Clarify which employment and company records are needed, who can obtain them and what preparation or translation the actual process requires. Budget by stage, in the order the stages actually run. Establishing the employer relationship and the qualifying period comes first and costs least; retrieving, translating and organising an overseas archive comes second, and only for the periods that survived the first stage. Ask for the estimate to be broken out that way in writing.
Budget for relevant evidence rather than every historical record
Separate collection and language work from professional review and current official charges. A large overseas archive is useful only to the extent it explains the relevant employment, knowledge and company facts. Retrieval costs are driven by the holder's calendar as much as by volume.
A dormant entity's records may be recoverable only through an administrator working to a schedule of their own, and a rush fee does not change that schedule. Ask early which documents are likely to be slow, then decide whether the transfer date can absorb the delay or whether the plan should move. Translation is priced per document, so narrow the list to what proves employment, relationship, duties and knowledge rather than expanding it to everything an archive returns.
Where an employer pays, confirm which entity holds the budget and for which fiscal period, because a commitment made in one year is not automatically honoured in the next.