negative ned here
All frames are handmade. Even if you want small-batch / one-off / custom it is probably less expensive than you think. And no, these are not really skills that you can use to turn a profit unless you discount your time very heavily (except maybe painting, although you will need to be at least semi-artistic to get a leg up on powdercoating). Wheelbuilding you may be able to save yourself money on, but probably not unless you get some excellent brodeals on parts. Machine-built wheels are awesome and cheap, no matter what anybody else tells you. You will also be spending a zillion dollars on tools that you will maybe use three times in your life. Double how much you think it will cost. Triple how long you think it will take.
Also lol at the hipster bit coming from a guy who "likes the look and feel (what does that even mean) of lugged steel frames". The youths are appropriating my bicycle culture!
I love steel frames, my first mountain bike was a suspension free steel hardtail and I think it was the smoothest ride I've ever owned. And I think that lugs just look cooler than welds (doesn't everyone?). If that's hipster, then guilty as charged. My comment wasn't really condemning hipsters, I just find that old steel frames on Craigslist are either way too expensive or snatched up before I can even make an offer. Thus I'm considering making my own. I'd also like to build my own wheels just so I can understand the process of truing wheels better. Much like when I started working on my cars in my mid-20s, I finally started to understand what was happening under the hood.
I have a couple of books on frame building, and if I use the jig free method of building from Paterek book I basically have all the tools I would need to use, now. Sure I don't have a few specialty things like bottom bracket taps but I could just pay a bike shop a few bucks to do the few things I can't. I think I priced the specialty tool stuff out at about $80 at a local bike shop.
I'm having a hard time finding a bike I like at a reasonable price. I like the Cross Check's geometry and braze ons. But I don't like the bar end shifters and a few other components (thus I'd be dropping a few hundred bucks on brifters and a saddle right away). The price is still pretty high for what you get too. I could go with a big name bike company but again it seems hard to find touring/road bikes that can take a rack or haul a trailer. If there's a reasonably priced bike that can do that, I'm definitely open to suggestions.
I seem to run into this dilemma a lot. And as a stay at home dad my time is actually worth nothing beyond intrinsic value. Thus I tend to build/fix a lot of the things we need. Right now I'm building a 10 ft wide bed because my wife, kids and I co-sleep. Yes, it's taking twice as long but it's not twice as expensive as what I could pay someone to build something similar.