LionsLamb79
New member
I am looking at expanding my operation in the future from my small 50 hole to a 480 hole barn(Meat,Fur,Wool and Show) I , like many of you probably have wondered at the difference between building your own versus buying those 3 stack or even single prebuilt units. I was especially curious at the cost savings when I started looking at expanding to such a large scale.
Ok here goes..Since we have Am. Chins, Fr. Angora,and several colors of Std. Rex I know the minimum cage size is 30"Wx24"Dx18"H, if anyone has ever priced Klubertanz versus Bass you will know why I am going with Klubertanz.Don't get me wrong Bass has some great stuff and some of it is actually cheaper than Klub. but for most stuff Klub. can't be beat.I am going to start with the build info first because believe it or not it is actually easier to understand and do IMHO.My build goes like this, a 4 hole section in stacks of 3 so 12 holes to a 6'x10' section total, there will be 40 of these sections for a total count of 480 holes.The following prices are from Klubertanz website and are acurate as of 03/29/13.Using 1"x1/2"x24" for the bottoms I would need 4 rolls of 100ft wire at $145.20 a roll thats $580.80,using 2"x1"x24 for the tops again 4 rolls of 100ft at $447.60, for each of the 4 sides using 2"x1"x18" I would need 16 rolls total of 100ft wire at $338.80 for a total of $1355.26. Now that is galvanized after wire, which is good quality, just for wire not including door hardware, pans, legs or urine guards grand total without shipping, $2383.60. I realize the different sizes might be overkill in some people eyes, why not just get 30" and cut it to 24" ? Let me see you put together a 480 hole rabbitry and want to cut anything you don't have to? I have built before and I can tell you that after awhile you get tired of clipping, measuring and j-clipping, you are likely to have more rabbits than cages if you waste time, not to mention your hands ache after a while. Of course you have to factor all that other stuff in when you build yourself but when you compare the build versus buy I think you will see where you can save money.
Ok so for the prebuilt section, I want to say right off that Klubertanz offers a 5% discount on orders of $400 or more of any cages, that factored in with what they come with might do it for you. Since 30"x24"x18" is what I am going to be using I only did research involving that size, all of the cages in this size come unassembled except for the front panel with the door attached, if you are looking for bigger or smaller of course this comparison won't apply. Klubertanz has prebuilt cages in 4 different series, bear with me and I will illuminate the differences and I will let you decide their pros and cons. The J series is made with Galvanized Before Weld wire(lesser quality) they are sold in STACKS OF THREE and include Legs, Door hardware and Plastic pans, w/o urine guards $156.30 so for 160 sets of three to make 480 holes thats $25,008, with urine guards $179.90 for 160 thats $28,784. The K series is made with Galvanized After Weld (good quality) sold in SINGLE UNIT and include legs, door hardware and Dura Trays, w/o urine guards $71.70 for 480 thats $34,416, with urine guards $79.60 for 480 thats $38,208. The H series has options for both Galvanized Before and After Weld they are sold in SINGLE UNIT and include just door hardware they do not have a urine guard option, G.B. with 2"x1" side walls $29.90 for 480 thats $14,352, G.B. babysaver $33.90 for 480 thats $16,272, G.A. 2"x1" side walls $ 33.40 for 480 thats $16,032, G.A. babysaver $36.30 for 480 thats $17,424. The E Series is made with Galvanized Before Weld (lesser quality) is sold in SINGLE UNITS and includes door hardware and trays with support shelf built in, DOES NOT COME WITH LEGS, w/o urine guard $50.70 for 480 thats $24,336, with urine guards $ 58.60 for 480 thats $28,128.
It is obvious to me that building at this scale will be much cheaper than buying pre made units whether in stacks of three or single units. I realize that building cages is hard work like I said I have built before. Also that the built cages come with stuff that I would have to get in addition to the wire, door hardware and some way to suspend or stack them. There is also the issue of droppings management, since I want to stack my sets of 4 into groups of 3 obviously droppings go straight down so there again is another reason for considering the advantages included in a built cage. I have reserched that too, I plan on implementing some thing along the lines of the Rabbitech waste removal system, haven't drawn up the plans for that one yet but I am formulating it in my head. All in all I guess build versus buy is a personal choice, please don't think I am attempting to force my opinons on you, I just noticed a lack of info out there for this issue and thought I would share my research. Please feel free to comment, I said COMMENT not complain, rant or belittle. We all have our own opinions and ways of doing things. If you don't like mine feel free to keep it to yourself. Many thanks to Klubertanz, Bass Equipment and Rabbitech for putting their information on the internet so anyone can research it. (Just covering my (( o )) for copyright and plagiarism sake.)
Ok here goes..Since we have Am. Chins, Fr. Angora,and several colors of Std. Rex I know the minimum cage size is 30"Wx24"Dx18"H, if anyone has ever priced Klubertanz versus Bass you will know why I am going with Klubertanz.Don't get me wrong Bass has some great stuff and some of it is actually cheaper than Klub. but for most stuff Klub. can't be beat.I am going to start with the build info first because believe it or not it is actually easier to understand and do IMHO.My build goes like this, a 4 hole section in stacks of 3 so 12 holes to a 6'x10' section total, there will be 40 of these sections for a total count of 480 holes.The following prices are from Klubertanz website and are acurate as of 03/29/13.Using 1"x1/2"x24" for the bottoms I would need 4 rolls of 100ft wire at $145.20 a roll thats $580.80,using 2"x1"x24 for the tops again 4 rolls of 100ft at $447.60, for each of the 4 sides using 2"x1"x18" I would need 16 rolls total of 100ft wire at $338.80 for a total of $1355.26. Now that is galvanized after wire, which is good quality, just for wire not including door hardware, pans, legs or urine guards grand total without shipping, $2383.60. I realize the different sizes might be overkill in some people eyes, why not just get 30" and cut it to 24" ? Let me see you put together a 480 hole rabbitry and want to cut anything you don't have to? I have built before and I can tell you that after awhile you get tired of clipping, measuring and j-clipping, you are likely to have more rabbits than cages if you waste time, not to mention your hands ache after a while. Of course you have to factor all that other stuff in when you build yourself but when you compare the build versus buy I think you will see where you can save money.
Ok so for the prebuilt section, I want to say right off that Klubertanz offers a 5% discount on orders of $400 or more of any cages, that factored in with what they come with might do it for you. Since 30"x24"x18" is what I am going to be using I only did research involving that size, all of the cages in this size come unassembled except for the front panel with the door attached, if you are looking for bigger or smaller of course this comparison won't apply. Klubertanz has prebuilt cages in 4 different series, bear with me and I will illuminate the differences and I will let you decide their pros and cons. The J series is made with Galvanized Before Weld wire(lesser quality) they are sold in STACKS OF THREE and include Legs, Door hardware and Plastic pans, w/o urine guards $156.30 so for 160 sets of three to make 480 holes thats $25,008, with urine guards $179.90 for 160 thats $28,784. The K series is made with Galvanized After Weld (good quality) sold in SINGLE UNIT and include legs, door hardware and Dura Trays, w/o urine guards $71.70 for 480 thats $34,416, with urine guards $79.60 for 480 thats $38,208. The H series has options for both Galvanized Before and After Weld they are sold in SINGLE UNIT and include just door hardware they do not have a urine guard option, G.B. with 2"x1" side walls $29.90 for 480 thats $14,352, G.B. babysaver $33.90 for 480 thats $16,272, G.A. 2"x1" side walls $ 33.40 for 480 thats $16,032, G.A. babysaver $36.30 for 480 thats $17,424. The E Series is made with Galvanized Before Weld (lesser quality) is sold in SINGLE UNITS and includes door hardware and trays with support shelf built in, DOES NOT COME WITH LEGS, w/o urine guard $50.70 for 480 thats $24,336, with urine guards $ 58.60 for 480 thats $28,128.
It is obvious to me that building at this scale will be much cheaper than buying pre made units whether in stacks of three or single units. I realize that building cages is hard work like I said I have built before. Also that the built cages come with stuff that I would have to get in addition to the wire, door hardware and some way to suspend or stack them. There is also the issue of droppings management, since I want to stack my sets of 4 into groups of 3 obviously droppings go straight down so there again is another reason for considering the advantages included in a built cage. I have reserched that too, I plan on implementing some thing along the lines of the Rabbitech waste removal system, haven't drawn up the plans for that one yet but I am formulating it in my head. All in all I guess build versus buy is a personal choice, please don't think I am attempting to force my opinons on you, I just noticed a lack of info out there for this issue and thought I would share my research. Please feel free to comment, I said COMMENT not complain, rant or belittle. We all have our own opinions and ways of doing things. If you don't like mine feel free to keep it to yourself. Many thanks to Klubertanz, Bass Equipment and Rabbitech for putting their information on the internet so anyone can research it. (Just covering my (( o )) for copyright and plagiarism sake.)