Looking at the price of tubing is no way to calculate the costs of building a frame. That's just the start of it, and a lot of framebuilders have made that mistake and then gone under because they couldn't afford to make frames.
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Originally Posted by echelon_john
That said, big respect to anybody who can make a living on $3000 frames these days. It’s possible, there are folks doing it, but there’s not that much cushion there imo.
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I don't think anyone is making a living on frames that cost that much. Someone else supporting them or at least is paying their health insurance, they aren't saving for retirement, etc. Speedvagen does their own paint, correct? Even so, paint is very expensive. If a builder is having someone else paint their frames, that's the major cost of the entire build.
So someone building for $2500-3000 is making minimal wage, at best. And there is a non-zero chance that a builder has to occasionally redo a paintjob or an entire frame, either due to a screwup on their part or their customer's part.
There goes the proceeds from a number of frames.
Speedvagen is a real business, their costs are higher than some guy building frames at night in their garage.