First of all, I must say I've never had a problems with making cables by myself, last years stopped using cable testers just because they always say the cable I've made is ok.
But I see there's a lot of the factory-made cables on the market, they became cheap and in addition you may choose any color for the better management. Some people say the factory made cable is always better than you may do.
As there could be couple of the different situations, let's split a question:
-
buy or make a cables for the networking inside a rack?
-
buy or make for the networking outside i.e. to users' computers, to other racks etc.?
Best Answer
Personally I would always buy cables and always do buy cables in large volumes.
The reason for this is that unless you are making cables for home you are making cables for a business. It takes time to make cables and you are paying people/you are being paid by the organisation you are working for. Unless you are making them in very large quantities the amount you save from making cables yourself does not cover time cost of the time taken to make the cables.
Also as you said you can buy multiple colours and most lengths, failing that there are companies out there who will make you any length of cable you want cost effectively.
Hope this helps.