I recently just bought a LAR-8, but had been very close to going with DPMS. Although I would have bought it off the shelf, the pride in ownership and you get from something you build with your own hands can't be beat. In fact I've been seriously considering building the DPMS anyway especially while Impact Guns has their sale on stripped lowers. With so many manufacturers now using the SR-25/LR308 upper, maybe, just maybe the cost of DPMS's uppers will come down a bit like magazines have.