The price of a project...

[DavidBoren]

Do you have a limit/cap on how much you are willing to put into something? Like do you establish a target amount, and limit yourself to it?

A certain percentage of the initial investment? Maybe what it would have cost new?

Because I don't. That might sound pretentious, but it's not. I don't make enough money to afford to spend money on paintball projects like I do, but I am willing to suffer in order to pour money into a project.

I made a list of what I have spent on my Pimp project out of random curiosity, and right meow I have spent about 4x my initial investment in parts, thusfar. Now I got the Pimp, itself, for a steal of bargain... but I still have another 3-4x of that initial investment to spend AGAIN before I can put this together. I will be at the initial investment + 8x the initial investment by the time it gets put together for the first time. This isn't even being sent out for ano.

Does this sound about right?

I mean, it's probably a lot different when you pay $1000 initially, everything is a much smaller percentage of the initial investment... even a nice ano is only half. And there is probably less that needs done in the first place. Not everyone replaces every single part.

[Rusty Brass]

I don't have a set cap for anything but I have a hard time spending more than about $500 at any given time. I'll nickel and dime myself to unknown heights without even thinking about it though. $50 here, $87.23 there... I try not to add it all up. Might lead to embarrassment or some other feeling I really don't need.
So, yeah. Sounds about right to me.

[Grendel]

God no; I have no cap on projects. I'm scared to even think back too hard on projects how much I have spent prior to finishing.

Case in point I have a Pump Mag project I've been working on and off for the last 3 years and I can think of at least $300 spent just this year on actual paintball parts not including the hardware/fittings I've bought and that is on top of the marker to begin with and other parts and mods done in the the preceding 2+years. I would expect I am well north of $600 into this project and have several hundred more (aesthetic work) to go before I'm "done". When done I will be lucky to net $400 for the completed project if I was to sell. I buy what I can afford at the time to build with make and modify the rest. When done I'll be left over with a bunch of parts and maybe some of those will go into another project or I'll sell to finance my next be hole in my wallet project.

This is something I do for myself for fun (I love to tinker) so it is an expense completely that I bare for my personal enjoyment.

[RuleOfSines]

Nope. For nostalgia reasons, I'm putting a stupid amount of money into a Tippmann 98 right now. I tend to build towards my vision of the project and not regard cost for the most part.

[Interl0per]

Nothing articulated but beyond just being the sole breadwinner and being raised frugally it seems around $300 is my absolute upper bound of tolerance for a single purchase and that's if there's something truly special (has hard to find accessories that are exactly what I'm looking for, for instance) As others have said though I easily double that spend over the course of months on here and the bay as knicks and knacks tickle my fancy. I always wind up selling at a loss, but that's what makes it a hobby I don't go to movies or clubs or the bar or anything really and I truly enjoy the time I spend getting things working (or not!) and just getting to handle stuff I never knew existed before, so I don't consider it (especially) frivolous That said, part of the fun for me is seeing what I can do for the least amount possible, I have owned a couple of $700 guns and honestly I can't enjoy playing with them when I know what other things I could do with that money.

[punkncat]

No set limit per se, but there is certainly a level at which the eyebrows of SO get furrowed and there is a slanty look across the room...typically a guttural "uh"....

[DavidBoren]

Hmm, the most I have spent on a single item for paintball is still under $300. Probably won't ever spend more than that on any single item until I start building my Ehm. At which point I need to buy a 2004 Viking... I don't want to think about that until I finish my Pimp.

I got my Pimp for $100/shipped, but I just spent that on a SCM-3 LPR/volumizer combo. Lol. Including the initial investment, I am in about $500 on my Pimp, right meow. Probably have another ~$500 to go before it gets put together. I don't feel bad about that, either.

Just adding everything up thusfar got me wondering if other people go nuts on their projects, too. I could probably write a tinker's guide to wasting money.

[Jordan]

I try to avoid sinking a ton of money into builds if I can help it, but it can depend on what I'm building and the goal of that project.

Sometimes I have to splurge on new stuff, just because it's not available used... like solenoids. The SMC noid I used on my e-pneumag cost almost 1/4 of the initial build.

I generally lose money when I sell now, though... mostly because I tend to favor the stuff no one wants.

[DavidBoren]

I don't sink money into anything I plan on selling.

I don't build stuff to sell. I build it to use it...

My Pimp is the first paintball project that I have dedicated a lot of money to, and I don't plan on ever selling it. I will be given a viking funeral pyre when I die, and my Evil collection will be burnt with me.

[Jordan]

I never plan on selling, I just tend to enjoy the build process more than using the thing.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I haven’t built a project in a while now, my Karni being the last and that was close to a decade ago. Now I buy and sell (largely locally) and have a strict budget on the profit I make from it. I’ currently sitting at plus $360 with a few little things to sell. I’m managed to upgrade my gear, add a ID’d Ressi to the collection even. But buying new and fancy parts eats my budget up real fast as I’m on Canada. So exchange rate and shipping is not my friend.

[kevdupuis]

Good question, I haven't spent money on paintball projects in years but I've put a little over $6,000 to bring my 81 Mercedes up to daily driver status and about the same on my 85 Mercedes Touring though it is going in Monday for a transmission rebuild, eventually I will be spending around $10,000 or so to rebuild the diesel in it.
Though not mine I've worked on a few vintage warbird restoration projects where the costs have run into the million in order to return them to full flight status.

[Cyberpyr8]

First of all, don't be buried with that Pimp, I would love to inherit it. 😛

I have built several Pimps over the last few years and sunk a lot of money into them. But every one of them I have enjoyed and it made them shoot like never before. I know if I buy a pimp (most between $90-150) that I am going to spend at least another $200 on them to make them mine. And I have sold or traded most of them away at a loss. But I loved them and used them every weekend while I had them. If I hadn't done that I would have never been able to buy TJ Harbarck's Pimps. Even then, I bought two of his because he wouldn't separate them and I sold off the one I didn't want after using it for a while and made almost what I spend on the whole package. But even if I had taken a loss it was worth it to give my son Pimp #0005. He loves that gun. It's special to him. You can't put a price on that.

I bought, built and sold off my Omen project too. I knew I would take a loss on that but it was fun and got it out of my system. The Resurrection Pimp I built a few years ago I spent around $500 on total. But that thing got me back into Evil guns and my son learned how to rebuild one. We spend many hours on that gun and I put a lot of money in it. But we both have great memories of tearing that thing apart and putting it back together and seeing it absolutely sling paint.

I buy some guns already knowing that I will resell them and I don't invest much into them other than my time. For some guns I know that I will take a loss if I ever sell them and that's ok. You just have to decide if having it be the way you want it is worth it to you. I wouldn't spend 1000 on a Pimp. But up to 500-600, sure if I was going to keep it and use it I would. The one I have now I was fortunate to still have a new reg and other parts I normally upgrade already on hand. One day when it isn't 10000 degrees outside and I have time I will get it working. It will become my second gun that I use here and there. I probably won't spend much on it since I already have the parts but I will still have over $400 invested in a $90 gun. If I sold it I wouldn't get more than $150. But that's fine. I just want a pimp to use and rip with. It's more about the nostalgia with me than money.

[Jonnydread]

I don’t generally set a limit as my projects usually take long enough that the numbers feel artificially low. Plus I usually just build simple pumps so the most expensive part is the body or pump kit.

[lew]

No limit really. I put money into paintball and guns cuz it's safer than a drug habit.

[OpusX]

Sometimes trying to "save money" enhances the hunt for parts on a build. What I mean is, not just finding that part, but getting the "deal" rather than just peeling of hundos to the seller on the Bay.