Just starting out with the business this spring and don't have a ton of money to invest in gear. On a budget and grow as I go type deal. SO to save a bit of money was wondering if anyone makes and uses their own traps on the job ? I can make a pretty darn good box trap for say skunks, and squirrels so don't see why not if it saves me some dollars. Anyone else do it ?

I'm not sure you would actually save money making your own 'good quality' cage traps. I know for sure that you will lose money if you make traps that aren't up to commercial standards.

That said, if you can weld, I bet you could make some fine traps. Heck, you might even make some money selling them.

Why not make them? Because it does not help you get a customer. Ask yourself....what are my goals?

If you look back at some of the threads about what I did wrong when starting you will find out a lot.
One was bought cheap traps. Go with a good trap, put your time into doing business not making trap.
The faster you get making money the faster you can buy more traps and do more jobs. Only buy what you need to keep a couple jobs going. Put that money you make from that job back into the business. JMO.

when i first started out I also thought that it would be a money saver to build traps.The time that it took me was far more costly than it was worth.I had a few "cheapo" traps and the critters I caught in them paid for comstocks and advanced traps that I have now.I eventaully got rid of the cheapos.

I'll second the buy the best you afford. I got in a bind early on and picked up three home cheapo havajunks just so I could set one job. They lasted exactly one armadillo each and cost me more in the long run. I got them back up and running and tightened up just to pass them off to another guy just starting up with the advice to get rid of them as soon as he could.

As far as making your own goes that depends. Do you want to be a NWCO or a trap maker? There's a guy on here that makes probably the best squirrel trap on the market but he was running an ADC biz and trap making all at the same time. Last I heard the ADC side is closed and the trap making has gone full time.

You have to determine the best use of your time. Just me but for a guy starting up the most valuable thing you can do with your time is knocking on doors and wearing out shoe leather.

I have made a few to fit special situations that commercially built traps wouldn't fit too well, mainly squirrel traps. They have become the standard now. Still aren't available commercially. Have also "invented" a few on site, again to solve a specific problem.

Go to the trappers convention there's no better place to find deals on stuff . Nice thing you can handle it first . I've got 50% off on cage traps there . By the time you buy material your not saving . Might use there ideas then build your own to suite you better like Ron does . Having traps that look different from cages traps sold local helps with customer that's telling you oh I tried that and it didn't work .

Quality only Cost's once!

Ditto. Money spent on poor equipment is an expense, while money spent on reliable equipment is an investment. I once bought a breaker bar made in Japan many years ago, half price. Great price, but it broke the first time I used it. Lost the time, lost the money, had to buy a new one. A hobby guy may not care about a miss or a loss, but an ADC simply can not afford it. Better to have a few good tools than a fleet of junk.

Of course i agree that quality wins out every time in the long run. Thing is though looking over quality traps for say the easier to hold animals like squirrel, chipmunks, and skunks the traps are a bit on the pricey side. Even more so when I look them over and think "I can build that" I can weld, and am pretty handy...Thinking it may be worth my while to get some 8 or 10 inch PVC and have a go at makeing some skunk traps. Anybody else do it to save a bit ? Also I've got some time on my hands since it's mid-winter, fur season is all but over, and I wont start running my ADC ad's until the end of April.

HEY, thanks guys for the advice though, I've learned quite a bit on here that will help me which is invaluable. One tip that I got is sure to save me a ton of hassels. Most all clients here are "snow birds' that when they arrive in the spring find damage problems. Thats all good and well, get the address and do the job. What I didn't think of was to get the address and contact info for their other home out of state...should help with some billing issues

Yes, you probably can make traps. I'd never try and discourage anyone trying to do something creative.

We all can buy many good traps because someone said 'I can do that'.

Give it a shot.

I made some skunk traps out of 8 in. green pvc. At the time I could not find any 8 in. ones. 6 in. is too small and 10 in is too big in my view. The 8 work great. Not cheap to make though.

One time I saw LT using a whole plastic spoon scoop of his Black Walnut bait, I said "LT, why are you using so much bait"? His answer pertains to bait and traps I believe, when He said We're gonna catch a $50 Dollar Squirrel

So... how many $50 dollar squirrels are you gonna Nail in that Quality Trap that might cost a little Extra, I'd say more often than not One squirrel pays for 2 traps... and then Its yours for Life.

"A hobby guy may not care about a miss or a loss, but an ADC simply can not afford it. Better to have a few good tools than a fleet of junk."

Truer words were never spoken. I picked up this mentality from my dad many years ago. I was about 4 and he was crankin', crankin, and crankin, an old piece of hooey push lawnmower. He got so fed up with it he went to Sears bought a new one and never looked back. He had that old thing until 4 or 5 years ago (back then the Craftsman was a good mower, not sure how they are now).