As one of those IT "people" who has probably forgotten more about computers then you'll ever, ever know ( :awe: ), it depends on several factors. People who think IT "people" should always be custom building white boxes for their companies or other businesses often lack the insight and business knowledge of having actually worked in big IT for large companies. Here are a few of the factors:
1. You NEVER should scratch build a system for a company, even a small company. Doing so exposes you to support headaches and additional risk. And by "you," I'm talking about guys building PCs for people on the side. If you own your own computer shop you can do it, but it still isn't a good idea IMO. Consulting services are where the money is at, not slinging commodity items. I have a friend who owns a small "consulting" business and he gets caught up supporting PCs for small businesses instead of looking at the bigger picture and selling higher-margin, more profitable services. Drives me nuts!
2. I would extend the above and say that even building PCs for family and friends is something you should be careful with. I spec out and help my brothers build their PCs, but only because I know they're moderately savvy and won't whine and complain to me with every little problem. On the other hand, I would never build a computer for my mother-in-law. They had a Dell and wanted to upgrade and I told them to get a Dell again. I've helped them with a couple of issues but no way would I want to be on the hook for full-time support.
3. I personally build my own PCs and as I mentioned earlier, still advise my brothers to build their own. Why? I still find it an enjoyable hobby and like to know every single part that goes into a PC. I also build my own servers as well. Also, as I mentioned, I trust my brothers not to be pains in my ass every time Word crashes.
As far as "outrageous prices," as others have said, you don't build PCs today to save money in all but the rarest cases. That ship sailed a long, long time ago. You could save money building your own servers, but again, anyone claiming to be an IT person who scratch builds servers for businesses clearly lacks experience and good judgment.
HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. generally have excellent business products. HP, Dell, Lenovo, et all also keep large stocks of spare parts. They can make those parts available quickly and efficiently and can even send a tech out to do the work on a system that dies. I don't want to offend anyone here, but this is low margin work that nearly anyone can do. Why would anyone voluntarily want to put themselves into a position where they would have to keep spare parts on hand AND service PCs that break? They also have call centers with people dedicated to supporting computer problems. Do YOU want to take phone calls from idiots whining that Excel crashed on the computer YOU built them? Hell no, let Dell or HP handle that BS.
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