Contract cnc routing - Idea of cost per hour or sheet?

[Boyan Silyavski]

and honestly the thought of being chained to my router fills me with dread

Same could be true for the people that own big machines

I think I would be happy to pay £5 per product so £20 a sheet which works out at £100 per hour.

Depends how many you want made at once. If you hope to make 10 sheets at that price, good luck. 1 hour of work starts from the moment that somebody answers your email or listens to you on the phone, then finding the correct material, checking your drawing and so on until 1 piece is cut and you approve it.

So i assume that at that price sb. will want a work at least for a full working day.

Better find somebody on a friendly basis. A friendly forum member with a big machine that needs paying off. Or what about laser cutting it?

...I have been designing some products and producing prototypes and small runs on my own router. I am now looking to start a small production of one product with the intention of expanding the range if sales take off.

Whats the point of having laser and cnc and then sourcing the work to others?