i'm in no way at the level of most folks on here. I havent built that much, but I have built for friends.
I enjoy the process of building and don't have the money to build all the pedals I want to for myself. I was etching my own boards using Brian's layouts before, because it has caused me more heartburn trying to trouble shoot this stupid egodriver.... lol. 3/4 of my first etched pcbs not too bad, but I'll leave it to the pros until I come up with my own circuits and layouts in the future.
What do I charge my friends for them? $50. It barely covers the cost of the parts for most overdrives, sometimes. When I set out to make a pedal, I usually buy 4 times the amount of parts needed for it, just in case, you never know what you may bend or fry. I don't usually order enclosures or even pots, 3pdts, just the stuff to populate the boards. That leaves me with extra 'kits' i can put together for later builds or friends, or to play with later on.
I've only made 5 pedals (4 on the way) for myself, and 3 for others. populating the board is the only part I actually enjoy. haha. i hate stripping those tiny wires and trying cram everything in the enclosure. I'm awful at best.
I made myself a Timmy on vero using Paul C's schematic from DIY Stomp. Why did I do it? Because I didn't want to wait 18 months for one of his and I didn't want to spend $350 on ebay for one. It was my first non kit build and it stays on my board and will always stay with me. I show it off to everyone and tell them where to buy them (from Paul). I have a kit waiting to be built for one right now, but I've decided I just really dont want to build it for anyone, i'll use it for something else for myself. I feel they should have more patient than me and get on the waiting list. At least they get to play mine first. Hypocrite, i know.
Another story,
I built an egodriver for a friend and also an RC booster. He loves them both. He loved the egodriver so much he bought two more Fulltone OCDs (seems excessive, but he does a lot of cover band stuff and he likes how they stack up with each other). He runs them all on his board with very few other pedals. He loves the egodriver more than the OCDs, so props to Brian. While it doesnt help brian that he went out and bought two OCDs, I think it shows that not everyone does it just to save money. They are just intrigued by it. And I think knowing that he liked the ego more than the ocd should drive up brian's ego a bit anyways :-D
I think all of us have that knowledge of 'morality' and we know what lines we arent supposed to cross. There are the select few that cross it anyway.
My suggestion is if you are going to build one for a friend who isnt capable of building, have him help you put it together. Let them watch you. Guitarists are nerds. They love watching that stuff. Drink some beers over it. Enjoy the company. Let them try to solder a few bads on some IC sockets. You don't need to be charging friends for labor.
I DIY everything, to a fault even. Not because its cheaper. Not because it's easier. But because I like to learn how to do things. It is quite the rewarding experience.
End rambling...