RE: Homemade treestands??
If you have access to the material and the time it may be worth it. But speaking as a guy who fell out of a homemade stand a couple of years ago, I'd spend the money and buy a good one. I fell 15 feet and trust me it hurt. Everybody thinks that they can grab a branch on the way down but there just isn't any time. I didn't even have the chance to tie on my safety strap before it slid about 6 inches to the side tipping me over. The problem with most homemade stands is that they tend to be very unstable. You can build stability in it but man will it be heavy.
My advice if you are going to build it is don't skimp in the materail or the welds. Use enough and then a bit more.
Fix some sort of teeth to the tree side so it can get a better grip.
Design it so it's fixed on by at least 2 straps.
Put in a rail of some sort so you can grab onto something when you start falling.