Fitting bottle cage bosses.

A request for advice!
So, I replaced my light touring/commuting/hack bike over the winter, as my old frame got bent and the whole drivetrain was shot- it worked out cheaper to just replace the bike as it was nothing special mechanically.

Anyway, I bought a new bike, and everything about it is pretty much spot-on, it's far better quality, and better set up for commuting duty than the bike it replaced. However, I have one gripe. There's no fittings for bottle cages on the frame. I've used those clips before to fit water bottle cages to road bikes, but as I'm expecting this to get chucked around on rougher terrain, I'm not sure they'll be up to the job.

My question then is about fitting bosses to the frame. Research suggests that rivnuts are the way to go, but I'm not sure whether I'd be better doing it myself or getting my local(ish) framebuilder to do it for me. As far as I know, they charge £20 to fit the bosses. How much would I save by doing it myself, and am I likely to ruin my frame or end up with a worse job of it than if I just forked over the £20?

Pay the £20 , you need a 7.1mm drill , nutserts (of the correct type,obviously a drill, a nutsert fitting tool and lastly but most importantly a reasonable level of skill especially with the setting tool.

If you are near Walton on Thames you are welcome to borrow all of the above and try it yourself.

I have a related question. I have a titanium frame which is perfect for me except it only has a cage on the downtube. Would a frame builder be able to fit seat tube mounts? It's a vintage frame so I'd be makings not original but I plan on keeping it forever so no probs.

Sorry not trying to hijack your thread!

It is a fairly simple operation if you have the correct tools and a little expertise, despite bottle mounts being referred to as braze ons most frames actually have nutserts fitted.
I have fitted new nutserts into steel and aluminium frames fairly easily as well as into stainless steel. Titanium would offer no particular challenges to anyone used to fitting nutserts.
Nutserts before and after fitting.

Not quite the same but I just read it and it sounds like it could be helpful.

Installing top tube bosses: http://www.tririg.com/articles.php?id=2015_02_Top_Tube_Storage_Bosses_Tutorial

Well, my "local" framebuilder is Argos Cycles in Bristol, so I think that it's a bit far to get the tools, but thank you for the offer! For the sake of not trashing this frame which is pretty much perfect for my needs, I think I'll give them a call and get the bosses fitted.