Building a PC can be a pain in the butt, especially if you're not an experienced builder, and doubly so if you want a personalized machine. That's exactly why boutiques like Falcon Northwest and Maingear exist; they'll build you a machine tuned for high performance out of the box and personalized in all kinds of ways. There are a lot of smaller boutique builders, too, but standards and practices vary a lot. Take the case of this Redditor, New_Midnight2686, who got quoted for a custom build and was asked to pay over $11,000 USD in labor fees for a PC worth $3,849, bringing the total cost to almost $15,000.
Now look, we understand the reality of being a boutique PC vendor. It's hard to find customers, and it's hard to explain the value of your work. Why would someone buy a PC from you when they can walk down the street to Walmart and buy a pre-boxed Lenovo system that will probably do most of the same things for half the price? Your author, in particular, ran his own boutique shop for a time and is well acquainted with these questions.
