider. That is a different problem than getting one plant of 15–200 people through a recert. We do not chase primes.
What Stratos will not do
We will not sell you software or invent a win rate. If the honest answer is that your system is fine, that is the answer.
Stratos is a service, not a tool you log into. If this page does not match your contract or your registrar, follow the contract.