Couple of points here. Number one you get what you pay for is kinda true. There are exceptions but these $1500 dollar racks have advantages over cheaper racks. Now if you can build your own that's certainly a good way to go. The problem is that it takes tools, some know how and most importantly, TIME. I do ok at my job and I work about 50 hours a week. I value my free time at $50 an hour or more. If you think that $50 dollars an hour is ridiculously high just know that there are people who think $50 an hour is too low. So with all that said the math is really simple. You say it will cost you 1/4, that's $375. So if takes you more than 22.5 hours I would say you are losing money by making it yourself. Of course another way to look at it is what will your finish product be worth vs the professionally made rack. If yours is only worth $1000 then you best be able to make it in 12.5 hours. For me it still sounding good to build my own. But if you value your time at $100 an hour, or it will take you a long time, or you are not convinced you can produce the quality, it starts to make sense why a person would buy a rack.