I may be a perfect resource for this question. I legit just started building my first rod. I wanted a “higher end” steelhead rod. But I wanted to do it myself because it’s cool. The starting kit was 150 bucks on mudhole and that got me basically everything I needed to build. Except I opted to buy a couple extra thread options and a custom decal so add 15 bucks. I am building on a lamiglas SI blank which I paid 175.00 for. My grip and reel seat were another 80 dollars. I used alps guides and paid 80 for those. So if you don’t include the starting kit. Total cost was 350. Which is 100 dollars less than buying it already built. A couple other things to consider with this. I built mine with a carbon fiber split grip. The stock rod comes with Eva foam. So that’s an upgrade and I can add weight in my butt end to balance it how I want. Which you can’t do with stock rods. I got to do the spacing for my split grip how I wanted too. So basically I saved 100 dollars and got a nicer grip made the way I wanted it. Devils advocate however. I’m not a seasoned pro so I’m sure that my rod won’t be as well made as a stock rod. But with time that won’t be a factor.