Wheel building machines unfairly get a bad rap here on the forum.

Fact is that machines are capable of producing very true, very evenly tensioned, tight wheels. There are also machines, or separate work stations that stress relieve.

The issue is that greater precision increases the cycle times for the machines, and features like stress relieving mean more capital outlay, and more time per wheel. So it isn't a question of machine vs no machine, or machine with human final touch up, vs handbuilt, but one of the total cycle time (and cost) the wheel building company is willing to live with.

Fortunately for hand builders many sellers of production wheels opt for higher volume/lower cost, and are willing to sell fairly crappy wheels to be more price competitive, giving production wheels a bad name.

This opens up opportunities for hand builders to market better quality, or the ability to build unique or different wheels that production builders can't. Another important part of selling hand built wheels is the ability to advise in component selection, so your client can get a wheel suited to his exact needs.

However to be competitive and make money building wheels, you have to buy components at the right price, and be able to build a quality wheel in about a half an hour or less. Good productive hand builders can build wheels at a rate of 3 per hour or so.