Ferret cage-building myself?

[Peep]

For my friend's birthday we will probably be gettting her two ferrets... and ferrets are expensive!
So are their cages, so we want to build one ourselves to save money. I built a cage for my ratties but this needs to be much stronger for ferrets of course. We were thinking of using wood but I know that can end up really smelling horrible, does anyone have any cost-effecient ideas for building a suitable cage?
(my one friend has tons of extra wood from their hockey rink from winter)
I'm in Canada, so no target or anything.
Thanks

[nakedrats]

Why don't you give her the cage and some supplies for a present and let her decide on her own if she really wants ferrets.  Giving pets for presents can be a really bad idea.  What if she's not sure she wants them?  What if she changed her mind after she gets them?  Ferrets are a long lived really expensive pet, not one that someone should take on without a lot of careful consideration.  She may think it's really cute at first, but when they bite her (baby ferrets almost always bite), or poop all over her floor, or dig her carpet to shreds, or rack up $500 vet bills falling and hurting themselves, or $1500 getting a pencil eraser they ate back out of their intestine....then it's not so cute.  Ferrets are seriously expensive and tend to get hurt and sick all the time.  They smell bad, get into everything, and you have to wear socks or shoes all the time when they're out so they don't bite your toes.  I know all this because I have one (she's an only ferret because she's blind and will freak out if another ferret is in her cage).

Making her a cage would be a really great present.  You can decorate it with litterboxes, fuzzy hammocks and sleep sacks, maybe some toys....  My friend made a really great cage using a PVC pipe outer frame to support a mesh cage.  The mesh she used was the green plastic coated 1/2 inch mesh you can get at home depot type stores.  It's too bendable to stand up to a ferret's weight, so the pipe frame was needed to give it some extra strength.  You'll want to make at least one full level per ferret so they have enough room.  Balcony/shelves are great too because they leave a big space to hang a sleeping cube, but can't be counted as a full level.  She cut big rectangles for the sides and levels and used zip ties to hook them together.  You'll want to either be really careful to bend under and tuck in any pointy or sharp edges, or the easier thing to do is buy some plastic bindings they sell with the clear plastic report covers at an office supply store.  i.e. http://www.office365.co.uk/im/pim/568390.jpg
Slide the plastic bindings over the sharp cut ends to make a nice neat edging that won't cut or poke the ferrets.  For a bottom bin, get one of those under bed boxes with a flat bottom. 

Good luck!