Hey guys, I’m pretty new at building rods and my family and a few friends want me to build them some. Just wondering if you charge a flat rate for consumable materials? (Epoxy, thread finish, brushes, tape, mixing sticks/cups, tape etc..) Im not charging them any labor, so I was thinking $20 per rod. Is that fair? To much?

Matt it really depends on the materials or brands of materials, hard to say you may want to do a few a make build sheets, record materials and figure it that way.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2020 09:35PM by Rich Henderson.

Matt I used to charge a flat rate of 100/rod. I have since moved up to 150/rod

Matt, I believe Thomas is including more than just the consumables! $20-25.00 seems to me would cover those items.

Matt the fee I listed includes consumables as well as labor, sorry for any confusion. Phil, thank you for catching that, I read too quickly and posted

Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2020 10:02AM by Thomas Kaufmann.

My rates have changed from when I first began to now. At first, I was happy to get the experience, so I only charged a few bucks above the cost of the materials. This allowwed me to gain experience while my skills improved. I raised my prices as my skill level got better. Now it depends on many variables, mostly how much work will go into a rod. I charge much more for a rod with a highly detailed butt wrap than a smiple build with a single color thread.

Matt
That's exactly what i do. The cost of the components & shipping, plus $20 for cp, finish, adhesives, thread, etc.
Rog

Thanks guys!

Mark,
Punch a time clock before sitting down to work on a rod. If you take a break - punch out. If you eat, punch out. Then, punch back in when you go back to work.

Punch out if not working on the rod.

When done with the rod, total up the number of hours spent working on the rod and multiply by your labor rate per hour, then add the price of materials and shop supplies and you will have the correct price for you custom rod.

Keep track of the price of materials and the price of shop supplies. If you buy wholesale - make the decision if you are going to move the parts price along as you paid for the items or if you are going to charge retail for the blanks and the rest of the parts needed to build the particular rod in question.

Some folks charge 5 cents an hour. Some folks charge $200 per hour.

You labor is worth something.

In real life terms, you should be able to charge as much per hour building a rod, as your hourly pay rate at you 9-5 job.



It is all up to you.

Mark,
Punch a time clock before sitting down to work on a rod. If you take a break - punch out. If you eat, punch out. Then, punch back in when you go back to work.

Punch out if not working on the rod.

When done with the rod, total up the number of hours spent working on the rod and multiply by your labor rate per hour, then add the price of materials and shop supplies and you will have the correct price for you custom rod.

Keep track of the price of materials and the price of shop supplies. If you buy wholesale - make the decision if you are going to move the parts price along as you paid for the items or if you are going to charge retail for the blanks and the rest of the parts needed to build the particular rod in question.

Some folks charge 5 cents an hour. Some folks charge $200 per hour.

You labor is worth something.

In real life terms, you should be able to charge as much per hour building a rod, as your hourly pay rate at you 9-5 job.



It is all up to you.

Roger,

Sound advice.

So, if you should be charging by what you make at a 9 to 5 job, i should find a C-store worker at 10 bucks an hour versus a neurosurgeon at 500 bucks an hour with skills being equal in rod building to build me a rod? I think you should charge more by what your Market will bear but that's just me.

Terry,
It is just one point of view.

Are you building rods as a hobby, or are you building rods to support yourself and your family.

If it is the latter, you can not make $10-$20 on a rod on which you have spent 30 or 40 hours and expect to support yourself.

It is all about what you want to use this thing called rod building for. i.e. self satisfaction about building a beautiful and useful tool, or are you building a bunch of rods making good money on each and every rod in order to support yourself.

I think that when you check on profitable rod businesses, the typical manufacturer will have about 1 hour of total labor in a rod that sells for $500. When they can do that in volume, they have a profitable business.

Granted, to be able to build a beautiful rod in an hour means that the grips have previously been designed and manufactured for a perfect fit on the rod. The reel seat has been setup to be a slip fit on the rod and have a perfect fit.

All of the guides are setup and established, the placement for each guide has carefully been determined and the folks who wrap the guides on the rod can wrap a full rod in 10-15 minutes. So, it is all about the economies of an assembly line to get excellent quality at a high volume. Perfect quality with high volume and a large profit margin means a profitable company.

Best wishes.





Best wishes

I do not know of any standard formula for pricing a custom fishing rod. IMO pricing a custom rod depends on many factors and you have to decide where you fit in;

Are the rods made and sold a hobby or a source of income?

Will the charge rate depend to whom you sell to, (relatives, friends, acquaintances or strangers)?

What is the market for custom rods in your area?

How much experience and knowledge do you have of the craft (customer confidence)?

What is your reputation as a craftsman?

What is the value you place on your time?

Will you be competitive with other rod builders?

Do you have the equipment to make rods and produce them in volume if necessary?


That is a lot to chew on and I know I have omitted other factors. Don’t despair it is easy to figure out.

To answer your question, one has to start somewhere so decide what your situation is, what your time is worth, also the cost of expendables, to that add the cost of components as agreed by you and the customer then issue a quote, and negotiate from there.

What I do is add 15 percent for components and $5.00 for expendables. My labor charge depends on who I am dealing with, how complex and quickly they want the rod. After a price is agreed upon my quoted delivery time is 2 to 3 weeks depending on component availability.

Remember “It does not matter what the cost of a transaction is, as long as BOTH parties in the end are happy and satisfied”.

Have fun

We have been here before. I started building fly rods for myself, so I could have a quality rod with high end blank and components at half the price. You can spend a lot of money on a high end rod and it will have crap for guides and the reel seat. At some time, because I also fish using casting rods and sometimes spinning, I started building them too. Had no intentions of selling them to others. I would loan my rod to someone when fishing, for whatever reason, and pretty soon they are asking me to build them one like it. So at some point I actually start building more rods for others than myself. My breakdown is similar to John D. The price of the rod is done like this; Blank, guides, reel seat and grips are tangible and have an exact value (a), Epoxy, thread, tape, brushes, labels, small tools and rodwrapper $20 (b), requested decoration / wraps, the price is predetermined with client (x), and labor $50 (y). a+b+x+y= value. This is simple for me because it is a hobby and not a business. Most of the time I also get a tip.