I was just wondering how other builders price out a rod. Do you buy wholesale or retail?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2005 10:26PM by Tom Kirkman.

This varies a great, great deal from builder to builder. I think you would want to price out the parts at full retail, and your labor should come in so that you make a minimun of $100 per rod. That could also be much, much more depending on the amount and quality of work you do. In no case should you sell for less than a comparable factory counterpart, unless this is something you're doing for a family member, etc.

One last thing - the customer has no business in knowing how much of the final price is parts and how much is labor. He would not be given this information if he bought a commercially made rod and no custom builder should break down the price in that manner either. Trust me, it leads to problems.

..........................

Some Recent Related Discussion Threads worth reading:

Average Build Time? -Dave Scelfo- 08-25-04

Selling Rods Commercially -Mark Gordon- 10-21-04

Cost of guide replacement -Scott Mumford- 10-26-04

What's YOUR time worth ?? -Pete Kornegay- 10-29-04

Is this a problem? -George Thurston- 12-06-04

Rod Planning -Nick Brunetti- 10-10-04

How much to charge?: A minimum of ~ $100 above cost of parts, for the simplest custom rod for profit. Anything less is a labor of love. IMO, -Cliff Hall, Gainesville, FL-

Ditto on not breaking down the parts and labor. To many fishermen are to concerned with what YOU make for profit. It's none of their business. They are buying the finished rod and it's either worth the money to them or it's not. Good point.

I usually charge a set fee for different tasks. I charge for building a handle by the inch. $5 per inch labor. So an 8 inch rear grip, 5 inch reel seat and 3 inch foregrip comes to $80 labor. This is for fitting, reaming, sizing and glueing the stuff up. I get $6 per guide for wrapping and finishing. I also add on a set fee of $15 to each rod to cover my cost on glue, finish, thread and that sort of stuff. Most times I make about $150 labor over and above the cost of the parts. This would not include any fancy thread or handle work. Just the basic stuff.

Thanks for the info. This information remove some of the fog.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2005 10:26PM by Tom Kirkman.