why should it be cheap? I use 80/20 all the time. The utility and modularity is well worth the price. What is often overlooked is that it can be disassembled at a future point for something else or modified to suit changing conditions. The ability do build a finished product in short order is fantastic. If you are looking at the price, compare it to all the effort of other less expensive materials. Not every project needs to be a time vampire of re sawing,planing, cutting, finishing, polishing. I think this is fantastic.