Questions before you call us
The answers that usually decide whether a conversation is worth having, including the ones that cost us work.
- Current editions
- ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026
- Current editions
- ISO 45001:2018 and ISO 22000:2018, each amended in 2024
- Transition horizon
- September 2029 for ISO 9001
- Coverage
- Riyadh and the Eastern Province
Most people arriving here want to know four things: which standard applies to them, how long it takes, what drives the cost and whether anyone can guarantee the certificate. The answers are below, and nobody honest can promise the fourth.
Three answers people do not enjoy
These come up in almost every first call, and giving the comfortable answer to any of them would cost the client more than it costs us.
Nobody can guarantee you pass. The decision is taken by a certification body after its own assessment, which is exactly why a guarantee from a consultant is worthless. Readiness is what can be controlled, and readiness is checkable before anybody arrives.
Documentation, within a week of the gap analysis, is only part of the work. Your team runs the system before the internal audit and management review. You and your certification body set the pace.
And yes, an unaccredited certificate is cheaper. It also carries no accreditation mark and no recognition through the international chain that gives a certificate its meaning, and buyers increasingly check the accreditation body's own published list rather than the certificate in front of them.
Where the full answer lives
Short answers below, longer ones on the page named.
| If you are asking about | Read this | Short version |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 ISO 9001 revision | The ISO 9001:2026 transition page | Published 16 September 2026, horizon September 2029 |
| A food manufacturing licence | HACCP, then SFDA licence readiness | The licence names an accredited HACCP certificate |
| A customer demanding GFSI | FSSC 22000 | ISO 22000 alone will not clear that clause |
| A tender asking for certificates | ISO 9001, and the gap analysis | Pace: you and your certification body |
| Holding several standards at once | Integrated management system | One document set, one audit programme |
| Information security | ISO 27001 readiness | Readiness, with NCA ECC-2:2024 mapped |
| What it costs | What drives the cost | Quoted after the gap analysis |
| How long it takes | How long it takes | Documentation: within a week of the gap analysis |
The questions themselves
Which standard do we actually need?
Follow what is forcing the question. A food manufacturing licence points at HACCP. A retailer contract naming GFSI points at FSSC 22000. A tender or a vendor registration usually points at ISO 9001, sometimes with ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 alongside. An industry alone rarely decides it.
Has ISO 9001 changed?
Yes. ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026 with a three-year transition running to September 2029. ISO 14001:2026 published on 15 April 2026. ISO 45001 and ISO 22000 are unchanged and remain on their 2018 editions.
Our certificate says 2015. Is it still valid?
Yes, to the expiry date printed on it. Transition normally happens at a surveillance or recertification audit inside the window. The exact mechanics come from the IAF resolution and your accreditation body's instruction, which are expected rather than published, so plan against your certificate expiry.
How long does certification take from scratch?
Your documentation (manual, procedures, forms): within a week of the gap analysis. Then your team runs it. Before the certification audit, that means at least one internal audit and one management review, with the records to show them. You and your certification body set the pace.
What does it cost?
We quote by phase after the gap analysis and we do not publish figures, because an honest number depends on sites, scope, shifts and how much already exists. The cost drivers are the same ones the certification body uses: effective number of personnel, number and dispersion of sites, scope complexity, how many standards are in scope and whether you need travel or a second visit.
Do you issue certificates?
No. Certificates are issued by a certification body after its own audit. You choose that body and book the audit yourself, and we get your system ready for it.
How do we check a certification body is accredited?
Look for the accreditation mark on its certificates, then verify the body on the accreditation body's own published list rather than trusting the certificate in front of you. For a Saudi-accredited body that is SAAC's list; for any other, the list of the accreditation body named on the certificate.
Do you work outside Riyadh?
Yes. Riyadh and the Eastern Province, including Dammam, Khobar and Jubail. Sites inside Jubail and Ras Al Khair carry Royal Commission requirements that a Riyadh-built register usually misses, and we build for that.
We only have one person who can work on this. Is that enough?
For documentation, often yes. For implementation, no. The records an assessor samples are produced by the people doing the work, and a system built entirely by one coordinator is the one that goes quiet three months after certification.
Can you fix a system somebody else built?
Yes. It starts with a gap analysis against the standard rather than against their documents, because the question is what the system does, not what the previous consultant intended.
Do you work in Arabic?
Yes. Working sessions and site work run in Arabic or English, and documents can be bilingual or Arabic-only. The language is decided per document by the people who use it, because a procedure nobody on the floor can read is not a control.
Go from here
All consult services
Every standard and service, filterable, with each one on its own page.
Read moreServiceGap analysis
The cheapest first step and the one that answers most of these properly.
Read moreTransitionISO 9001:2026 transition
The question most people are actually here for this month.
Read moreMethodOur method
The nine steps, what you keep at each, and how ownership moves to your team.
Read morePart of one system
Every division keeps records to the same standard, so the second one you need works the way the first one did.
Ask us the one that is not here
If the question that matters to you is missing, it is usually because the answer depends on your scope. A short call sorts that out faster than any page can.