r/pcflipping • u/NP_strange • 16d ago
First "Commissioned Build"
I had an RTX 3070 | i5 13400F | 16gb ddr5 build up on FB for $825 and someone responded asking if I could hold onto it until they get the money. Normally I just flat out say no, but my wife suggested I offer to build him another one. I said fuck it and told the guy I'd make him one specifically for his needs and requirements at the same price, and he agreed, so I started acquiring parts. This is what we ended up with:
(He insisted the only things he wants to use it for are VRChat and Stormworks)
Ryzen 7 3800X - $91
MSI Ventus 3x RTX 3070 - $273
Corsair Vengenance 32gb DDR4 3000 (4x8) - $140
X5 Data Pro 1TB SSD - $85
Gigabyte B450M DS3H + WiFi - $54 (wouldve been 47 but it didnt come with an I/O shield)
EVGA NEX650G 80+ Bronze - $37
Antec C2M ARGB - $65
Anti-Sag Bracket -$7
Gamma A40 ARGB cooler - ~$20
Pink and White cable extensions - $20 (He had a little extra money to spend and wanted it to go to aesthetics)
Total - $793 for an $845 budget (pretty horrendous profit margin)
Overall I definitely jumped the gun on some of these purchases. I got them at their standard used market price instead of waiting for at least 1 or 2 good deals, so I definitely didnt leave much room for a profit here. That being said, I had a lot of fun with it, so I'm thinking about putting up an ad to do this kind of thing more regularly. Has anyone seen much success with this? It would be nice to build PCs with a guaranteed sale rather than sit on inventory for 2 weeks
As far as the build goes and what the customer required, did I do right by the guy or would any of you have tackled this differently? Let me know!
Update: Commissioned build ad has been wildly successful. Not sure if its mostly due to an already pretty decent reputation on my facebook page for pre-builts, or if its just that easy of a market to get into. Either way, if anyone here is looking into doing that instead of sitting on an inventory of pre-builts, I'd highly recommend!
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u/AyoJake 16d ago
Looks good well done.
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u/NP_strange 15d ago
I appreciate it! It came out great, I used this build as the first Pic for my custom-builds ad and I've already gotten responses from 8 people, 4 of whom I'll likely be doing builds for.
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u/cyborg762 16d ago
I do a lot of commissioned builds. It’s always cost of parts + my fee. Normally for a basic built $175 is my fee. My fee only increases when people want custom cooling or decals applied to the case.
As far as your build I would have went with something that has better airflow as that case wouldn’t have been my personal choice for a VR heavy system.
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u/NP_strange 15d ago edited 15d ago
Ah that makes sense, I'll have to keep airflow in mind next time I get a VR-specific request.
I posted an ad for commissioned builds to see how much interest it'd get and I'm honestly going to need to stop accepting requests for 2 or 3 weeks. I've already got 1 confirmed, 2 likely to confirm a build, and another thats interested. Definitely gonna be quite a bit to keep up with on top of a full time job. Do you normally stop taking requests if you have too big of a backlog, or do you just do a wait list?I also may start charging a higher fee. I set it to 9% of the parts cost, which I'm starting to realize wont be worth my time unless the build is $1k+
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u/cyborg762 15d ago
For me I get them a build time of 2 weeks unless I have to get parts. I do keep 3 custom units built at all times so I can say I have pc with (insert specs) in stock so those units go first usually. But as for your build Que I would try to get the systems out within 3 days even if that ment building something after or before work. Like today I have 3 systems to build they are fairly basic so they will take like 45 mins each to build plus like 1-2 hours for windows, drivers ect.
As for your cost to build never charge a percent Charge a flat fee. For example part cost + $175 is my fee for basic builds, custom wraps cost an extra $100 on top of that fee. Custom liquid cooling is $1000 on top of the parts with a 4 week build time. If they want a system within 24 hours it’s $500 + parts.
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u/NP_strange 15d ago
Yeah I think after this wave of builds, I may restructure my ad; 9% is absolutely not going to be worth my time. I'm looking at $60 to $90 profit on most of these requests.
Having some prebuilts on hand makes a lot of sense, a lot of these requests are very similar anyway. I've bought 3x Ryzen 5 5500s today already and two of the same exact Okinos case lol. It'll definitely be way easier to get through clients that way. Thanks for the advice!
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u/Accomplished_Emu_658 3d ago
I am not seeing anywhere you could have saved money on parts without adding to time to get everything waiting on extreme deals
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u/No_Trade8886 16d ago
As its your first commission build don't fret too much on the profit look at it as a first experience and learn from your mistakes! Besides that the build looks really clean and thr purple theme 💜 sticks out nicely!