How to Assemble a Pedalboard

Assembling a professional quality pedalboard is easier than ever, given the variety of pre-made pedalboards and power supplies currently available. This article will help you tackle some of the larger questions you need to address.
First, you must decide whether you want to purchase a pre-fabricated board or make one yourself. The advantages to the former are a professional appearance and the saving of time and effort. Companies such as Pedaltrain, Furman, SKB, Stompin-Ground, NYC Pedalboards, Pumaboards, and Trailer Trash are just a few of the manufacturers of professional quality pedalboards, some of which will custom make a pedalboard to your exact specifications.
Of course, building your own pedalboard is always an option. For less than $50 and a trip to Home Depot, you could craft a gigworthy makeshift pedalboard with little effort. Tone-meister Eric Johnson uses a simply piece of plywood with velcro strips to hold down his pedals, and no one complains about his tone. Still, a professionally made pedalboard has many advantages and is probably the best option for most people.
Before you even decide on your pedals, you should figure out how you are going to power your board. You basically have 4 options: batteries, individual power supplies, a switching power supply, or individually isolated power supply units. The first two options are either expensive or messy. The best options are the last two: a switching power supply (such as the Visual Sound 1-Spot) or individually isolated power supply units (such as the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2). Each has its distinct advantages. Personally, I use both depending on the situation, though my main pedalboards are both powered by Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 units.
The heart of your pedalboard, obviously, is the effects themselves. Depending on your needs, you may have only 2-3 effects up to a couple dozen. I recommend using only a few effects but using them well and knowing them inside out. The following choices will afford you great versatility and offered in "traditional" order of connection in the pedalboard itself: Wah, Compressor, Overdrive/Distortion I, Overdrive/Distortion II, Volume, Chorus, Flanger/Phaser, Delay. Note that I recommend two different overdrive and/or distortion pedals for a variety of sounds.
In the end, you are the best judge about what kind of pedalboard and effects you need. No everyone needs to have a refrigerator sized pedalboard like the Edge to get the sounds you need. A couple of pedals might suffice. Don't buy more than you really need and use the gear you have to come up with your own sound, which is what really matters in the long run