I have wraped a few rods that came out looking really great.I'm having people asking me if I can wrap A rod for them . With the prices of the apoxy and the guide wrapes and the guides . How do you come up with the price to do this?????

Look back through the old issues of Rodmaker. Lots of very helpful articles on how to price.

I used that as a starting point.

Then I also looked at other rod builders' websites who built the same types of rods I do. Seperated them out geographically to get a feel for local vs national. Built my pricing structure from there. You'll definitely find some consistency in prices. Or I did anyway.

Don't forget to factor the cost of materials, your time, AND all the hidden costs in building rods into the price (property taxes, electricity, license fees, shipping of components to you, etc) to make sure you're turning a profit or breaking even depending on your goal.

One thing to consider when comparing your rod to others. Does your workmanship compare or exceed other rods,. Are you a true custom rod builder? Do you understand how a blank is designed and made, the difference in guides and how they are constructed, how to modify a blank to get its best performance. All these items come into play when pricing a rod. When pricing NEVER under cut your price on the other side do not over price your self and Never match big box pricing. When it comes to fancy weaps rhat is a whole differnt pricing area. Now take this and the other suggestion and take the plunge.
Good wraps Bob

don't forget to add the FET tax

I will toss out something very quickly, unless you simply want something to spend your time on and/or want to do your friends a favor, I cannot imagine building a rod and making less than a full $100 profit for yourself. Anything less and you are simply giving away your time.

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

I have to agree with Tom on this one. I start at $100 profit for the simplest of rods and add proprtionately to the profit side of the pricing as the client asks for more sophisticated options. More work equals more cost for components and my build time and more profit as well.

Look at it this way, if you went to your client's store to buy a fuel filter, or groceries, or real estate, or a new boat, or a set of screwdrivers, would he slice the profit margin completely out of the price you pay? The answer is no, he would not, so why should you? Your business is just as real as his and your expenses, your time, and your need to recover all those costs plus a profit are also just as real.

If he walks on down the road, he is not a client you want anyway.

Take a look at your business card. Is it your name on there as the owner, rod builder and decision maker, or is it his name? I'm pretty sure it is your name and you get to make the rules. You also get to grant special exceptions should you ever decide to do so, but you need a good reason to give away your time and money....like maybe a charitable donation. Is this guy a charity or is he just cheap?

Good...Fast...Cheap.....Pick any two of these! Make a sign that says this and hang it on your wall where you can see it. It is important that your client understand this simple concept as he evaluates your price estimate to build his rod.

Joe Douglas

I have my prices set up to turn approximately $150 profit after taxes for most builds and go up from there. This is a basic build and due to being saltwater based, most of my customers expect fancy wraps. A simple 2 or 3 color 1-5-3-5-1 chevron wrap takes only a little extra time than a no frills build to do, but that is where the extra $50 in my build fee comes from for me. I simply include it and have it set up this way since my customers expect it.

On a no frills build, I will push top of the line components and in return discount additional decorative work if they decide to go the TOL route. For my business, I do NO advertising whatsoever, so my whole client base is all word of mouth so it grows slowly, but for every build I get, the client usually knows exactly what to expect in terms of pricing. This has worked well for me. I do one rod at a time, and give a time line of 1-2 weeks per rod. Since I am based out of my home, my clients are given a website to watch their builds progress, and it is updated every day I work on the rod. I have found this to be an easy way of finding any and all miscommunication errors and fixing them at that point instead of them noticing it upon arrival to pick it up. This is just what has worked for me, and it may not work for you.

Joe D, I like that quote you have there. I just may put it up. Thank you.

What a great idea with the website!!!

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

It takes only a couple extra minutes to do, but if for some reason there was a miscommunication error, it can be fixed during the build rather than after its completed. I figured this one out the hard way when someone had wanted one thing, and said that but vaguely enough that I didnt realize it. I came up with this, and it has served me well since and twice I have had someone change what they wanted.