Like any custom item, end cost is supremely variable. It's pretty easy to put together a cheap mil-spec carbine for $500-600, even less if you chase the sales, or start with blem parts. For what I'd call a "hunting rifle," meaning match grade barrels and triggers, adjustable gas blocks, reasonable furniture and forged receivers, a guy should be able to get out of a hunting AR for $900-1200.

It doesn't save a LOT of money over buying a factory model that's "better than average," like the Bushmaster Varminter, RRA Predator Pursuit, etc, but you can pick up exactly the parts you want, with a few minor upgrades, for about the same price.

Before optics and magazines - the Top rifle has $1099 in it, the middle rifle $1,011. I spent a bit more on mine. My three uppers: 6.8 = $913, 204R = $781, 5.56 = $837. My lower was $450 on the nose. All including shipping.

If you go all out, then the sky is the limit. My wife's rifle isn't going too crazy, but she's not sparing any expense on parts that she wants. She'll have $711 in her lower alone (Geiselle NM 2 stage and UBR stock), plus another $1,087 into her upper. Her barrel - a partially fluted, cerakoted, upgrade profile BHW - cost nearly twice as much as my 5.56 barrel that's the same profile and length.

I used to be a Shilen only guy, but an acquaintance that I respect a lot in the AR world has a few BHW's that have shot incredibly well, so I gave them a try on his advice. They're also a touch more affordable than the Shilens too, and since these are hunting rifles and not Glass Gas Gun rifles or CMP rifles, I took the opportunity to save a little (caught a great deal during SHOT show too).

The 3P (tri-lobal polygonal) BHW rifling is supposed to run notably faster than standard rifling as well, which seems to be true so far. That 18" mid-length in the middle gets the same MV as one of my 20" barrels with the same load (in all fairness, the 18" is an adjustable gas block, the 20" is not).

Since you mentioned fancy fluting and stuff, even though my own barrels don't show any of it, Black Hole Weaponry offers a LOT of different fluting options, plus multiple finish options, and a large number of cerakote options on top of that. Your barrel can be as wild or as mundane as you want. They also offer "standard profile" barrels in different lengths that are coated black and ready to go any time - that 18" black in the middle is an "RTS" barrel, aka Ready To Ship. The top rifle is actually cerakoted grey, rather than the machine finished stainless of my two.

BHW has been a lot of fun to work with too, I've spoken with them several times on the phone through this batch of orders, and they've been very helpful and accommodating. It's a relatively small shop, but they've really done well to earn their reputation and carve out their part of the market in recent years.