SoCal is an expensive place to live without a doubt. That said people do what their budget allows them to do and/or what they are willing to spend to achieve their goals. Most builds are a compromise. Would you rather go fast, climb rocks, swim through mud or...? Your build reflects what you want to do with your rig, how serious you are about it, what you are willing to spend, what your wife is willing to let you spend, how much time you are going to spend with your toy, etc. Serge has the resources to pay someone else to build him really capable rigs. That's cool. Chris builds his own rigs and obviously enjoys doing the work himself, figuring things out, learning. That is really cool. I suspect that as Chris becomes more and more successful in his career he will continue to do his own builds because he enjoys the process. Chris builds his rig to do what he wants it to do, he learns from each iteration. I love to work on my vehicles but my issue isn't money, it is time. Like Serge I don't have the time to undertake the types of work that Chris does himself. I don't have the knowledge level that Chris does to even attempt some of the things he tackles on his own. I have a Scorpion, an H1, A HMMWV, a 4x4 F250, a 4x4 F350 dually, a lifted 4x4 Jeep, armored vehicles, etc so yeah I do some wrenching but based on my available time most big projects go to someone else to do. When time isn't the issue I will work on my vehicles a lot more. Will I ever take on the stuff that Chris has, probably not. Off-roading/vehicles are not my only distraction. I have a farm, I like to reload and shoot, hunt, camp, etc. No one activity takes up all of my time or play money and like most people I allocate my time and resources as my interest wanes or strengthens. There isn't a right or wrong way to do this. Each person does what they can, how they want to. I wheel with people with $150,000 rigs and people whose rigs are held together with bailing wire and bubble gum. I am more interested in the people I hang out with than what their rig is. Nothing wrong with Serge buying built rigs or having them built, nothing wrong with people building their own rigs.
