What would you sell Stick Building Services for?

Tech Talk
1

Knowing what you know in regards to time/money/skill involved in creating boxes, would love to see what you guys feel is an appropriate price for you to take on a service to do such an activity.

Breakdowns by service would be great to see. Not intended for people to be quoting for business, just what your $$$ value is that you’d be personally willing to do it for and a bit of detail around why.

For me,
I find that building one from scratch assuming you have no tools or very basic ones will cost you a fortune. Your first stick, assuming everyone has a hand saw and a drill of some sort, you’d need to get this for a typical custom I make nowadays:

$6 - Sand Paper (heavy and fine)
$8 - Wood
$4 - Rubber Feet
$7 - 2 Pieces of Plexi (1/16)
$8 - MDF for the top plate
$30 - JLF w balltop and wiring harness (some sell without either)
$36 - 8 x 30mm buttons (Seimetsu clears) $20 for OBSF
$10 - 3 x 24mm buttons
$7 - USB Neutrik
$16 - Forstner bits (30mm and 24mm)
$14 - varnish/stain, and poly spray
$4 - Paint
$3 - artwork printed at Kinkos
$3 - 20 gauge wire
$2 - QDC’s (22)
$43 - PCBs (sixaxis and axisdapter)
$3 - Wood Glue

So for a typical stick I build I’d say my cost is about $205 in material alone. This does not include tax and shipping if you need to incur those too. Also, we all know as builders that some of these won’t be costs if you build more, but they are the realistic cost of a first build or single build.

I used to think that a fully built stick would cost about $120 for parts alone and could never sell for less than $200 but given the time and skill needed to provide a good stick, and the amount of trouble you are actually saving the buyer. I’d say minimum of $250 since you’re saving the buyer trouble from:

  • Ordering parts
  • Trips to acquire all the pieces
  • Learning how to build a stick
  • protection against screwing up their own build (you incur the costs of your own mess-ups)
  • Having to buy their own materials and their leftovers
  • Having to acquire specialized tools
  • Using their own time

What’s that worth?

I’d not sell a fully built stick for any less than $250. Given the price of a TE at $150, for something hand built, unique, and or craftmanship quality, $250 would be the price at the bottom end of the spectrum. I am an anal builder. I spend more time on the case and wood itself and the plexi fit than any other part of the process. And this takes hours. Even at $250, if you took that and subtracted startup costs, that’s like making 3.50$ an hour for labor. But maybe I’m a slow builder…

DISCLAIMER: I have never bought a custom built stick, nor do I know what stick builders here sell their services for. I’m thinking about me who has never done so and want to hear from both those who do and do not sell and what to hear your opinions. So it’s not a matter of what you can get one for, but more a matter of what is worth it?

2

I think i would sell blank cases for around 100$-150$ depending on the wood and finish. So around 250$ w/ all the internals, stick, & buttons sounds very reasonable to me. You make very little profit, but at least you enjoy doing it.

3

There are areas you can cut costs, like you can use a DualShock pcb instead of a sixaxis. Or use all MDF if you’re gonna paint it, buying it in bulk sheets is really cheap.

Also all your tools are for the most part one purchase for every couple dozen cases, they’ll make up for their cost if you build several sticks.

A fully assembled one can cost you as little as $120, then you can work in labor costs.

4

If you really want to be frugal, check university or high school wood shops for scrap wood. You’re going to be hard pressed to find some good pieces of wood but they’ll give it to you for free or very cheap.

They might even let you use their tools too.

5

So one of your super cool Ultra Slim will cost $250 for Buyer?

6

This, my University’s wood shop lets me use their tools, saves hundreds up front as they have high end equipment you wont ever be buying.

7

Yeah i would say around 100 for an empty box and around 250 for a complete.

8

once you have the tools though (or have access to them without having to pay for it), those expenses are cut out of each stick you make and it becomes more parts and labor. Thus bringing down the price. The 250 is an estimate for the 1st stick you make, after those tools are already bought it goes down a bit (drill presses, table saws, routers, etc…)

9

:rofl:

Don’t know, but the point was made earlier. Not a lot of profit, but for sure. It’s fun and you enjoy it. More likely to offer blanks though. It’s the woodworking I enjoy most, but I have to say the rounded plexis are a pain in the butt.

10

That slim case would be fine with a square plexi I think. I wouldn’t care if you just carved out the corners and they were a little misshapen compared to the rest of the routed edge.

By the way, that slim case is killer. I’ve been considering building one like it but I’m missing a router and drill press.

I’ve got a table saw, drill, and dremel though. Maybe I can just fake it lol.

11

Yeah I always wpndered what I should sell sticks for. I though 250 was reasonable, but depending on what you put into it will vary. I personally would put sanwa parts and use mdf. I would not do it for less than $300, but I would give the option to dual mod too.

12

I bet there’s a bunch of dudes who wondered about it. I seriously am considering it because I’ve already got more than I need for myself. So much that it’s beyond reason. I just sort of need an excuse to be able to make more, but need to set a price that makes it worthwhile yet fair.

13

The right price is also what people are willing to pay for, if people are willing to buy at a premium by all means that is the appropriate price.

14

Custom sticks and cases used to be worth more weight in gold before the Madcatz TE and SE sticks had taken the competition by storm. It’s been a niche market since. There are many stickbuilders that had fallen victim due to the low price demand.

15

You pretty much summed up my thoughts.

I’ve offered to numerous friends that I would happily build them sticks (using QCF’s cases, ordering Sanwas / Seims etc.) but that there would be nothing I could do to keep the price cheap (even charging nothing for time and labor). With the TEs 130$ (including shipping) or 100$ on a good deal day, I can’t really make them one for remotely as cheap as just buying a stock TE. =(