I think I have around 6 to $700.00 in to mine. Steel prices have gone through the roof lately, so I'd get a material quote first.

It wasn't really the cost of buying one vs building one for me. It was the high cost of shipping to my location.

I have around $350 in mine not including the rams since my neighbor "donated" them in order to use it whenever necessary. Got the tires cheap on ebay and the steel was from a scrap yard type place. The rams are available thru Harbor Frieght for cheap also. I could have saved some more $$ on the steel had I not built it with such large tubing, but I want to be able to use it for future projects too so if I build a bigger car it will handle it.

Ryan

Building mine was really time. My dad is a retired bridge contractor so the metal I already had, found some casters that were lying around and then went to a scrap yard to get a larger pipe to sleeve the 2.5" pipe so the piece could turn. Much like a gate hinge is how we built the ends. I had $1 in mine total from the piece at the scrap yard. Like mentioned above with metal being high I would check prices. Materials may be close to buying one.
If you have materials and want to save money I think anyone can build one with a welder and a few tools. It took us around 6 hours to build.

This is the one jp used, I'm just about finished building mine as well...so far I have $350 in the steel, $70 or so into the rams (harbour freight), and under $20 in the casters (also harbour freight). It's a good plan and makes it easy for the first timmer!! I'll try to post pics this weekend....

http://www.mgbexperience.com/rotator/