My casual readings of advertisements suggest that a middle-of-the-road 360 is
worth about $80-90K -- at least that is what the advertisements are asking
for.  I think the average builder puts about $100K into the airplane, plus
labor.  At least, that's how much if you put in a new engine.

I would definitely get into the air faster and cheaper if I torched my
garage, took the insurance money, and bought a finished 360.  (In fact, if I
could figure out how to keep the rest of the house from burning down, I might
be tempted...)  But then, it wouldn't be personalized to me and I wouldn't
have the satisfaction of building it myself.

I was under the impression that the Lancair 4 was probably the only kitplane
on the market who's sale value exceeded the dollars put into the project.  I
suspect that the sweat equity is not valued very highly, though.  I thought
that the average 4 cost $250-300K to get in the sky, but sold for about
$400K.  

- Rob Wolf